Sweet Tea–Brined Fried Chicken Thighs
By Matthew FairmanPublished on July 4, 2023
Time
1½ hours, plus 12½ hours brining and chilling
Yield
Serves 4
Ingredients
Before You Begin
Use a Dutch oven that holds 6 quarts or more for this recipe. We developed this recipe using Lipton tea bags. This fried chicken is very flavorful after 12 hours of brining, but if you have the time, you can brine it for up to 48 hours. The longer it brines, the more the tea flavor will come through.
Instructions
- Bring 1 quart water to boil in medium saucepan over high heat. Off heat, add tea bags and steep for 5 minutes. Strain hot tea into large bowl, pressing gently on tea bags with back of spoon. Whisk in sugar, ¼ cup salt, and lemon zest and juice until salt and sugar are dissolved. Stir 1 quart ice water into tea until ice is melted and mixture is cold. Submerge chicken in brine, cover, and refrigerate for at least 12 hours or up to 48 hours.
- Drain chicken in colander. Whisk flour, cornstarch, paprika, garlic, pepper, salt, baking powder, and cayenne together in clean, dry large bowl. Add 3 tablespoons water to flour mixture; using your fingers, rub flour mixture and water together until water is evenly incorporated and shaggy pieces of dough form. Add buttermilk to separate bowl.
- Set wire rack in rimmed baking sheet. Working with 1 piece at a time, add chicken to buttermilk and turn to coat; remove chicken from buttermilk, letting excess drip off; dredge chicken in flour mixture, pressing to adhere; and transfer to prepared rack, skin side up. Refrigerate chicken, uncovered, for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours.
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees. Set second wire rack in second rimmed baking sheet and line with triple layer of paper towels. Add oil to large Dutch oven until it measures 2 inches deep and heat over medium-high heat to 325 degrees. Add half of chicken to pot and fry until dark golden brown and crisp, about 10 minutes, flipping once halfway through frying. (Adjust burner, if necessary, to maintain oil temperature between 300 and 325 degrees.) Transfer chicken to paper towel–lined rack. Return oil to 325 degrees and repeat with remaining chicken.
- Discard paper towels and bake chicken until it registers at least 175 degrees, 10 to 14 minutes. Transfer to paper towel–lined serving platter. Let chicken cool for at least 10 minutes. Serve with lemon wedges.
Time
1½ hours, plus 12½ hours brining and chillingYield
Serves 4Ingredients
Ingredients
Ingredients
Why This Recipe Works
This recipe for juicy, sweet-salty Southern fried chicken with a hit of black tea and lemon is inspired by the dish created by Chef John Fleer, published in The Blackberry Farm Cookbook: Four Seasons of Great Food and the Good Life (2009). We adapted our version to be failproof for the home cook. We started by making a concentrated tea as the base for our brine to ensure that the tea's subtle flavor notes came through in the finished chicken. Salt in the brine guaranteed juicy chicken that was seasoned throughout, while sugar and lemon amplified the sweet-tea flavor profile. A quick dip in buttermilk before dredging in a seasoned mix of flour and cornstarch helped create a substantial coating that fried up crunchy and crispy. Because the increased sugar content of the brine caused our chicken to brown quickly, we heated our frying oil to a relatively low 325 degrees and pulled the pieces out when they were perfectly golden brown, finishing cooking in a low oven. Calling for chicken thighs (rather than a cut-up whole bird) was a nod to Fleer's preference for fried dark meat, with the added benefit that the recipe's cooking times are very forgiving, since thighs are less prone to drying out or overcooking.
Before You Begin
Use a Dutch oven that holds 6 quarts or more for this recipe. We developed this recipe using Lipton tea bags. This fried chicken is very flavorful after 12 hours of brining, but if you have the time, you can brine it for up to 48 hours. The longer it brines, the more the tea flavor will come through.
Instructions
- Bring 1 quart water to boil in medium saucepan over high heat. Off heat, add tea bags and steep for 5 minutes. Strain hot tea into large bowl, pressing gently on tea bags with back of spoon. Whisk in sugar, ¼ cup salt, and lemon zest and juice until salt and sugar are dissolved. Stir 1 quart ice water into tea until ice is melted and mixture is cold. Submerge chicken in brine, cover, and refrigerate for at least 12 hours or up to 48 hours.
- Drain chicken in colander. Whisk flour, cornstarch, paprika, garlic, pepper, salt, baking powder, and cayenne together in clean, dry large bowl. Add 3 tablespoons water to flour mixture; using your fingers, rub flour mixture and water together until water is evenly incorporated and shaggy pieces of dough form. Add buttermilk to separate bowl.
- Set wire rack in rimmed baking sheet. Working with 1 piece at a time, add chicken to buttermilk and turn to coat; remove chicken from buttermilk, letting excess drip off; dredge chicken in flour mixture, pressing to adhere; and transfer to prepared rack, skin side up. Refrigerate chicken, uncovered, for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours.
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees. Set second wire rack in second rimmed baking sheet and line with triple layer of paper towels. Add oil to large Dutch oven until it measures 2 inches deep and heat over medium-high heat to 325 degrees. Add half of chicken to pot and fry until dark golden brown and crisp, about 10 minutes, flipping once halfway through frying. (Adjust burner, if necessary, to maintain oil temperature between 300 and 325 degrees.) Transfer chicken to paper towel–lined rack. Return oil to 325 degrees and repeat with remaining chicken.
- Discard paper towels and bake chicken until it registers at least 175 degrees, 10 to 14 minutes. Transfer to paper towel–lined serving platter. Let chicken cool for at least 10 minutes. Serve with lemon wedges.
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