Fried chicken is a favorite for many. It’s comfort food- crispy, juicy and packed with flavor. However, it can be very unhealthy. For those that are trying to follow a gluten free lifestyle, it can seem like some of your favorite foods are no longer accessible. Not to mention, buying gluten free products for your family is super expensive, but it doesn't always have to be.
Try this recipe for gluten free fried chicken, using buckwheat flour and you’ll find that you lose nothing but the unnecessary gluten and added fat. This is my own personal recipe that I feed my family with, which consists of 6 hungry children and my hubby and they all LOVE IT! Honestly, if the wheat flour didn’t make the chicken a slightly different color they wouldn’t even notice the difference. Its just THAT good!
Ingredients- What you will need
- 1 lb of chicken wings/legs/thighs/breasts (whatever you prefer)
- Buckwheat flour
- Kosher or Sea Salt
- Ground Black Pepper
- Paprika
- Silk Unsweetened Soy milk
- Canola Oil
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Gallon Sized Storage Bags- with a lock slider seal
Preparation
First and foremost, you want to remove all of the skin from your chicken. Chicken skin is loaded with unnecessary fat. You don’t have to worry about losing flavor or the “skin” of the fried chicken. This will be provided in frying and with the batter itself.
After removing the skin, rinse your chicken very well with cold water and stab each piece of chicken with a fork a few times. Season your chicken well (but don’t overdo) with the salt, pepper and paprika. A great way to do this is to lay the chicken out, season each piece with salt, pepper, paprika, then flip each piece to the other side and uniformly season it.
Once seasoned, place all of the pieces in Silk Unsweetened Soy milk. Stick to using unsweetened as regular soy milk has a sweet flavor to it and this is a savory dish. The milk is going to make the chicken super juicy with each bite. Stabbing each piece with a fork will ensure that the chicken will absorb the flavor and maintain juiciness. That’s the essential importance of great fried chicken- flavorful, juicy on the inside and nice and crispy on the inside.
You are going to want to let your chicken rest in the milk as long as possible. You can soak it overnight in the fridge, or just ten minutes if you’re short on time. The longer you let it sit in that milk, the juicer and more flavorful it will be.
Once that’s done, use a gallon sized storage bag and fill it halfway with buckwheat flour. Use about 2 tablespoons of salt, 1 tablespoon of pepper and 1 tablespoon of paprika to season the flour; close and shake vigorously. Add each piece of chicken and shake until it is completely coated.
Cooking
In the meantime, use a ratio of 1/2 canola, 1/2 extra virgin olive oil to fill a frying pan (cast iron skillets are preferred and will give the best results) up about a third of the way. This is usually at least an inch deep worth of oil. Heat on a medium flame until the oil is piping hot.
We don’t want to use too high of a flame as extra virgin olive oil can burn very easily. Mixing the canola oil will help to keep that from happening, but your oil has to be at optimum temperature- usually about 350 degrees Fahrenheit in order to get best results.
Add the chicken to the skillet with a pair of tongs. Don’t overcrowd your skillet with chicken. Chicken should have room to breathe and cook so make sure that each piece of chicken isn’t touching another and has at two inches of space between every other piece. Fry the chicken at least twelve minutes on each side- use a thermometer in order to get a reading on each piece of at least 165 degrees internally. This is the temperature minimum recommended by the USDA in order to ensure safe eating for poultry.
When your chicken is done, drain on brown paper bags, or you can place on a wire rack and allow the oil to drip off onto absorbent paper towels. Don’t squeeze; allow the oil to drain out on its own.
What you will be left with will be delicious crispy on the outside, extra juicy on the inside, lower in fat, full of flavor and zero percent gluten fried chicken. Serve, and enjoy!
Qiana
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