I’ve often bemoaned the fact that I never dined at Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles before I was told I could never, ever, ever, eat there under any circumstances. While this is a bummer, I have perfected the gluten-free pancake which is really just a flat waffle without a mod design. And now, I’m onto gluten-free fried chicken!

This is where I pause and pay homage to my grandmother, Faye B, who made the most amazing fried chicken like, every day. She made it look so easy as she turned it around in the pan, that I thought I too could just whip it up out of memory. It turns out, I should have gone with what I knew — the deep fat fryer.

Pan frying chicken is kind of a pain in the ass. Also, there’s so much draining to be done when you’re finished. Still, it’s a small price to pay for crispy skin and luscious insides. But first you’ve got to soak that bird. Like so –

That’s buttermilk, guys. And that’s how you know I’m serious about my fried chicken. The whole point of soaking is to make sure your meat stays moist while you’re frying the hell out of the skin. Sure, you can use regular old milk but if you’re going to be clogging those arteries, why not add some more fat to the mix? Why not, indeed.

While my own granny only used salt and pepper as spices in her flour coating, feel free to step things up a bit by tossing around the old paprika, maybe some chili powder. Or just be totally lazy and do what I did and pick up some pre-seasoned gluten-free flour from Better Batter, or Hodgson Mill and let them do the spices for you. All roads lead to greasy fried gluten-free chicken, and heart disease.

Enjoy!

Gluten-Free Buttermilk Fried Chicken

Ingredients:

One chicken, cut into pieces
2-3 cups buttermilk, enough to cover
3 cups gluten-free flour*
1 TB salt
1 TB pepper
3 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons chili powder
Oil for frying

1. Soak chicken pieces in buttermilk and a sprinkling of salt and pepper, for at least two hours.

2. Combine flour, salt, pepper, paprika and chili powder and pour into gallon sized Ziploc bag. Place chicken, three pieces at a time, inside bag and shake to fully cover.

3. Heat oil in deep-frying pan on medium/high heat. Turn heat down to medium as you place chicken into pan. Fry 3-4 pieces at a time, leaving plenty of room in the pan to flip chicken.

4. Remove chicken when temperature of chicken is at least 165, and frying is complete. Place on paper towels to drain, then serve.

Makes: 8 servings

*Or buy pre-seasoned gluten-free flour and skip the spices.