2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup dill pickle juice
1 egg, beaten
2 tbsp buttermilk or cream (coconut milk okay)
1/4 cup tapioca starch (potato or arrowroot starch okay)
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp each salt and black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 dash ground cayenne pepper
1/2 cup lard or coconut oil for frying
Step one: cut up your chicken into 1″ chunks. Place the chicken chunks in a resealable plastic bag and add the pickle juice; marinate in the fridge for an hour.
After an hour, open the bag and pour out any excess pickle juice. It doesn’t have to be perfectly drained, just not totally juicy. Add the beaten egg and the buttermilk/cream, and mix together, then let sit for five minutes. Again, open the bag and pour out the excess liquid, if there is any. Texture is important at this point – the pieces should be wet but not swimming in a soup of pickle/egg/creamy goodness.
Prep your dry ingredients by stirring them all together.
Add the dry ingredients and mix them together in the bag, by a combination of shaking, rubbing, and pleading. It’ll take a few minutes, so this is a good time to warm up your skillet of lard/oil on medium heat.
Fry your chicken pieces, flipping every few minutes, until nice and golden brown. It should take about six to eight minutes per batch. Don’t overcrowd the skillet; it took me four batches to cook all two pounds of chicken. Use a splatter screen if you have one. Drain the chicken pieces on paper towels as you cook the others, and keep them warm in the oven at 170 degrees.