Fried Chicken Sammie with Herby Pickle Ranch
I created this recipe for my series with the American Dairy Association Northeast. The episode that it’s featured on was shot at my pal, Mike Puma’s restaurant Gotham Burger Social Club. If you haven’t had one of his smash burgers, you haven’t lived. Another favorite is his fried chicken sandwich, the Dixie Chick. My version – a double dredged, buttermilk marinated fried chicken with an herby pickle ranch sauce is an ode to Mike’s delicious menu offering. Buttermilk is the silent star in this recipe. It helps tenderize the chicken, the natural sugars aid in caramelization, and it’s used to add flavor to both the chicken and sauce.
Fried Chicken Sammie with Herby Pickle Ranch
Ingredients
For the herby pickle ranch:
- ¼ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- ¼ cup buttermilk
- ⅛ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 packed tablespoon finely chopped fresh dill
- 1 packed tablespoon minced fresh chives
- ½ cup finely chopped dill pickles
For the fried chicken:
- 8 chicken tenders, about 1 ½ pounds
- 3 cups buttermilk
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- Vegetable oil
For serving:
- 4 Big Marty’s seeded rolls
- Bibb lettuce leaves
Instructions
- Make the herby pickle ranch. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk the sour cream, mayonnaise, buttermilk and garlic powder until smooth.
- Add the dill, chives and pickles and stir until all ingredients are fully combined; refrigerate until ready to use.
- Make the fried chicken. Place the chicken tenders into a large bowl.
- Add the buttermilk, toss to combine, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
- Fill a small Dutch oven with 3-inches of vegetable oil and bring to 350 degrees over medium-high heat.
- Meanwhile, in a medium sized bowl, whisk the flour, cornstarch salt, garlic powder, paprika and pepper until well combined.
- Working one at a time, remove the chicken from the buttermilk marinade and allow any excess buttermilk to drip off.
- Place the tender into the flour mixture, pressing it onto the chicken until fully coated; shake off any excess flour.
- Dip the chicken back into the buttermilk, making sure it is fully coated before allowing any excess buttermilk to drip off.
- Once again, place the tender into the flour mixture, pressing it onto the chicken until fully coated; shake off any excess flour.
- Gently add the coated chicken tender to the hot oil and cook, turning often with tongs, until deep golden brown and the internal temperature reaches 165-degrees, about 4 minutes per tender. Do not cook more than 2 tenders at a time to keep the oil from spilling over.
- Transfer the chicken to a wire rack-lined sheet pan to drain; repeat with the remaining chicken.
- To serve, place a layer of the lettuce over the bottom half of the bun.
- Spoon a generous dollop of the sauce over the lettuce and spread it evenly across the bottom.
- Place 2 chicken tenders onto the sandwich, followed by another generous spoonful of the sauce.
- Place the top half of the roll over the chicken and serve immediately.
