Mini Chicken and Waffles

This is my signature dish for our annual New Year's Day brunch. It does take some time and planning, but is still way easier than it looks. When I make enough to serve 15-20 people, it takes about 30-40 minutes to fry all the chicken in batches in a large Dutch oven on the stovetop, but smaller amounts will go much more quickly.

This makes a pretty huge amount (like a giant cookie sheet full), so scale back as necessary, keeping the marinade and flour mixture ratios roughly the same.

8 boneless chicken thighs (with or without skin)
2 cups buttermilk
1 heaping tsp seasoning salt
2 tsp hot sauce (I use sriracha)
2 tsp soy sauce

Mix together milk and seasoning. Cut each chicken thigh into 5-6 pieces. Marinade for at least 2 hours and up to about 8 hours. It can get a bit mushy if you marinade longer.

Mix together flour mixture with
2 cups flour
2 tsp seasoning salt
pinch of ground sage
pinch of ground thyme
1/2 tsp pepper

Lift out chicken pieces a few at a time and dredge well in the flour. Lay them out in a single layer on a cookie sheet to wait for frying.

Heat a couple of inches of oil to around 350F (or sprinkle a little flour into the oil - it should sizzle, but not burn immediately). Fry chicken in batches so the pan isn't too crowded. Stir occasionally til  golden brown and crispy. Cut open one of the larger pieces in the first batch to check doneness so you know approx how brown and how long to fry to cook the chicken all the way through. I would guess this is about 4-8 minutes for each batch, depending on how big the chicken chunks are. Drain in a paper towel lined wire basket or cooling rack.

Toast waffles. If making a large amount, you can toast a bunch at once on a cookie sheet in a 400F oven. Mini waffles are best, but if you can't find them, regular toaster waffles cut into quarters works too. Plate with a chicken piece on each waffle, and serve with syrup and hot sauce. The chicken also makes great mini chicken sandwiches with small biscuits.