Southern Smothered Fried Chicken

1. Place one or two of the chicken breasts in a large zipper bag and with a rolling pin or a meat tenderizer hammer beat the chicken breast so flatten slightly. You don’t want them flat, you just want to beat them down enough to where it isn’t so thick. Remove from the bag and season the chicken breast liberally with salt and pepper on both sides. Set the dredged chicken on a plate and repeat with the remaining chicken breasts. Place the 2 cups of flour on a plate and add a couple dashes of salt and pepper to the flour.

2. Place a large saute pan on the stove and heat the oil on medium to high heat. While the oil is getting hot, dredge the chicken breast through the flour. Make sure that the chicken is evenly coated. Place the chicken breasts in the hot oil and allow to for about 7 minutes on each side or until golden brown.

3. Once the chicken has finished cooking, remove it from the oil with a kitchen spider or spatula and place on a plate lined with paper towels. Reduce the heat to low to medium heat. Leave all of that good chicken flavor and oil in the pan unless you have more than what you put in the first time. In this case, measure out the dripping until you have about 1 c. of oil and fat. Add the diced onions and allow to cook for about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and stir for a minute more.

4. Slowly whisk the remaining cup of flour into the oil droppings to make sure no clumps are formed. Once the flour has been added, add a cup of water at a time while whisking. Keep adding the water and whisking until you get a thick gravy. Once the gravy has been formed, which should take about 5-7 minutes (not too long) add the cayenne pepper, garlic powder and onion powder, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Once the gravy is to your liking return the chicken back to the pan and allow to simmer on both sides for 15 minutes before serving over the cooked rice.

Note: If you want to add bell peppers or cut your onions into rings you can. In my family people don’t typically like onions so I try my best to hide them.