This classic chicken and waffles recipe is just as good for brunch as it is for dinner. The waffles are light and fluffy, while the chicken is perfectly crisp.
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00:00 How's it going, everyone?
00:00 It's Justin here in the Delish Kitchen Studios.
00:03 Chicken and waffles is one of those foods
00:04 where you take two incredible things,
00:06 bring them together to make something even better.
00:09 It is the ultimate comfort breakfast.
00:11 It's not something you're gonna make every day necessarily,
00:14 but when you do, you wanna know how to make it well.
00:16 So I have a couple tips, tricks, and pointers
00:18 to make them incredible.
00:20 Let's do this.
00:20 Many people, and myself might even be included,
00:24 might say that the best way to marinate chicken
00:27 for frying or even roasting chicken is with buttermilk,
00:30 a pretty incredible ingredient that works amazingly well
00:33 both in sweet and savory dishes.
00:34 And it's amazing as a brine because it does two things.
00:37 Number one, it's gonna act as a natural tenderizer.
00:40 There is acid in buttermilk,
00:42 and it is going to help break down the protein structures,
00:45 and it's gonna make it really, really tender.
00:47 It's also gonna add moisture
00:48 'cause we're marinating it in liquid.
00:50 So it kind of adds that two-for-one,
00:51 like fast-acting, incredible formula.
00:54 And it's a natural ingredient that,
00:55 A, you can find at every grocery store,
00:56 and B, you can make it yourself.
00:57 So into a bowl, we're gonna add our buttermilk
00:59 and a bunch of salt.
01:00 That's the other thing we need to do here.
01:01 We need to be adding seasoning now.
01:03 We'll season again later, and our flour will be seasoned.
01:06 Adding seasoning now is gonna really help us
01:08 make a more delicious final product.
01:09 Then we're gonna go in with our chicken.
01:11 We're gonna toss it all around,
01:12 make sure it gets all nice and covered in that buttermilk,
01:15 cover it up, and get it in our fridge.
01:17 Quick note on the chicken we're gonna use here.
01:18 I think you should be focusing on thighs and drums.
01:21 I think that's the best chicken for chicken and waffles
01:23 because you don't really wanna get a waffle
01:25 and have a big, huge piece of breast meat on top of it.
01:28 It's cumbersome and hard to deal with.
01:30 So bone-in skin on chicken thighs and drums is better here.
01:33 Ideally, you're gonna wanna have this chill overnight,
01:36 but if you are rushed for time,
01:37 I'd say at least two hours.
01:40 That's gonna help us get everything marinated,
01:42 brined, and delicious.
01:43 While that gets brining,
01:44 we're gonna get started on our waffles.
01:46 So I have a bowl of flour,
01:48 and to that I'm going to be adding sugar,
01:50 baking soda, and baking powder.
01:52 Give it a little whisk, get it all combined,
01:54 and then we're gonna move on to our wet ingredients.
01:56 Two important things about this waffle recipe
01:58 that I think will set it apart from others,
01:59 the first being sour cream.
02:01 Sour cream is amazing fat that adds things like richness,
02:05 but it also adds a kind of like very subtle tartness
02:09 and like a little like special flavor
02:12 that you won't get from something like cream or milk.
02:14 Secondly, we have three eggs,
02:15 but they are already separated into egg whites and egg yolks.
02:18 So we're gonna get our egg whites into a bowl.
02:20 You can either use a stand mixer or a hand mixer,
02:22 and then we're gonna whip these up
02:23 until we got some stiff peaks.
02:25 Then to a separate bowl, we're gonna add our milk,
02:27 sour cream, egg yolks, and some melted butter.
02:30 Whisk that all up.
02:31 Once you have your wet ingredients mixed together,
02:33 I'm gonna go ahead and add my dry ingredients,
02:36 and I'm just gonna fold those in nicely.
02:39 And once that's all combined,
02:41 that's when you can go in with your egg whites.
02:42 A big mistake for any waffle or pancake batter
02:45 is to overmix.
02:47 If you are seeing lumpies and clumpies,
02:49 that's totally fine.
02:50 As long as it's mostly incorporated
02:52 and there's not like dry spots in your batter,
02:54 that's when you know you're done
02:55 and you're ready to fold in the egg whites.
02:58 And when you're folding in egg whites,
03:00 we're not mixing, right?
03:01 We're not like getting in there with a,
03:03 like a whisk or just getting super aggressive.
03:06 We're folding from the bottom and incorporating.
03:09 I'm trying to not disturb the egg white as I do it.
03:13 I'm trying to incorporate it.
03:14 You can use any waffle iron you have or want for this recipe.
03:18 I do think that round waffles
03:20 are kind of iconic for chicken and waffles.
03:22 We are going to be taking our batter
03:25 with a cup every single time.
03:28 I think that that will create consistency
03:30 and that means that every waffle is the same
03:32 and you don't have like spots
03:33 that don't have batter on it while you're cooking.
03:35 So we're gonna be using a third of a cup.
03:36 I'm gonna add that to here
03:39 and then I'm going to scrim off any from the top.
03:41 Then we're gonna brush our waffle maker
03:43 with a little bit of butter,
03:44 not just to keep it from sticking,
03:45 but to add a little bit more flavor
03:46 to help out that caramelization.
03:48 We're gonna let it cook.
03:49 It should be about five minutes
03:50 depending on your waffle maker.
03:52 As you're cooking your waffles,
03:54 you can put them on a wire rack
03:56 and get them into a warm oven.
03:57 Like 200 degrees should be fine
03:59 and I have one down here.
04:01 And those honestly should be okay
04:03 for like 30 minutes, 40 minutes,
04:05 which is exactly how long we're gonna need
04:06 to dredge and fry our chicken.
04:08 We're gonna deal with our chicken
04:10 now that it's been brining for a little while.
04:12 We're gonna unveil it
04:14 and we're actually gonna get this into our sheet tray
04:17 and we're gonna dry it off.
04:18 Though that buttermilk really helps
04:19 to make the chicken tender and taste good,
04:22 we don't really want it on our chicken
04:24 'cause we're gonna make like sort of like an egg wash
04:26 and that really helps making delicious fried chicken.
04:29 So we're gonna get these into our sheet tray
04:31 and then we are going to dry all of our pieces
04:33 as much as possible,
04:34 get the excess off using paper towels.
04:36 And then we're gonna season it pretty thoroughly
04:37 with salt and pepper.
04:39 Our wet station is just gonna be two eggs
04:41 with a bit of water whisked up
04:42 and our dry station is going to be some AP flour,
04:45 paprika, cayenne, some salt and some pepper
04:49 and we're gonna whisk that up until combined.
04:52 My favorite fried chicken hack I've ever learned
04:54 is to take a little bit of whatever wet dredge
04:57 you're adding to your chicken
04:59 and put it into your dry mixture.
05:01 That's going to add those little bits
05:02 of like extra craggly bits
05:04 'cause it's gonna coagulate with the flour
05:06 inside of your dredge
05:08 and it's gonna make like little crusty bits
05:10 that are gonna stick onto the chicken
05:11 and it really does help make a difference
05:13 'cause that's your favorite part.
05:14 You know, obviously the batter on the skin
05:16 tastes really good,
05:17 but when a little bit collects a little bit more
05:19 and you get that really crunchy bit, that's delicious.
05:21 We're gonna go from our sheet tray to the egg wash,
05:24 get it on both sides, make sure it's adhering,
05:26 there's no dry spots in the chicken
05:27 and then go right into our flour.
05:30 Again, we wanna like kind of pack on that flour,
05:32 make sure it gets on there.
05:33 There shouldn't be spots that are left exposed.
05:35 We'll place our dredge pieces onto a wire rack
05:37 until we're ready to fry.
05:38 We're all set to go.
05:39 Our oil's preheated to 350 degrees
05:41 and we're gonna fry in two batches
05:43 so we don't overcrowd things
05:45 and bring the temperature too low.
05:46 We're doing like a sort of shallow fry,
05:48 like two, three inches of oil.
05:49 We're not doing a deep fry.
05:51 It's like the best method for cooking chicken in my opinion
05:54 'cause you get that bottom,
05:55 it can be really crispy and delicious.
05:57 So you're gonna carefully lower your chicken into the oil.
06:00 Then we're gonna cook our chicken for about six to eight
06:02 minutes or until it's 165 degrees when red
06:05 with an internal thermometer.
06:06 We're looking for that golden brown crust.
06:09 We don't want things taken too, too far.
06:11 And since we're cooking dark meat and not big, thick thighs,
06:14 it should even take maybe on the shorter side.
06:16 Then we're gonna transfer it to another wire rack
06:17 lined with paper towels.
06:19 Season it with a bit of salt.
06:20 I like to just add that at the end
06:21 just to like really double down on the seasoning
06:23 and it sticks well with the oil.
06:24 And then we're ready to assemble.
06:26 With a dish like this,
06:27 you gotta do something in the food industry
06:28 we like to call building the perfect bite.
06:30 You need to have a piece of waffle,
06:31 the perfect piece of chicken,
06:33 and a little bit of whatever your topping of choice
06:35 on it is.
06:36 In some ways you think it shouldn't work, right?
06:38 Like waffles by themselves can be dry.
06:41 Chicken by itself can maybe be a little overwhelming,
06:44 but it becomes the perfect little canvas for that chicken,
06:48 especially when you're adding your hot honey
06:50 or your maple syrup.
06:51 Chicken itself has a little bit of kick from the cayenne
06:54 and it's really well fried, that crispy outside.
06:56 And then we did that work to brine it.
06:58 So it's really juicy on the inside.
06:59 There is not a dry piece of chicken on this plate.
07:02 And the waffles are genuinely awesome.
07:04 They're not like huge, thick Belgian boys,
07:06 but they are like that classic American flat style.
07:09 I like to top mine with a thigh and a drum
07:12 and I'll slather it with maple syrup.
07:14 I'll slather it with hot honey.
07:16 You could go in with hot sauce, whatever.
07:18 I'm gonna have to go take a nap
07:20 'cause this is so delicious,
07:21 but I truly don't understand how someone could eat this
07:23 and then go about their day
07:24 'cause I'm certainly not going to.
07:25 So if you want more incredible breakfast classics,
07:29 stick around here on delish.com.
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