Amplify Your Fried Chicken With A Pickle Juice Marinade

For such a culinary staple, fried chicken is tricky to perfect. When done right, fried chicken is tender — nearly falling off the bone — with a crispy, crunchy breading that seems almost miraculous and nearly impossible. However, there is nothing worse than biting into a breaded piece of chicken only to find that it is dry and flavorless. This is quite the pickle. But what if there was a trick that could infuse your fried chicken with flavor, while also tenderizing the meat to get a perfect result? Well, there is; and all you'll need is some pickle juice. 

You might have heard the rumor that the popular fast food chain Chick-fil-A uses a pickle juice marinade to flavor its famously delicious chicken. Although this rumor isn't entirely true, brining your chicken in pickle juice might just be the key to a better batch of fried chicken. Because of pickle juice's salty and highly seasoned nature, it can make a fantastic marinade. Just place your uncooked chicken in a container with pickle juice and let it sit for a few hours in the fridge. Then, remove it once you're ready to bread, and fry. This pickle marinade will help tenderize your chicken before cooking, infusing it with flavor, which will create a perfect batch of fried chicken.

But how does the pickle juice trick work, exactly? Well, the salt in your pickle brine draws moisture into your chicken through a process known as osmosis. After a few hours of soaking, your chicken will be ready to fry. And thanks to the high salt and vinegar content in pickle juice, this marinade also helps to infuse the chicken with that tangy, salty pickle flavor. 

However, this process doesn't happen in just a few minutes. The exact time will depend on the cut of chicken you're using. Chicken breasts, for example, should marinate for only two to four hours. Other cuts, such as thighs, can stand up to longer soak times. Just be sure to not let your chicken sit in the brine for too long. Brining your chicken overnight might cause it to take on an unpleasant, looser texture that will not hold up well when cooking. So, it's important to properly gauge your brine time to ensure the best possible chicken.

There are a few things to consider when marinating your chicken in pickle juice. For one, you need to pick the right type of pickle juice to brine your chicken in. Dill pickle juice is a classic, and it has both acidity and saltiness to properly infuse your chicken with flavor. And dill pickles, of course, also carry a hefty flavor of dill and other seasonings. However, you might not want to use pickle varieties such as candied or sweet pickles, which don't have the saltiness necessary to facilitate the osmosis process by which your meat is tenderized. 

If you want to amp up the flavor of your brine, you can always add other seasonings to your marinade — such as mustard seeds, garlic, or cayenne pepper — to help customize the flavor profile to your liking. You can also try using spicy pickle juice if you'd like to give your marinade a little extra kick.

However, if you're more pickle averse, or only want a touch of dill, you can add a little pickle juice to your buttermilk marinade. This will give you the best of both marinade options. The added pickle juice will give your chicken a punch of flavor, while the thick buttermilk base will help to fully cover your chicken in your breading mixture; resulting in a truly unique batch of fried chicken that will make you swear by the powers of the pickle.