Skillet-Fried Chicken and Waffles

Note the chicken needs to marinate overnight so plan ahead.

For the buttermilk egg wash:
Get out a large bowl, and add the eggs. Then stir in the buttermilk, Dijon mustard, Nature’s seasoning, cayenne and garlic powder.

If you’re using a whole chicken, go ahead and quarter it. I also skinned the breasts and cut them into strips since they tend to get really big after cooking.

Add all the chicken into the mixing bowl, cover, refrigerate and let it sit overnight.

For the chicken dredge:
When you’re ready to cook, place a cast iron skillet with about 3 cups of vegetable oil (or enough so that the oil is 1 inch from the top of the pan) in the oven set to 350 F for about 15 minutes. While this is happening get the flour mix ingredients mixed together

Get your chicken out of the fridge and get ready to start dredging.

Add the chicken into the flour one piece at a time. Really get good thick dredge on the chicken. Turn the chicken a few times until you can’t see any chicken meat.

Frying the chicken: Carefully take the cast iron skillet out of the oven and place on the stove at medium temperature. Add the chicken in a single layer.

Flip once during cooking, The breasts should take about 10 minutes to cook, and bone in leg meat about 15-20 minutes. You want a golden brown color to the breading. When in doubt use a thermometer to make sure the inner temp is 165°F (74°C). Remove chicken from the oil using a spatula and drain over the pan. Then place it on a cooling rack or paper towels. Repeat frying all of the chicken.

Get the waffles made: Preheat your waffle iron according to manufacturer’s instructions. While the chicken is frying, mix the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in a large bowl. Then stir in the buttermilk, vanilla extract, egg and oil to make the batter for the waffles.

Cook the waffles towards when there’s about 5 minutes remaining on the chicken. Follow your waffle iron instructions for cooking them.

To serve: When you’re ready serve, butter the waffles, top with chicken and strawberries, then drizzle with syrup. If you want to get fancy with presentation, I like to use a skewer and stack the waffles and chicken and let everyone tear it apart themselves!