Up your weekend brunch game with Southern inspired Chicken and Egg Sandwich with Hot Honey Butter.
When I left home for college in the south 18 years ago, I thought I was leaving home to embark on my new educational journey not realizing part of that would include learning and loving new foods and traditions.
My parents are excellent cooks and I grew up eating very well but we never strayed too far from our own comfort zones at home. Jewish comfort food, American classics like mac and cheese, meatloaf, roast chicken and Italian-American standards went on the regular rotation. So you can only imagine how eye opening, delicious and sometimes indulgent some of the new foods were that I was experience. From chicken fried steak to barbecue to grits to pimento cheese and quite possibly my most favorite fried chicken biscuits.
I’ve always had a weakness for fried chicken, it’s one of those foods I can’t say no to and this time you get to eat it for breakfast? The Southerner’s know how to do breakfast right! A chicken biscuit was never really fussy and always available somewhere to eat on a go. It’s as simple as it sounds really, just boneless fried chicken on a tender flaky biscuit, smothered with honey butter and a pickle or two.
My habit of eating chicken biscuits pretty much ended once I graduated college but I can’t resist enjoying one every now and again when I spot it on a menu somewhere.
What’s so great about this dish is the balance of crispy fried chicken, on a tender biscuit smothered with butter and dripping with sweet honey. Since I can’t remember the last time I sat down to a truly memorable chicken biscuit, I thought it was time to finally recreate my own version at one, albeit with a few shortcuts and additions to the dish.
Traditionally you would just smother your biscuit or in this case our English muffin because hey this is a time consuming meal to make and the sooner we eat in the morning the better and then you have the option of drizzling it with honey or hot sauce. In my world, that’s not at option, honey should be co-starring right along with the fried chicken. Which is why I went ahead and whipped up a dreamy hot honey butter that takes all of 5 minutes and three ingredients to make.
With over 300 hundred varieties of honey in the United States, honey adds its own unique flavor profile to every recipe. In this case here, you can use any variety that you prefer from clover to local to chili infused honeys to amp up the spicy factor! Go with what you love best! Honey provides balance to any dish and complements and enhances a variety of foods and flavors from sweet, sour, bitter, salty and savory.
In my opinion honey is a miracle worker, used as an emulsifier to thicken and add body to sauces and dressings and adds a rich color to foods.
With our hot honey butter set it’s time to build the rest of the sandwich! The chicken should get a nice marinade in buttermilk for at least 3-4 hours or overnight if you have the time to tenderize the meat before it gets dredged in seasoned flour. I’ve kept the cutlets on the smaller side so you have the option for a shallow or deep fry but I went for about an inch of oil in my dutch oven just to avoid too much splatter around the kitchen.
Building our sandwich is easy as 1-2-3-4. Toast the muffin, smear a generous amount of hot honey butter on top, add your chicken, fry an egg and drizzle more honey (hot or otherwise) over everything. Technically it’s 5 steps, 6 if you include topping the sandwich! Grab lots of napkins or a knife and fork because this is one sticky, messy and delicious sandwich!
When you’re finished you can finally ask the question, which came first the chicken or egg or was it the honey bee?
This post is sponsored on behalf of The National Honey Board. As always all opinions are my own and thanks for supporting brands that I work with.
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Ingredients
- 4 skinless, boneless chicken cutlets (no more than 1 inch thick)
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- Vegetable oil for frying
- 8 tablespoons (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1-2 teaspoons hot sauce
- 4 English muffins
- 4 large eggs, fried
- additional honey (hot honey recommended) for drizzling
Instructions
- Place the chicken cutlets in a ziptop bag with the buttermilk and cayenne pepper and place in a bowl in the refrigerator to marinate for at least 3-4 hours or overnight.
- While the chicken in marinating prepare the hot honey butter by adding the softened butter to a small bowl with the honey and hot sauce (add more or less depending on taste) and mix to combine. Transfer to a small ramekin, if making ahead of time place covered in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before serving.
- Once the chicken has finished marinating - pour oil in a dutch oven to a depth of about 1 inch and attach a thermometer to monitor the temperature of the oil. Heat on medium to medium-high until it reaches 370 degrees.
- Add the flour to a shallow bowl and whisk in the salt pepper, paprika, thyme, onion powder, garlic powder and cayenne pepper.
- Remove the chicken from the marinade, season with salt and dredging 1-2 pieces of chicken at a time, gently place in the oil and fry until golden brown and cooked through about 4-5 minutes per side. Making sure to monitor the temperature throughout. It will drop once you add in the chicken.
- Carefully remove and place on a paper towel lined baking sheet to drain. Season with kosher salt. Bring the temperature of the oil back up to 370 degrees before repeating with the remaining chicken. If desired you can keep the cooked chicken warm in a 250 degree heated oven.
- Building your sandwich:
- Toast the English muffins and spread a generous amount of hot honey butter on the bottom half, top with a chicken cutlet and a fried egg, drizzle a generous amount of honey on top before adding the top half of the bread. Serve hot.
