Name: Hurricane Bay Fried Chicken
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 18 min
Total time: 8 h 33 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Southern
Ingredients: 1 whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces (Tyson); 4 cups buttermilk; 3 tablespoons kosher salt; 2 teaspoons black pepper, divided; 2 cups all-purpose flour; 2 teaspoons paprika; 1 teaspoon garlic powder; 1 teaspoon onion powder; 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper; 4 gallons peanut oil (Member's Mark)

Yields 4 servings

Prep + Rest 8 hr 15 min

Cook 18 min

Oil Temp 350°F

Difficulty Intermediate

Real fried chicken takes time, not technique. The buttermilk soak does the work overnight while you sleep, and the dredge is just there to give the buttermilk something to grab onto. Skip the brine and you've got chicken with a coating, not fried chicken.

Sam Sifton's five-star Buttermilk Fried Chicken on NYT Cooking reads like a recipe a grandfather would write. Salt, buttermilk, pepper, flour, hot oil. The Hurricane Bay HB-4 holds 350°F across a full bird's worth of pieces because 4 gallons of oil doesn't crash when six drumsticks hit the basket.

Take it to the store. Take it to the cookout.

Printable PDF: full recipe + Walmart shopping checklist on one page.

Download Recipe + Shopping List (PDF)

★ The Sunday Supper Pairing

Tyson Whole Chicken Cut-Up

A whole cut-up chicken gives you the right mix of dark and white meat for a proper Sunday fry, and it is cheaper per pound than buying parts. Tyson's pre-cut bird is consistent in size so the pieces cook evenly. Pair with Member's Mark peanut oil for the cleanest fry.

Member's Mark Peanut Oil

HB-4 oil capacity4 gallons

Target temp350°F

Dark meat cook14–16 min

White meat cook12–14 min

Method

Brine the chicken overnight

Whisk 2 Tbsp of the salt and 1 tsp of the pepper into the buttermilk. Submerge the chicken pieces in the brine, cover, and refrigerate at least 8 hours and up to overnight. The salt seasons all the way through and the buttermilk acid tenderizes.
Build the dredge

In a wide bowl, whisk together the flour, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne, the remaining 1 Tbsp salt, and the remaining 1 tsp pepper. The dredge should taste a little too seasoned on its own. Some of it falls off in the fryer.
Dredge the brined chicken

Pull each piece of chicken straight out of the buttermilk without shaking off too much, and press it firmly into the seasoned flour. Turn it, press again, and lay on a wire rack. The clinging buttermilk is what makes the crust craggy and craterous.
Bring the HB-4 to 350°F

Fill the Hurricane Bay HB-4 with 4 gallons of peanut oil and bring to 350°F. From cold the burner gets there in 12 to 14 minutes. Wait for the actual reading, not the dial.
Lower the dark meat first

Thighs and drumsticks take longer to cook through, so they go in first. Lower 4 to 5 dark pieces into the basket and fry 14 to 16 minutes, turning once at the halfway point.
Run the white meat

Pull the dark, let the oil recover for 90 seconds, then drop breasts and wings. Fry 12 to 14 minutes turning once. Internal temp should hit 165°F at the bone.
Rest on a rack

Lift the chicken onto a wire rack set over a sheet pan. Don't lay it on paper towels, the steam will soft the bottom. Rest 5 minutes before serving.
Hold for a crowd if you need to

If you are feeding 12 instead of 4, hold the rested chicken in a 200°F oven on the rack while you run more batches.

★ Hurricane Bay HB-4 Notes

Tuning the recipe to the unit.

Oil volume4 gallons gives you the depth to fully submerge thighs and drumsticks at the same time.
Target temp350°F. Lower will leave the crust pale, higher will burn the flour before the bone-in meat cooks through.
Recovery90 seconds between batches. Cold chicken pulls more heat out of the oil than vegetables do. The 90,000 BTU burner climbs back fast.
Basket capacity4 to 5 bone-in pieces per batch. Half a chicken at a time keeps the oil temperature stable.
Coating thicknessSingle dredge with wet buttermilk drag. Don't double-coat, you'll get a thick shell that separates from the meat.
Oil reuseChicken oil holds up for 3 to 4 fries. Strain it cold and store it covered in a dark place.

Recipe inspired by Recipe inspired by Sam Sifton's Buttermilk Fried Chicken on NYT Cooking. The overnight buttermilk brine and the seasoned flour dredge are his method. We tuned the dark-meat-then-white-meat order and recovery times for the Hurricane Bay HB-4's 4-gallon outdoor capacity.

Hurricane Bay Fried Chicken.

Take it to the store. Take it to the cookout.

Tyson Whole Chicken Cut-Up

Method

Brine the chicken overnight

Build the dredge

Dredge the brined chicken

Bring the HB-4 to 350°F

Lower the dark meat first

Run the white meat

Rest on a rack

Hold for a crowd if you need to

Cook this on the unit it was tuned for.