Country style Pan Fried Chicken is lightly seasoned and deliciously crisp. You don’t need a deep fryer to make a good crispy fried chicken. This is a recipe for pan fried chicken that will make some of the best fried chicken gravy you’ve ever tasted.
Table of contents
Being a third-generation Kansas farm girl, I know my chicken frying. I grew up on my mother’s family recipe for pan fried chicken using Crisco. Served with mashed potatoes and Old Fashioned Green Beans, this is surprisingly the first meal I learned to prepare as a very young cook.
Country Fried chicken and gravy ended up on our dinner table several times a week during Summer harvest months. It was a rewarding and easy way to feed a table full of hired hands helping my father with the farm work.
The preparation to make pan fried chicken is simple, but attention to details important. The right kind of oil, at just the right temperature, and knowing when to turn the chicken are important.
In this article, I’ll give you step by step instructions so you can make perfect fried chicken, and fried chicken gravy.
Oil: I’ve never fried chicken in anything but Crisco. As far as I know nothing fries up chicken better than Crisco.
Breading: For pan fried chicken, the “breading” is nothing more than salt and peppered all-purpose flour. Never did we jazz it up with things like buttermilk, corn flakes or herbs. Keeping things simple, lets that chicken flavor shine.
Equipment: And use a deep fryer??? Never. You simply can’t make fried chicken gravy without a skillet with chicken drippings which consists of oil and those little pieces of crispy skin that have stuck to the bottom of that skillet.
I wouldn’t touch our classic recipe. The results, sweet milk fried chicken gravy over creamy mashed potatoes and perfectly crunchy fried chicken.
You can use one whole fryer chicken cut into pieces, or select individual pieces of chicken, like breasts, thighs, and chicken drumsticks.
You can’t have fried chicken gravy without pan fried chicken, so let’s get started.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Chicken: Use a whole fryer chicken, cut up. Or choose chicken pieces of your choice. A mix between chicken thighs, breasts, drum stick or even wings. The weight should equal around 3 pounds.
- Flour: All-purpose flour will be used for dredging chicken for frying. Do not use self-rising flour.
- Crisco: Crisco is an American brand of vegetable shortening. It’s a solid fat product with a high smoke point, making it good for frying.
- Milk: Full fat please. This is not the time to skimp on fat calories by using a low fat milk product. Your Fried Chicken Gravy will be creamier and sweeter using full fat milk.
- Spices: Kosher Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper
Step by Step Instructions
Tip: Since we’re making Fried Chicken with Fried Chicken Gravy, you’ll more than likely want to serve this with mashed potatoes. I like to make the mashed potatoes first, then transfer them to a slow cooker to keep warm until the rest of the meal is ready.
Important: Before you drain those potatoes, fish out a cup of the starchy cooking water. We’ll use it to make fried chicken gravy.
Optional: You can brine the chicken pieces in salted water for an hour before frying. Remove from water and use paper towels to thoroughly pat dry before flouring.
- Set up your dredging station. Place chicken pieces on one plate. The salt and peppered flour on the next plate. Then have a plate ready to place the floured chicken pieces. Once pieces are floured, shake off excess flour. Let them sit 10 minutes to set the flour. Dinner plates work well here.
- Melt the Crisco over medium high heat, in a large heavy skillet with deep sides. You’ll need enough oil to cover the chicken pieces about ⅓ of the way up. Once the oil has reached a temperature of 365 degrees, gently place the chicken pieces in the hot oil. Brown each piece on one side until golden. This will take about 7 – 10 minutes per side. Turn the pieces to brown on the other side. Chicken is done when internal temperature reads 165 degrees.
Tip: How to tell when fried chicken is done on one side and ready to turn.
- Photo #1: Use a fork to lift one of the pieces of chicken to take a peek to see if the chicken pieces have reached that golden brown color. This chicken drum is not golden brown and not ready to turn.
- Photo #2: I’ve just turned this chicken thigh. Now that’s perfect.
- Step 3: As the chicken pieces cook, remove them to a plate lined with a paper towel. This gives you a chance to turn some of the remaining pieces to make sure they’re browned on each side. Legs and breasts may need extra attention.
- Step 4: Use a meat fork to hold the breast on it’s side so it cooks on the sides. We want to make sure each side has that crispy crust. Now we’re ready to make fried chicken gravy.
Nothing will make your mouth water more than a platter of crispy pan fried chicken.
Total time to cook a full pan of chicken is about 30-40 minutes. Remove the cooked chicken pieces to a large platter and tent with foil while you make the white chicken gravy.
How To Make Fried Chicken Gravy
Fried chicken gravy may be the best thing I’ve ever eaten in my life. Easy to make following this simple procedure. Mashed potatoes never had it so good.
Remember at the beginning of this article, I instructed you to prepare the mashed potatoes and before draining, fish out a cup of the starchy potato cooking water. This water will be combined with the milk to make a creamy fried chicken gravy.
- Step 1: Carefully pour off the oil leaving ¼ cup in the fry pan. Make sure you don’t let any of those brown chicken crunchies on the bottom of the pan escape. That’s what really makes a gravy flavorful. With burner on medium low, add ¼ cup of all purpose flour
- Step 2: Stir into a roux. You can make more gravy by leaving more of the grease in the pan. Just make sure you are adding equal part of flour to oil.
- Step 3: Stir until well blended and the roux is starting to turn golden in color. Make sure you’re scraping up every bit of the chicken bits from the bottom of the pan.
- Step 4: Add 1 cup of milk and ¾ cup of the reserved potato water.
- Step 5: Stir constantly and continue to cook as it bubbles and thickens. If the gravy seems thick, add milk, a little at a time to achieve that perfect gravy consistency. Each time you add milk (if needed) let it simmer for at least 1 minute to thicken before you determine if more milk is needed.
- Step 6: Keep stirring until nice and creamy. Serve immediately with Fried Chicken and Mashed Potatoes.
Transfer gravy to a serving bowl and serve over mashed potatoes.
Questions You May Have
Don’t you dare try to get all healthy on me and remove the skin…it won’t work…don’t bother. Making cast iron skillet fried chicken is not the time to count fat calories. It’s all about that crispy skin.
Once you add the liquid to the roux, you can not add any more flour. Doing so will create lumps in gravy, without recovery.
Crisco vegetable oil is a good substitute. Peanut and Canola oil are also good choices here. Keeping in mind, I’ll never use anything other than Crisco shortening.
Equipment
You’ll need a large heavy bottomed skillet with high sides. A 15″ cast iron skillet works well here. I also like All-Clad 12 inch skillet. With a smaller skillet, you’ll most certainly have to cook the chicken pieces in batches. Avoid a non-stick skillet. Most non-stick skillets are notorious for not generating heat high enough to get a good sear of frying.
How To Serve It.
Mash potatoes with some butter and milk and just enough salt and pepper. My mom always served this meal with this Old Fashioned green beans recipe. that have been tossed with some cooked chopped onion and bacon pieces.
Another great side dish for fried chicken is this recipe for Honey Butter Skillet Corn.
Storage
Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 4 – 5 days. Store fried chicken pieces, potatoes and gravy all in separate containers.
To reheat: I personally like to eat left over fried chicken cold. And it’s great to take on picnics. If you want to reheat, avoid the microwave because it will soften that crispy chicken crust. Reheat left over fried chicken in a 300 degree oven for a few minutes, or use an air fryer to keep the skin crispy. Use that microwave to reheat potatoes and gravy.
Tips For Success:
- Before placing the raw chicken into the hot oil in the pan, make sure the oil is hot enough. If it’s not, the chicken will absorb the oil which will keep it from getting nice and crispy. Use a digital read thermometer to register 365 degrees. Don’t have a digital read thermometer? My mom used to sprinkle in a bit of flour to the hot oil. If it created a good sizzle, she knew it was ready for the chicken.
- When placing the chicken pieces in the fry pan, don’t over-crowd. I usually pan fry chicken in batches. During cooking, if grease is splattering too much, lower heat.
- Don’t purchase “factory farmed” chicken. This individual pieces of chicken will be too large, making it hard to fit in the pan, and making it hard to get cooked through. Choose a chicken from a small smaller company like Red Bird Farms. Responsible companies such as this, don’t use methods to grow over-sized birds for harvest.
- When Making Fried Chicken Gravy: Once you add the milk and starchy water to the flour oil mixture to start the gravy process, you can’t add more flour. It will simply clump without recovery.
Recipe for Pan Fried Chicken and Fried Chicken Gravy
Pan fried chicken with fried chicken gravy has been my favorite comfort food recipe for as long as I have memories. I’ve been making it since I was a young girl. A family recipe that I’d like to pass along to your family.
More Chicken Recipes
And if you’re looking for more chicken recipes, don’t miss my Chicken Category. You’ll find lots of great recipes including the most popular on my site for Chicken Macaroni Salad. A cold macaroni salad thats sweet, tangy and wonderful.
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Pan Fried Chicken with Fried Chicken Gravy
Ingredients
- 3 pounds Whole Chicken Cut into pieces, or purchase individual pieces of your choice.
- ½ cup Crisco Shortening enough to cover the chicken pieces half way up
- 2 cups flour for dredging chicken
- 2 Tablespoon Kosher Salt divided
- ½ teaspoon Freshly ground pepper
- For the Fried Chicken Gravy:
- ¼ cup oil drippings oil from the fried chicken
- ¼ Cup All purpose flour
- 1 cup milk and more to insure gravy consistency
- ¾ cup starchy water from boiling potatoes
- ½ teaspoon Kosher Salt
- ⅛ teaspoon Freshly ground pepper
Instructions
- 1 hour before frying chicken, place chicken pieces in a large bowl of water and add 1 tablespoon kosher salt. Drain chicken pieces and pat dry with paper towels.
- In the meantime, prepare the Mashed Potatoes. Peel and cube potatoes, cover with salted water and place on stove top to boil. Once tender, remove ¾ cup of the starchy cooking water and set aside. Keep the potatoes warm in a crockpot on low.
- For The Pan Fried Chicken
- Place flour on a large plate and use a whisk to stir in salt and pepper. Dredge chicken pieces in the flour coating all sides, and shaking off any excess flour. Place each piece on a clean plate. Let sit for 10 minutes to let the flour "set in".
- Melt Crisco shortening in a deep sided skillet or large fry pan. When oil reaches around 375 degrees start placing the floured chicken pieces in the hot oil, skin side down. You want to oil to come about ⅓ of the way up the chicken. Cook each piece until golden brown. You don't want to over-crowd the chicken pieces. More times than not, I fry chicken in batches.
- Using a meat fork, turn chicken pieces over to brown on the other side.
- Use a digital read thermometer to make sure the internal temperature of the chicken has reached 165 degrees. And no pink juices are coming from the chicken.
- Remove pieces to a plate lined with paper towels and tent with foil to keep warm.
- For The Fried Chicken Gravy:
- Drain all but ¼ cup of the oil fro the skillet. Return to medium heat and add ¼ cup flour to the pan. Please note, you can make more gravy by reserving more oil. Just remember you need a 1 – 1 ratio of oil and flour.
- Cook 2 – 3 minutes or until flour is starting to turn a light golden brown. Be sure you're aggressively scraping the chicken crumb bits from the bottom of the pan.
- Add milk and reserved starchy water from the potatoes. Let it bubble until thickened, at least two minutes. This is important to let the flour flavor blend with the oil. Drizzle in more milk if necessary to get a gravy consistency that's perfect for you. Remember, each time you add a little milk, let it simmer for a couple of minutes to allow the gravy to re-thicken.
- Note: Once you add the liquid to the flour oil mixture to start the gravy process, you can't add more flour. It will simply clump without recovery.
Notes
- Before placing the raw chicken into the hot oil in the pan, make sure the oil is hot enough. If it’s not, the chicken will absorb the oil which will keep it from getting nice and crispy. Use a digital read thermometer to register 365 degrees. Don’t have a digital read thermometer? My mom used to sprinkle in a bit of flour to the hot oil. If it created a good sizzle, she knew it was ready for the chicken.
- When placing the chicken pieces in the fry pan, don’t over-crowd. I usually pan fry chicken in batches. During cooking, if grease is splattering too much, lower heat.
- Don’t purchase “factory farmed” chicken. This individual pieces of chicken will be too large, making it hard to fit in the pan, and making it hard to get cooked through. Choose a chicken from a small smaller company like Red Bird Farms. Or purchase chicken from Whole Foods. Responsible companies such as this, don’t use methods or purchase chicken that are over-sized birds for harvest.
- When Making Fried Chicken Gravy: Once you add the milk and starchy water to the flour oil mixture to start the gravy process, you can’t add more flour. It will simply clump without recovery.
Nutrition
Pan Fried Chicken and Fried Chicken Gravy … It’s Whats For Dinner
Why Trust These Recipes? Lea Ann Brown has lived, worked and played in Colorado for 45 years. She has immersed herself in the Colorado Culinary space, is a Culinary School Graduate and publishes her Colorado food Blog, Cooking On The Ranch.
Well done! Takes me back to my childhood. My step-mother was from Hell, but she cooked her chicken and gravy this way. Only good memories from this recipe. Thank you
Looks exactly like my moms… fixed in cast iron with good ole Crisco and that’s the way I’ve always done it too. My mom always called it milk gravy & she got the most beautiful color on her roux before adding the milk. Too bad more people don’t learn to cook at an early age with simple ingredients…. Thanks for sharing
Hi Abby – thanks so much for the comment.
I can’t imagine making fried chicken using anything BUT Crisco. And isn’t this meal in all it’s entirety just the best. It’s the first thing my mom ever taught me to make – which is surprising, it can be a little fickle to get that chicken just right.
And actually I think my mom called it milk gravy too. A little trick she taught me to do was add some of the starchy potato water to the milk gravy as it was thickening. She learned that from living through the Great Depression – saved on milk.
Thanks for your note – now let’s go fry up some chicken. 🙂
How much flour exactly