The BEST Chicken Gizzards Recipe (They Cook In Just 5 Minutes)

These fried chicken gizzards are absolutely loaded with flavor. The tender gizzards are coated in a richly seasoned buttermilk batter, then deep-fried to golden perfection. Best of all, just a few simple ingredients are all you need to make 'em!

The Best Chicken Gizzards

If you like to try new recipes, and you love chicken, then I've got a feeling you are going to love these chicken gizzards!

With that said, if you've never had chicken gizzards before - and you're wondering what they taste like - they basically taste like dark chicken meat, but they're even more flavorful.

Also, when they're cooked right, they can be super tender too. And that's especially true when they're deep-fried. Not to mention, frying the chicken gizzards in the breading gives 'em an incredible flavor you just can't achieve any other way. They're a little bit savory, a little spicy, and a whole lotta' crunchy.

Plus, they're so easy to make too! If you've ever made any kind of marinated - or breaded - chicken before, like these Chick-Fil-A nuggets and panko breaded chicken, you'll find this recipe is a breeze to make.

You basically just let the chicken marinade for an hour and then fry it to golden perfection in 5 minutes. Sounds pretty darn easy, right?!

Ingredients

As I mentioned above, just a few simple ingredients are all that you'll need to make these fried chicken gizzards. And, honestly, there's a good chance that you have most - if not all - of them at home already.

Anyway, here's what you'll need to make these chicken gizzards:

• 1 pound chicken gizzards
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 2 teaspoons hot sauce
• 1 ¼ cup flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tbsp. seasoned salt
• 1 ½ tsp. black pepper
• ½ tsp. garlic powder
• ½ tsp. cayenne pepper
• ½ tsp. paprika
• Oil for frying

Simple stuff, right?!

How To Make Chicken Gizzards

So, now that you know what you'll need - as far as ingredients go - to make these fried chicken gizzards, it's time to actually make 'em.

Again, it's super, super easy to whip these up. Just 3 simple steps are all you'll need to follow. Basically, all you really have to do is mix the ingredients up, let the chicken marinate, and then fry it until crispy.

Anyway, let's stop wasting time and make some fried gizzards!

Step 1: Marinate The Gizzards

First things first, you'll want to make sure you wash the raw gizzards and remove any excess fat from them. To wash gizzards, you can just run them under water and thoroughly dry them with a towel or paper towel.

Once that's done, you can mix the buttermilk and hot sauce in a large bowl and then toss your cleaned gizzards into the mixture. Then, just leave them in the bowl to marinate in the fridge for at least an hour.

Step 2: Coat The Gizzards 

So, while the gizzards are marinating, you can add all of the dry ingredients - the flour, baking powder, salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, and paprika - to a small bowl and mix them until they combine and add it to a Zip-lock bag.

Then, once the gizzards are done marinating, you can add them into the bag filled with the flour mixture, and give 'em a good shake. Doing so will help remove any excess buttermilk that might be on 'em.

Now, once you've coated all of the chicken gizzards in the mixture, you can place them in a wire strainer and give them a light shake to remove any excess flour from 'em. Then, you can follow that up by adding them to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and you can refrigerate them for about 20 minutes.

Step 3: Fry The Chicken gizzards

So, once 20 minutes is up, you'll want to take out a large pot - or deep pan - and fill it with enough oil to cover each chicken gizzard. Then, let the oil heat up until it reaches 350°F (180ºC) - you can check the temperature by using a deep frying thermometer or candy thermometer. By the way, if you don't have a thermometer, just dip a wooden spoon into the oil. If no bubbles form around it, the oil is hot enough.

Once the oil is hot enough, you'll want to add the chicken gizzards to it and deep fry 'em for a few minutes until they're deeply golden brown.

Also, just keep in mind that you don't want to overcrowd the pan with too many gizzards as your frying them. Doing so will decrease the temperature of the oil and throw off how well the gizzards cook as they fry. So, with that said, you may want to fry the gizzards in batches.

Anyway, after you've got them all fried up you'll want to transfer them to a plate lined with paper towels to soak up any excess oil.

Then, finally, after they've had a second to cool - and degrease - you can serve them with practically anything you want. One of my favorite things to pair them with is this Halal white sauce, dumpling sauce, or Alabama white sauce. Both are so good for dipping.

How To Store Chicken Gizzards

This recipe for fried chicken gizzards will make about 4 servings. So, if you're serving 'em as an appetizer, or with other dishes - like this corn souffle and redskin mashed potatoes - you should have more than enough for dinner.

With that said, if you end up with any leftovers, you can store the fried chicken gizzards in the fridge for about 3-4 days.

Alternatively, if you want to keep the gizzards for even longer, you can freeze them for about 3 months.

How To Reheat Chicken Gizzards

When it comes to reheating leftover fried gizzards, I recommend using the oven. Simply place your fried gizzards on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and heat 'em at 350°F for about 15 minutes - or until they are fully warmed.

Alternatively, you can also use an air fryer to reheat the chicken gizzards. For the air fryer, place the chicken pieces in the air fryer basket and heat them at 375°F for about 5 minutes or until thoroughly warm and crispy.

Wrapping It Up

Well, that's how to make chicken gizzards in just a few simple steps!

These crispy chicken nugget-like gizzards have an addictive crunch, and they are just so, so flavorful. I know I'm biased, but I think this is the best way to cook chicken gizzards! It's hands down our family's favorite way anyway.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family and I do. And, as always, if you give this recipe a try, leave a comment below and let me know how it went.

More Recipes

If you loved this deep fried chicken gizzards recipe - and you're looking for even more tasty fried food recipes - we have a ton of other ones on the blog for you to try next.

Check these out:

• Fried oreos
• Fried jalapenos
• Fried octopus
• Liver and onions
• Texas Roadhouse country fried chicken

Also, for more tasty recipes, don't forget to follow us on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. We post new ones on them every single day!

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