I’m all for mouth-watering hot chicken showing up on my TikTok For You Page. Around early 2021, Hot Chicken recipes started popping up all over the internet. As someone who embraces any opportunity to cook (okay, fine. mostly eat) new recipes, I was sold. After following a few re-creates of Hattie B’s chicken, I needed to add a twist. 

I have no problems with Nashville style chicken, but in a smaller kitchen, I like to reduce cleanup and keep a simple process. With shallow pan frying, I didn’t need to get a ton of oil heated and made it a bit easier. I still craved a ton of flavor and spice – but I wasn’t able to get enough oil for the coating because I wasn’t deep-frying. 

This is where this Smoky Chipotle Hot Chicken Recipe came from. After a pickle-brine marinade, the dredged chicken is pan-fried and tossed in San Diego Sauce. The smoky chipotle and garlic flavor makes this recipe irresistible.

Ingredients

To make the fried chicken you need:

• 1-2 pounds of Chicken Breast, cut Length-wise (See image below)
• ¼ cup Dill pickle juice – This will be used as a brine for the chicken
• 3-4 oz San Diego Sauce – FLAVOR FLAVOR FLAVOR
• Buttermilk (can be replaced with egg and 2 tbsp water, mixed well)
• Vegetable Oil – enough to fill about 2 inches or so on a cast iron pan or skillet
• All-purpose flour – or gluten-free flour if you prefer
• Seasonings – Black Pepper, garlic powder, salt

• Optional:
• Honey or Brown sugar (if you want to add sweetness to the sauce coating)
• Butter (If you want to add richness to the sauce coating)
• Cornstarch – helps give the chicken a perfect crisp, but can be omitted in a pinch
• Additional Spices: Not necessary, but I have a few notes on where to add, if preferred

Pickle Brine Chicken for Frying

Spicy or not, the best fried chicken recipes always start with a pickle juice brine. This sour and salty flavor creates pieces of chicken that are perfectly crispy fried on the outside and juicy on the inside. Try not to skip this step!

1. Grab a large ziploc bag (or mixing bowl) and add your chicken.
2. OPTIONAL: I usually throw some garlic powder, smoked paprika, and onion powder on the chicken at this step, but it is not necessary)
3. Add your pickle brine and ensure the chicken is covered.
4. Refrigerate for an hour, but preferably overnight

How to Make Smoky Chipotle Hot Chicken

DREDGING THE CHICKEN

Once the chicken has brined for an hour or longer, set out two bowls big enough to fit your chicken pieces.

Pour buttermilk (or egg/water combo) into one. Optionally, you can add additional spices (or San Diego Sauce) to the wet ingredient bowl and mix well. This is your wet ingredient bowl.

In the second dish, combine the flour, cornstarch (optional), and seasoning. Mix well. This is your dry ingredient bowl.

Now you can drain your chicken, and set out a metal rack. Get ready for the fun part!

Pro Tip #1: At this point, you can start heating your skillet/cast iron pan and oil on Medium high, but keep an eye on it. The oil should reach 365-375 degrees.

Pro Tip #2: before starting, mix a sprinkle of the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients – this will create flaky bits when your first few chicken pieces fry – as you get to the end, this will happen naturally from the dredging process, but we like consistency 🙂

Pro Tip #3: Things can get messy. Reserve one hand for dry ingredients and one hand for wet ingredients so you don’t end up with pasty fingers.

1. Working one piece at a time, dunk the chicken in the dry ingredient bowl, ensuring the chicken is covered well.
2. Next, dunk into the buttermilk mixture
3. Dunk back into the flour. 
4. Set onto the wire rack and repeat

This dredging process makes for extra crispy chicken – necessary to withstand a toss in sauce at the end. For a quick overview of why dredging is important, Food Above Gold has an informative article.

Pro Tip #4: The chicken can rest for a while to let the dredge/coat settle before frying, so avoid going directly into the heated oil after dredging.

FRYING THE CHICKEN

Once the oil temperature is in the 365-375 range. If you do not have a thermometer, drop a bit of flour into the oil. If it sizzles, your oil should be hot enough.

Work in batches while frying the chicken. The oil temp will fluctuate while the chicken is added, so you don’t want to overcrowd the pan. I recommend 4-5 pieces of chicken in the fry oil – but this can vary depending on the pan size. As a rule of thumb, don’t let the chicken pieces touch eachother in the pan.

Place the chicken in the oil and lay it out away from you (you don’t want hot oil to splash at you). Use tongs to move the chicken after a minute or so to avoid sticking to the pan. Fry until golden brown and then flip. Each side will usually be about 5-7 minutes. 

You can use a thermometer to check the internal temperature of the chicken. Insert the thermometer into the thickest part of the chicken and ensure it is at 165 degrees.

Once done, use tongs to place the chicken on a clean rack to cool. Optionally, you can place the chicken in the oven at 250 to keep warm if you are making a large batch.

Once all the chicken has been cooked properly, prepare for flavor!

COATING THE CHICKEN IN SAUCE

When your chicken is finished frying, it’s time for the real hit of flavor – San Diego Sauce.

Two methods of Sauce delivery:

1. The Clean Way

Using a basting brush, evenly coat each piece of chicken with the San Diego Sauce. If you do not have a basting brush, spooning on the sauce will work fine… Or you can use method #2:

2. The Fun Way

In a Large heat-proof mixing bowl, add 2-3 ounces of sauce (a bit more than half of the 5oz woozy bottle). Optional: if you like things sweet, feel free to mix a drizzle of honey or a bit of brown sugar in with the sauce. 

Add the fried chicken and toss the wings to coat them fully! Here is a video to help with sauce toss technique. 

Serving the Smoky Chipotle Hot Chicken 

This chicken is amazing on its own, but if you are looking for sides to eat along with it, we recommend mac and cheese, mixed veggies, cole slaw, mashed potatoes, serving it Nashville style on a white bread with pickles, or making Chipotle Chicken Sandwiches!

However you serve it, make sure your table is set with San Diego Sauce!

Click here for San Diego Sauce!