Food stories have such a way of weaving into our lives and ultimately onto our plates. Take fried chicken for an example. In the south, they tell it like it is — chicken cooked on the stovetop in a frypan in oil is fried chicken. Apparently, from sources I found, the concept of frying chicken was brought to America from Scottish immigrants. The English immigrants baked or boiled their chicken. More info on fried chicken origins at Wikipedia.
However, some people (myself included) use the term crispy chicken instead of fried chicken. I interpret this to mean that one can get a crispy skin on the chicken in other ways than frying. (I don’t fry it, I bake it in the oven.) For some reason, I thought it was a healthier method to bake the chicken, even though I used a large amount of butter in the baking dish to crisp up the skin. What?? Did I think that if I just didn’t say the word “fried” and didn’t put the chicken in a frypan that it would take some of the calories and fat out of it?
Delusions aside, the baked version of my non-fried, fried chicken was always good. Today though I thought I would actually make fried chicken in a frypan. Cook it like it is — fried chicken. I used only a small pat of butter with a swirl of olive oil in the pan instead of a cube of butter I previously used in the baking dish; well, that seems healthier right off the bat. I still dredged the chicken in flour mixed with seasonings. Bits of the flour that fell into the pan gave the gravy a yummy flavor and thickened it. You gotta give me that at least.
Cooked the thighs skin down first.
Beautiful golden color with a crisp finish.
Gravy made in the frypan after removing chicken. Bits scraped from fried chicken mixed with additional flour, chicken stock, and milk made a flavorful gravy.
Fried chicken served with mashed potatoes and pan gravy. Dreamy Creamy Garlic Rosemary Mashed potato recipe minus herbs in original recipe paired nicely with this fried chicken.
Serves 3
Easy recipe to double or triple.
Save RecipeIngredients
- 3 chicken thighs
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt
- 1/8 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/8 teaspoon roasted garlic and herb (I used McCormick's Grill mate)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1/3 - 1/2 cup chicken stock
- 1/3 cup milk
Instructions
- Heat oil and melt butter in a frypan.
- Mix flour and seasonings in a plastic bag and shake to distribute. Place one chicken thigh at a time into bag and shake to evenly coat. Remove chicken from bag and place into preheated frypan. Repeat for each piece of chicken.
- Fry chicken on medium low heat skin side down for about 10 minutes. Turn and cook for another 10 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 165-170 degrees. (see note).
- Remove chicken from pan and drain on paper towel.
- Toss remaining flour mixture from coating chicken into pan and mix with pan juices.
- Add milk and 1/3 cup chicken stock, whisking to work out any lumps. Cook to thicken. Add more chicken stock if gravy becomes too thick.
- Pour gravy over chicken.
Notes
Food sources say 165 degrees is acceptable for chicken thighs but I like to cook mine just a little longer to make sure the meat is cooked through.
Nutrition
