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A big a part of fried hen’s attract is the distinction between a juicy and tender inside and shatteringly crispy pores and skin. Whereas the usual dredging station is a flour-egg-wash-breadcrumb trio, you need to swap the breadcrumbs with saltine crackers for the crispiest crust.

A comforting, stomach-settling staple in most of our pantries, saltine crackers are completely salty, toasty, and savory with a brilliant crunchy, dry texture that’ll maintain up properly below deep-fried oil. They comprise baking soda, which permits for further crispness, they usually’ll flip a fantastic golden brown within the fryer. Plus, you are extra more likely to have them readily available for snacking, so that they’re the handy bread crumb swap for an impromptu fried hen dinner choice. 

It is easy sufficient to transform them into breadcrumbs by putting a sleeve or two in a plastic bag and beating them with a rolling pin. You too can throw a bunch of saltines right into a meals processor with all types of seasonings and blitz them for an excellent faster preparation. Irrespective of the way you break them down, they provide a extra diverse texture than the uniformly wonderful breadcrumbs, with bigger cracker bits offering an excellent higher pop of crunch. You too can make a half-and-half combination of saltines and bread crumbs, or saltines and potato chips for an much more attention-grabbing style and texture.

We have now loads of fried hen recipes you’ll be able to apply the saltine hack to, beginning with this traditional buttermilk fried hen. With a buttermilk marinade, you do not have to make use of an egg-wash coating to stick the dry dredge. Buttermilk is a multi-faceted ingredient that tenderizes, flavors, and binds. So, all you need to do is take away the hen from the buttermilk and place them immediately into the flour, or on this case, the crushed saltines.

The identical simple swap applies to this recipe for spicy buttermilk fried hen. The one distinction is that you just’d be almost doubling the quantity of the dry Saltine and spice combination as a result of this recipe requires double-dipping the hen for a thicker crust. You might additionally use Saltine crackers to bread a fried hen cutlet, hen fried steak, or hen tender recipe. This recipe for the crispiest hen cutlet employs a extra conventional flour-egg-bread crumb system. So that you’d simply swap the breadcrumbs for crushed Saltines. 

With a conventional dry-wet-dry dredging, pat the uncooked hen dry earlier than passing it by means of every station to stop the crust from sliding off the hen because it fries. You too can get inventive with seasonings for the saltine crust. For instance, when you’re utilizing a buttermilk marinated recipe like these hen tenders, you’ll be able to add a packet of Hidden Valley Ranch seasoning to the saltine crumbs. This enhances the tanginess of the buttermilk with an fragrant and natural complement.