Sage Fried Chicken and Waffles (With Hot Maple Syrup)

Ingredients & Recipe Components

There are three main components to this recipe: Sage Fried Chicken, Brown Butter Waffles, and Hot Maple Syrup. All three of which come together to make something greater than the sum of its parts. This is truly a brunch classic that you should try sooner rather than later!

Sage Fried Chicken

The first half of this portion of the recipe starts with applying a spice rub to chicken thighs. Unlike most traditional fried chicken recipes, this doesn't require any soaking or brining, which helps save time. Using a simple dry rub on the chicken before breading and frying adds all of the flavor you need. And you can't have sage-fried chicken without a healthy dose of rubbed sage, which this has plenty of!

I also opted to use chicken thighs for this recipe, but you can use boneless, skinless chicken breasts if you wish. Just be sure to cut them in half and pound them a little to make everything more manageable.

The second part of the fried chicken is the breading. This is what gives us that irresistibly crispy, crunchy crust we're after. One of the most important parts of this process is to drizzle a little bit of the wet batter into the dry ingredients and mix it in. This adds a ton of texture to the chicken and helps to give it the best crispy, crunchy crust possible.

Brown Butter Waffles

I use my recipe for Brown Butter Waffles for this recipe. They're already delicious and fluffy, so there's no reason to reinvent the wheel here! I like them because the additional step of browning the butter before adding it to the batter lends a subtle, nutty, and toasty flavor that really takes them over the top. It's super easy to make these a day ahead of time as well. They freeze fantastically, and heating them up is as simple as warming them through in a toaster or the oven. Get the complete details in the recipe linked above!

Hot Maple Syrup

Everything comes together with this hot maple syrup. A lot of recipes use hot honey, but I chose to go the more "traditional" breakfast route with spicing up some maple syrup! It's the perfect spicy-sweet topping that really takes this dish to the next level. The heat comes from thinly sliced serrano peppers, and a savory hint of garlic and thyme helps to round things out.

This is as simple as combining the following and letting them sit in the fridge overnight:

• High Quality Pure Maple Syrup
• Thinly Sliced Garlic Cloves
• Thinly Sliced Serrano Peppers (with seeds)
• Sprigs of Fresh Thyme

How to Make Fried Chicken and Waffles

The hardest part of this recipe is frying the chicken; however, it's a very simple process when you break it down into a couple of steps, which are outlined below.

To begin making this recipe, I always start a day ahead of time and prepare the waffles and the hot maple syrup. You can make the waffles the same day, but this really helps speed up the whole process by not having to make waffles while you're also trying to get chicken into the fryer. Plus, waffles freeze and reheat pretty phenomenally, so you're not skimping on any quality or flavor! The Hot Maple Syrup needs to sit for a little bit in order to maximize flavor as well, so it's easy to stick it in the fridge until you need it.

How to Make Hot Maple Syrup

The hot maple syrup is as easy as combining the maple syrup, serrano peppers, garlic, and thyme and letting it sit in the refrigerator (at least) overnight. Before serving, I like to strain out all of the solids and use them as a garnish on top of the chicken.

How to Make Brown Butter Waffles

The complete directions on how to make the actual waffles themselves are outlined in my recipe post about Brown Butter Waffles (go check it out here!). For this recipe, I like to make them a day ahead of time and then store them in the freezer overnight. This saves a ton of time on the day that you plan to make theses. Just heat them through using a conventional oven, toaster oven, or a toaster and keep warm in 200°F oven until ready to serve.

By all means, feel free to use any good quality store-bought waffle as well. You can find all sorts of great options these days. I do prefer to use homemade whenever possible, but this is another great way to save some time!

Fried Chicken Breading Process

The process of breading the chicken is very simple:

• Begin by placing the combined wet and dry ingredients into separate containers. I typically use 9-inch cake pans, but anything large and flat will work.
• Drizzle ⅓ cup of the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients 1 tablespoon at a time. (This helps to add more texture and crunch to each piece of chicken.)
• Dredge the chicken in the flour mixture by firmly pressing it down into the flour mixture to ensure that both sides are evenly coated. Shake off any excess flour.
• Transfer the chicken into the wet ingredients, flipping a few times to ensure it is evenly coated.
• Add the chicken back into the dry ingredients, and scoop some flour over the top of the chicken. Press down firmly on the chicken to ensure that it is completely coated, then shake off any excess flour.
• Transfer the chicken to a wire rack, and repeat the whole process with the remaining chicken pieces.
• Let the chicken rest for about 20 to 30 minutes to allow the dry ingredients to completely absorb the wet ingredients.

How to Fry Chicken Thighs

To fry the chicken, simply add the breaded chicken in batches to 350 - 375°F frying oil of your choosing in a large pot or Dutch oven and fry for 12 to 15 minutes until golden brown. Be sure to flip the chicken several times while it's frying to ensure everything browns evenly.

Remove the chicken from the fryer and place on a wire rack. Immediately sprinkle with some kosher salt, and a little more rubbed sage while it's still hot, then allow to cool for several minutes.

Fried Chicken and Waffles Assembly

Once you have all of your components prepared, it's time to assemble your dish ascend into brunch nirvana!

This is as easy as placing a piece of the fried chicken onto one of the warm Brown Butter Waffles, and then drizzling with a generous portion of the spicy-sweet Hot Maple Syrup. Garnish with a little bit of minced sage leaves and several slices of the hot peppers reserved from the Hot Maple Syrup, then dig right on in!

Storing and Reheating Tips

The best way to store the leftovers of this dish is to keep the ingredients separate. Plating this up and putting it in the fridge will just result in a soggy mess. The waffles do great in the freezer, so I recommend storing them there for up to 3 months. While the other ingredients will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days or so.

Reheating is as easy as warming up the waffles and heating the chicken through in an oven set to 400°F for 8 to 10 minutes, then plating as usual. You can also air fry the chicken for 5 to 7 minutes set to 425°F for a great way to really bring the breading back to life.

Frequently Asked Questions

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