Buttermilk Barbecue Chicken – Food Wishes

Today we are looking at a video from Chef John from Food Wishes where he shows us how to make a yummy Buttermilk Barbecue Chicken.

The last time you enjoyed a really good plate of Southern Fried Chicken, there is a very good chance that it was marinated in buttermilk before it was cooked.

For some reason though, that same buttermilk soak is not used very often when the chicken is going to be roasted or grilled.

So lets get started with the star of the show in this Buttermilk Barbecue Chicken Recipe. Some beautiful cultured buttermilk. By the way do not let the name fool you, this is actually very low fat and contains virtually no butter at all.

The name Buttermilk comes from the fact that it used to be made by fermenting the leftover whey when they made butter.

Start by adding two cups of buttermilk into a bowl. Add to this a quarter cup of brown sugar as well as one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. You will also add 4 cloves of crushed garlic as well as one teaspoon of dry thyme and a tablespoon of freshly ground black pepper.

Next up is 1 tablespoon of paprika. Chef John is using smoked paprika for this recipe but any kind will work, or any combination. Then add one teaspoon of ground cumin as well as one teaspoon of cayenne pepper.

Lastly add two tablespoons of kosher salt and give everything a proper whisking. As long as you have the buttermilk, sugar and salt, you can add any other spices you wish.

At this point we can move on to prepping of the chicken. It is basically cutting up a whole chicken. Watch the video to see how to do this properly. Remember to use a sharp knife!

Once finished cutting up the chicken, you can transfer the back boneless halves into a plastic bag. Go ahead and pour in the buttermilk marinade. Once all of that is in you will simultaneously seal the bag while pushing as much air as possible out. Also makes sure that all the nooks and crannies of the chicken is coming into contact with the marinade.

Transfer the plastic bag into the fridge to marinate the chicken for 6 to 18 hours. Afterwards take it out and put it onto a paper-towel lined plate. It is probably not a bad idea to take some extra paper towels and blot out the excess marinade from the skin. Putting super wet things on a grill is generally not a good idea.

Sprinkle a little extra salt especially on the skin side. We are now ready to grab our tongs and get them on the grill.