Pale Ale Crispy Fried Chicken
Who doesn’t love crispy fried chicken? And even better than that is a Pale Ale Crispy Fried Chicken! Adding beer to a marinade of buttermilk and hot sauce helps with the tenderizing of the beer along with adding flavour, of course. I have used beer in marinating before with the Pale Ale Yogurt Marinated Chicken Breasts or the Honey Cream Ale Grilled Drumsticks.
This Pale Ale Crispy Fried Chicken can be made into a chicken sandwich or a slider, but I decided to use the chicken in a salad, which was a win and perfect for the hot summer day I was having!
The Brewery
The pale ale used for this Pale Ale Crispy Fried Chicken is from Zero Issue Brewing, out of Calgary. Taken almost straight from their website, the brewery is founded by two brothers that grew up in Calgary, loving comic books, science fiction, and video games.
They put together their childhood passions with their adult passion for making (and drinking) incredible beer and created a brewery that celebrates the nerdier side of life. The art on their beer cans is comic book based; the beer names are sci-fi; and if you visit them in their taproom, they will put down the PS4 and serve you a pint of delicious beer. Find out more at their Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
The Beer
The Exosuit from Zero Issue is a New England Pale Ale beer. It pours a hazy yellow with a lot of frothy head that dissipates into a think foamy line. The smell is of citrus fruits, some pineapple, yeasty and bready notes. The taste is close to the nose with big citrus and pineapple, with some more bready maltiness to finish it off. The beer is medium bodied with a sticky mouthfeel and moderate carbonation. Overall, this is a great New England style Pale Ale beer from Zero Issue Brewing that went down nicely and was the perfect addition to my marinade for the Pale Ale Crispy Fried Chicken.
The Recipe
Pale Ale Crispy Fried Chicken
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 3/4 cup pale ale beer
- 2 tsp hot sauce I used Valentina
- 2 large chicken breasts
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
- 1 tsp. Morita chipolte chiles ground Use any chipotle/chili flake or powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp jalapeno powder, ground
- 1/2 tsp black pepper, ground
- canola oil for frying
Instructions
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Place the chicken in a large bowl or baking dish, cover with buttermilk, beer, and hot sauce. Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours and up to overnight.
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In a bowl combine the flour, brown sugar, and spices. One at a time remove the pieces of chicken from the buttermilk, toss in the flour until well coated, dip back into the buttermilk mixture and then toss again in the flour until well coated.
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Heat 4 to 6 inches of oil in a large saucepan.
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Drop the flour dredged chicken gently into the hot oil, frying until golden brown, flipping around periodically, for about 10 minutes.
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Remove cooked chicken onto a wire rack and let cool slightly. Slice chicken and serve on a bed of lettuce with chopped tomato and cucumber, Bocconcini cheese, and your favourite dressing (ranch goes well). Alternatively, make fried chicken burgers! Enjoy with a local craft brew! Cheers!