History

Fried chicken has been the celebration plate of the Tennessee Valley since well before Chattanooga's restaurant boom, carried through Black Southern kitchens along the Big Nine and church-supper tables across the city. The dish's modern local shrines split the style: pressure-cooked and juke-joint loud on MLK Boulevard, or family-style with vegetables spinning past on a lazy susan. Either way it arrives with white bread, pickle and no apology.

Common allergens: Gluten

Make it at home

Yield Serves 4Hands-on 40 minTotal 5 hrDifficulty Intermediate

Ingredients

  • 1 chicken, jointed into 8 pieces
  • 500ml buttermilk
  • 2 tbsp hot sauce
  • 300g plain flour
  • 2 tbsp cornflour
  • 1 tbsp paprika
  • 1 tsp cayenne
  • 1 tbsp garlic powder
  • Salt and black pepper
  • Neutral oil for deep frying

Method

  1. Brine the chicken in buttermilk, hot sauce and 1 tablespoon of salt for at least 4 hours in the fridge.
  2. Whisk the flour, cornflour, paprika, cayenne, garlic powder, 2 teaspoons salt and plenty of black pepper in a wide tray.
  3. Lift each piece from the buttermilk, dredge hard in the seasoned flour, pressing so it shags up, and rest 10 minutes on a rack.
  4. Heat 5cm of oil to 165C in a heavy pot. Fry dark pieces 14 to 16 minutes and white pieces 10 to 12, holding the oil between 150C and 160C.
  5. Rest on a rack, never paper, and salt immediately. Internal temperature should read 74C at the bone.

Tip from the editors. Keep the oil moderate; Southern crust is built low and slow, and a 190C fry gives you colour five minutes before the bone is done.

Where to eat southern fried chicken

Southern fried chicken in Chattanooga

Champy's Famous Fried Chicken ★ 4.4

Southern$$mlkSun-Thu 10:30-22:00; Fri-Sat 10:30-24:00Until 24:00 Fri-Sat; 22:00 Sun-Thu

Champy's Famous Fried Chicken runs its MLK Boulevard fryers to midnight on Friday and Saturday, Chattanooga's late-night bird with cold beer.

Try: Fried chicken and hot tamales

Tip: Friday and Saturday the kitchen runs to midnight. Expect a wait after Lookouts games; the banana pudding travels well.

526 E ML King Boulevard, Chattanooga, TN 37403

Bea's Restaurant ★ 4.3

Southern$east-chattanoogaWed-Sun 11:00-20:00; closed Mon-Tue

Bea's Restaurant hides on industrial Dodds Avenue in Chattanooga, spinning lazy susans of fried chicken for four generations of one cooking family.

Why locals love it: Off every tourist route in an industrial stretch of Dodds Avenue, and the lazy susan format never left the 1950s.

Tip: Wednesday to Sunday 11:00 to 20:00 only. Tables are shared-spin; go hungry and let the staff keep the bowls refilled.

4500 Dodds Avenue, Chattanooga, TN 37407

All Chattanooga signature dishes →

More cities are in research. Want southern fried chicken covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.

Browse all dishes →