I love the flavor of buttermilk marinated chicken, and I also love the flavor of beer. I typically have powdered buttermilk around for making biscuits and things like that, so I decided to try something different.
The spices on this are based on your taste, but I use onion powder, dried ranch dressing (I make my own, it’s cheaper that way), cayenne pepper, and salt. Since this is basically a marinade/brine, I use about a tablespoon and a half of salt. It doesn’t make the chicken overly salty but does give it a good texture and flavor. The reason I use Buttermilk powder is that it has all the zip and tang of real buttermilk, and I’m not tempted to drink a half gallon of it if real buttermilk is in the house! I’m seriously addicted to it.
Mix a half cup beer, half cup buttermilk powder, quarter cup Frank’s Red Hot sauce (this also provides some extra acid kick to help tenderize the meat. And give zing!) along wit your spices.
For some reason it seems most of the chicken you buy at the store these days are ridiculously huge. I try not think too much about why, but I do split them in half to give better surface area and less thickness for the marinade to penetrate.
At this point, if you want them even thinner, you can pound them. I did not.
Add to a Ziplog bag (or bowl, but the bag you don’t have to wash and you tend to get better meat coverage).
Add the marinade.
Refrigerate at least overnight. You can go up to 3 days with no issue, beyond that I haven’t done so I can’t say.
At this point we have both grilled and fried. Both turned out really well, and my daughter loved both of them.
Beer Buttermilk Marinated Chicken
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup beer
- 1/2 cup buttermilk powder
- 1/4 cup Frank’s Red Hot sauce
Spices:
- Black pepper cayenne pepper, whatever spices are relevant to the final recipe
- 2 teaspoons salt
Instructions
- Mix ingredients and add to bag or bowl with chicken breasts. Leave overnight in refrigerator.
[…] Beer Buttermilk Marinated Chicken. You can use regular chicken or whole chicken, but you will likely want to up the spicing in the […]