Sweet Tea Brined Fried Chicken

5 from 2 votes

Sweet Tea Brined Fried Chicken

Crispy fried chicken with flavorful crunchy skin and sweet tender meat that my family will make your family say, ‘PLEASE MAKE MORE!’” You are looking for a Sweet Tea Brined Fried Chicken recipe that will tinkle your inner southern bell and have you hollering YEE HAW! I’ll show you how!

Prep Time20

Cook Time40

brining time1

Total Time1 50

Course: main

Cuisine: American

Keyword: sweet tea brined fried chicken

Servings: servings

Calories: 944kcal

Author: Wendi Spraker

Cost: $10

Equipment

bowls
rimmed dishes
measuring cups and spoons
deep frying pan or dutch oven
Stove
refrigerator

Ingredients

For the Tea Brine

1 large tea bag or 4 small tea bags
2 quarts fresh water
¾ Cup Granulated White Sugar
⅓ cup lemon juice
2 Tbs minced garlic heaping
2 tbs kosher salt

To fry the chicken

3 Cups Vegetable Oil
8 pieces of bone in or boneless chicken
Salt
Pepper
3 eggs
3 Cups Flour divided
2 Tbs Cornstarch
3 Tbs Paprika
3 Tbs Garlic Powder
3 Tbs Onion Powder
3 Tbs Kosher Salt
1 Tbs Ground Black Pepper

Instructions

For the Brine

4-24 hours before you plan to cook the chicken, make the brine and place the chicken in the brine and set in the fridge until ready to cook. The instructions for making the brine follow:
In a saucepan on the stove over high heat, bring water to a simmer and then turn the stove off
Add the sugar, lemon juice, garlic, salt to the water and stir until dissolved. Add the tea bag (s) and cover with a lid. Allow to sit until room temp.
Add the pieces of chicken to the "tea" making sure all pieces are submerged, put the lid on and place the whole thing in the fridge until ready to start the recipe.

To Cook the Chicken

Drying the Chicken

2 hours before you start cooking: Remove the chicken from the tea brine and lay on a sheet pan that has 2-3 layers of paper towel in the bottom of the pan. Cover the chicken with 2-3 layers of paper towels and press down on the chicken to squeeze as much tea out as possible. Dry the chicken thoroughly.
Sprinkle the chicken on each side with kosher salt and cover back up with the paper towels.
Allow the chicken to rest in the refrigerator until you are ready to start cooking.

Bread the Chicken

Set up three rimmed dishes for the flour, egg and breading stations.
In the first rimmed dish, place 1 Cup of All Purpose Flour.
In the second dish, break the three eggs and beat well with a fork.
The third dish, place 2 Cups of flour and the cornstarch, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and black pepper. Mix well with a fork.

Fry the chicken

Preheat the oven to 170. Place a baking sheet covered with paper towels in the oven on the middle rack.
In a deep sided heavy duty frying pan or a dutch oven, pour oil ½-¾ inch deep. Heat the oil over medium high heat until the oil reaches a temperature of 350. (use a thermometer).
While the oil is heating, bread the chicken by dipping first into the plain flour, then into the egg wash, coating the chicken well with the egg. Finally into the seasoned flour, press the flour down into the meat.
Set the meat on a plate, do not stack.
When the oil is at 350, gently place the chicken into the oil. Allow bone in pieces to cook for about 10 minutes on each side. Check the internal temperature when nearing 15 minutes. Remove the chicken when it is at an internal temperature of 165 to the waiting towel covered pan in the oven to rest until all the chicken is cooked.
Serve hot.

Video

Notes

The brand of tea you use doesn’t really matter, but use one that is made for making iced tea.
You’ll note that the brine has a lot of sugar and salt in it. That’s precisely what you need for making a good brine. No worries, we will be dumping out most of it, you just need it the proper amount of sugar and salt to flavor the chicken.
I hope this goes without saying, but I’m gonna say it anyway, don’t drink the tea before or especially after you brine the chicken in it. Dump it.
Yes, you can dry the chicken with cloth instead of paper towels, its just that paper towels can be thrown away. Don’t use the towels for anything else after touching raw chicken with it.
I know lots of you prefer to use olive oil for everything. You could never afford to use this much olive oil for frying a chicken and besides, olive oil is way to aromatic for this service. If you want to use a different oil then choose something meant for frying like a peanut oil, safflower oil, canola oil, etc.
You absolutely WILL need a deep dish, heavy duty pan for frying. Invest in a decent dutch oven and you’ll never be sorry. You don’t have to spend a ton of money. Lodge makes a very nice one and you can find it at Target or online.
I know, that’s a ton of seasoning in the seasoned flour. The chicken needs it, just do it.
It’s SUPER DUPER important that the chicken meat be dry before you start breading.
The three step breading process is also very important for perfect fried chicken.
Having your oil at the right temperature is the most important part of this recipe so that it cooks evenly and right.

Nutrition