Classic Fried Chicken & Buttermilk Waffles with Honey & Hot Sauce

As of recently, we've kinda had an obsession with chicken & waffles. We made Nashville Hot Chicken & Waffles, and they were insanely good. Like so good. But then I thought to myself that we hadn't even made a classic chicken & waffles combination first, we had just skipped right to all of the crazy combinations. So we back tracked a little and had to make the essential Southern dish. Instead of making overnight yeasted waffles, we went with slightly sweet and tangy buttermilk waffles. And for the chicken, we marinated them in buttermilk, and then rubbed them down in a spice mixture before coating them with flour. When you order these at a restaurant, they normally come with maple syrup, butter, and hot sauce. But, I seem to like mine way more with honey, but I'll leave that up to you. However, either way, you really can't beat the sweet-heat taste that they provide. These classic chicken and waffles were everything we were hoping them to be. I really can't decide what I like better... chicken & waffles or shrimp & grits. Such a hard decision!! Anyway, enjoy :)

Classic Fried Chicken & Buttermilk Waffles with Honey & Hot Sauce

For the Buttermilk Brine:

1Q Buttermilk

¼C Hot Sauce

2lbs Chicken Wings & Chicken Drumsticks

For the Dry Rub:

1T Salt

2t Pepper

1 ½t Paprika

¾t Cayenne

½t Garlic Powder & Onion Powder

Prepared Brined Chicken, Completely Dried

For the Coating:

2C AP Flour

½C Cornstarch

1C Buttermilk

1 Large Egg

½C Water

Hot Sauce      

Prepared Dry Rubbed Chicken

Peanut Oil, For Frying

For the Fried Chicken:

2lbs Chicken Wings & Chicken Drumsticks

Buttermilk Brine

Dry Rub

Coating

Peanut Oil

Salt & Pepper, To Taste

For the Buttermilk Waffles:

¾C AP Flour

¼C Cornstarch

½t Baking Powder

¼t Baking Soda

½t Salt

2t Sugar

½C Milk & Buttermilk

1/3C Vegetable Oil

1 Large Egg, Lightly Beaten

1t Vanilla   

  

Directions:

1. For the Buttermilk Brine: Whisk buttermilk, hot sauce, salt, and sugar in a large bowl until the sugar and salt dissolve. Add the chicken and refrigerate, covered, for 8 hours. Once brined, remove the chicken from the refrigerator and pat the chicken dry and set them aside. 
2. For the Dry Rub: Whisk together all of the seasonings until combined. Rub this mixture all over the dried, brined chicken until completely coated. Place the chicken into a bowl, cover, and chill overnight. Once the chicken has marinated, remove the chicken from the refrigerator and let it stand at room temperature for 1-2 hours.
3. For the Coating: In a dish, combine the flour, cornstarch, salt, and pepper. In another dish, whisk together the buttermilk, egg, water, and hot sauce until combined. Dredge the wings in the flour mixture and shake the excess flour from the wings, then place them into the wet ingredients, and finally back into the flour, shaking off excess.
4. Frying the Chicken: Heat the peanut oil in a deep fryer to 350 degrees. Fry the wings until they are a deep golden brown and cooked through, about 10-12 minutes. Once the wings are fried, remove them to a wire rack to drain, and then keep them warm in the oven while you make the waffles.
5. For the Buttermilk Waffles: In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar.  Whisk together to blend.  In another mixing bowl, beat together the whole milk, buttermilk, oil, egg and vanilla.  Add the dry ingredients to the bowl with the wet ingredients and whisk just until incorporated and few lumps remain.  Set aside to rest for 30 minutes. Preheat a waffle iron.  Fill waffle wells and cook according to the manufacturer’s instructions.  Cook until crisp and golden. Serve immediately with the fried chicken.
6. To Assemble the Chicken & Waffles: Place the buttermilk waffle in the center of your plate and spread with softened butter. Top the waffle with the crispy fried chicken. Serve with honey or sorghum syrup & hot sauce.