This recipe came about because my Grandgirl wanted Buffalo Mac n Cheese – but I had neither the mac nor the cheese in the house. So the next idea was Buffalo Pizza. But when I make that I usually use these honey chicken strips I buy frozen in a bag, and I toss them in hot sauce. But I didn’t have that on hand either. 😢 I did have chicken though, so I made this and it came out great! So, here is the recipe in case you want to try it! 😄

INGREDIENTS

Vegetable or peanut oil (do not use olive oil, it will burn) or vegetable shortening for frying

Your favorite hot sauce, about 1/2 to 1 cup, depending on the level of heat of your hot sauce

Granny’s Dry Rub (** See below link for the recipe) or at least as many of my Dry Rub ingredients as you have on hand

Chicken pieces (as much as you need for the amount of people you have to feed)

DIRECTIONS

Wash your chicken in cool running water and pat dry with paper towels

Sprinkle the chicken liberally with Granny’s Dry Rub and rub, rub, rub it all into the chicken very well

Put the chicken into a bowl or pan with sides

Pour enough buttermilk over the chicken to be able to coat each piece thoroughly, and toss the seasoned chicken in the buttermilk

Now cover the bowl or pan with plastic wrap and put into the fridge to marinate for at least several hours to overnight

After that has happened, take the marinated chicken out of the fridge (keep it covered) and let it sit out on the counter for about an hour so it can come to room temperature

Now, pour off the extra buttermilk and any accumulated juices from the bowl

Cover a baking pan with foil – big enough to hold the amount of chicken you have – and put a large cake cooling rack on the baking pan

At the same time, get a heavy frying pan and start heating up about 1 inch of oil or shortening on a medium high flame

Put some flour into a clean bowl, pan or large plastic baggie (that you can shake like Shake and Bake)

Sprinkle the flour with a little salt and some of my dry rub and mix it together well and then taste a tiny dab of the flour to make sure it has enough flavor, add any more salt or Rub it might need to make it taste great

Dredge the chicken in the seasoned flour and test the oil to make sure it is hot enough You can do this any of 3 ways: 1 – sprinkle a pinch of flour into the oil and if it sizzles and foams, the oil is hot 2 – stick the end of a wooden spoon handle into the oil and if the oil bubbles around it, the oil is hot 3 – measure the oil temperature with a candy/frying thermometer – the oil should be about 350°



Now carefully lay the chicken into the hot oil

Fry the chicken till it has turned golden brown on one side, then turn it over and brown the other side

When that has happened, remove from the pan and set it on the rack on your baking pan to drain a bit Note that the objective here is not to completely cook the chicken, just to get it golden brown

Now, while the chicken is draining on the rack, turn on the oven and set it to 350°

Next, get a pan and melt the butter in it

Add in the honey and hot sauce and stir to combine thoroughly

Dip a tasting spoon into the mixture and taste (its going to be hot so blow on it to cool it before you taste it) to make sure you have the heat (spice) level you want

If its too hot add a bit more honey, not hot enough, add more hot sauce

Take a piece or two of the chicken at a time and coat them well in this sauce and then lay the chicken back onto the rack on top of your baking pan (the rack is important to make sure air can get to all sides of the chicken to make each piece crispy)

Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes to 1/2 hour depending on the size of your chicken pieces (cut one of the biggest pieces to peek inside and make sure it is cooked through)