Making buttermilk chicken at home easy to do. The recipe calls for buttermilk. Chicken is a delicious and popular meat option to use with buttermilk. Buttermilk works by tenderizing meat, making it fork tender, moist, juicy, and flavorful.
If you’re looking for an easy weeknight dinner recipe to make the family, buttermilk chicken is the one you’ll want to add to your weekly or monthly meal rotation.
How to Pair Buttermilk Chicken
Buttermilk chicken is the main star to any dinner spread. It’s a great low carb, protein rich meat that pairs well with a variety of side dishes like starches, and vegetables. Here are my favorite below.
- steamed rice
- roasted brussels sprouts
- savory carrots
- oven roasted broccoli
- green salad
- black beans or pinto beans
- creamed corn
- mashed potatoes
- creamed spinach
How to Make Buttermilk Substitue
This recipe calls for buttermilk. Below I have included steps to make your own homemade buttermilk using the milk from your refrigerator.
(recipe on how to make buttermilk using milk and white vinegar below)
Ingredients and Directions to make buttermilk chicken
Chicken: I use a combination of chicken legs and chicken thighs. Chicken breasts are another great choice to use.
Buttermilk: I like to use fresh buttermilk for the best flavor. However, feel free to use my buttermilk substitute recipe in case you forget it at the grocery store.
Seasoning: A few staple pantry seasoning ingredients are key to locking in flavor in this chicken recipe.
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Oven Roasted Buttermilk Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 cups buttermilk recipe on how to make buttermilk using milk and white vinegar below
- 5 garlic cloves peeled and smashed
- 1 tbsp kosher salt
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1½ tsp paprika
- Lots of freshly ground black pepper
- 2½-3 lbs chicken I used 3 thighs and 6 legs
- Drizzle of olive oil
- Flaked or coarse sea salt to taste
- 3 teaspoons butter
- Chopped coriander optional, parsley or thyme works well too
- Fresh lemon slices to garnish
Instructions
- In the measuring up of the buttermilk, whisk it with the garlic, salt, sugar, paprika and lots of freshly ground black pepper. Place all the chicken parts in a gallon-sized freezer bag (or lidded container) and pour the buttermilk brine over them. Swish it around so that all parts are covered. Refrigerate for at least 2 but preferably 24 and up to 48 hours (as mentioned earlier, we tried an extra 24 hours without incident).
- When ready to roast, preheat oven to 425°F (fan on for convection). Heat up a cast iron skillet on medium high heat. Add in the goose/duck fat if using, drizzle over some olive oil. Remove chicken from buttermilk brine, shake off excess and arrange skin side up on the skillet. Turn off heat. (If using a baking dish, just arrange the chicken in it skin side up.) Drizzle lightly with olive oil, then sprinkle with additional paprika and sea salt to taste.
- Roast for 20 minutes if using cast iron skillet or 25-30 minutes if using baking dish, until brown and done. Garnish with herbs of choice if using, serve immediately with pan drippings over some potatoes or greens.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is only an estimate and it’s accuracy is not guaranteed to be exact.
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Adapted barely from Deb Perelman’s Smitten Kitchen, the original version by Nigella Lawson can be found here.
