Craving 24 Chicken’s Jack Daniel’s Chicken? You’ll love this hack. Fried boneless chicken enveloped in a sweet-savory, whiskey-touched BBQ sauce? We’ll gladly buy a whole pack to accompany our K-Drama marathons. This recipe lets you make it right in your kitchen so you can make as much as you want.
Jack Daniel’s brings notes of vanilla and a smoky, caramel sweetness to 24 Chicken’s signature barbecue-style sauce, forming the perfect base for your glaze.
What is 24 Chicken?
24 Chicken’s specializes in budget-friendly Korean-style fried chicken, drawing lines of students, office workers, and Grab drivers everyday. They serve classic Korean fried chicken flavors like Snow Cheese, Yangnyeom, plus their house special Jack Daniel’s chicken.
Using Jack Daniel’s in cooking
For this hack, we want Jack Daniel’s smoky, almost caramel-y flavor without leaving you tipsy.
When cooking with alcohol, let it simmer. This helps the alcohol content cook off and mellow out. Small traces of alcohol may remain, but not enough to get you drunk.
No Jack Daniel's on hand? Any whiskey works. Strictly alcohol-free? Skip the whiskey entirely—but expect your BBQ sauce to taste a little different!
Add vinegar to milk for DIY buttermilk
Adding a few tablespoons of acid, like vinegar or lemon juice, to a cup of milk quickly ferments it, resulting in instant buttermilk.
When you marinate chicken in buttermilk, the acids slowly break down the proteins, making the meat more tender and moist. Buttermilk also helps the breading stick to your chicken, giving you a crispy, craggy crust.
Buttermilk is hard to find in the Philippines—your best and only bet would be Pinkie’s Farm from Lipa, Batangas. Otherwise, this hack is a game-changer. Add 2 tbsp of vinegar or lemon juice to every one cup of whole milk, and let it sit for 5 minutes.
Ingredients
Buttermilk Fried Chicken Thighs
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 tbsp vinegar
- 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup potato starch or cornstarch
- ½ tbsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- neutral oil, for deep frying
Jack Daniel's BBQ Sauce
- ¾ cup pineapple juice
- ¼ cup + 1 tbsp soy sauce
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 3–4 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp tomato ketchup
- 2 tbsp Jack Daniel's whiskey
- ½ tsp apple cider vinegar
- ¼ tsp ground cumin
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- ¼ tsp onion powder
- ¼ tsp Worcestershire sauce
- pinch of cayenne powder
Marinate chicken: Combine milk and vinegar in a large bowl. Stir and set aside to coagulate and make a quick buttermilk, about 5 minutes. Add chicken thighs and salt. Using your hands, massage chicken in the buttermilk until well coated.
Tightly cover bowl with plastic wrap to create an airtight seal. Let chicken marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour up to overnight.
Make sauce: Combine all sauce ingredients in a medium saucepan. Turn on the stove and set heat to medium. Whisk well until sugar is dissolved. Once the liquid reaches a boil, reduce heat to low. Maintain a simmer to cook off alcohol, stirring occasionally so the bottom doesn’t burn, about 2–3 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
Bread chicken: Combine flour, potato starch or cornstarch, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Take chicken out of the refrigerator. Working one piece at a time, shake off excess buttermilk and dredge chicken in flour mixture until well-coated on both sides. Shake off any excess flour. Transfer breaded chicken to a plate or sheet tray lightly dusted with flour. Repeat with remaining chicken.
Double fry chicken: Heat enough oil for deep-frying in a deep, heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Once the oil registers 350°F or 180°C in an instant-read thermometer, add chicken in batches. Fry until lightly golden brown, about 3-4 minutes. Transfer chicken to a wire rack or paper towel-lined plate to drain excess oil. Repeat with remaining chicken, and let pieces rest for 5 minutes.
Heat oil to 375°F or 190°C. Return chicken to oil in batches. Fry until crispy and golden brown all over, about 2-3 minutes. Transfer chicken back to the wire rack or paper-towel-lined plate.
Toss and serve: Add fried chicken to a large mixing bowl. Ladle in ¼ cup of sauce. Using a spoon, toss chicken in sauce until thoroughly coated. Add more sauce as needed, about ¼ cup at a time; you may also serve extra sauce on the side if desired. Serve with freshly steamed rice.
