Crispy Chicken with Herbed Carolina Gold Rice & Scratch Pan Gravy
Aug 11, 2020, Updated Oct 03, 2022
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It does not get more homey than breaded cutlets fried golden brown and served with a savory pan gravy. Crispy Chicken with Herbed Carolina Gold Rice & Scratch Pan Gravy is a forkful of comfort.
Crispy Chicken with Herbed Carolina Gold Rice & Scratch Pan Gravy may not stand out as a fancy dish. Alone, each element of this meal is conventional. Collectively though, chicken and rice plated together, regardless of the method of preparation, represent the core of Southern American cooking.
Charleston, South Carolina was built on cotton, indigo, and rice. And while we have all learned in our history books that cotton was king, nothing shaped Charleston’s wealth quite like the effects of rice growing.
Carolina Gold Rice, still grown in Carolina today, cannot help but wordlessly retell the squalid history involving slaves on the very backs of whom, early Charleston, South Carolina rice plantations would prosper.
And it is said that without rice, the City of Charleston as we know it today, would simply not exist…
In addition to a crispy panko coating, the chicken cutlets are flavored with Italian herb seasonings and smoked paprika. For my dish, I used the bourbon smoked paprika. The scant addition of this spice is sweet, a little smoky, and really, really delicious.
This dish gets a fast start in a hot carbon steel skillet, then moves to a baking sheet in the oven to finish. The bits remaining in the skillet are where the flavor is. I use these bits to work my gravy. I am always sure to use homemade chicken stock for the MOST FLAVORFUL gravy. The Carolina Gold will be both fragrant and flavored with softened salted sweet cream butter and fresh chopped herbs from my garden.
The quintessential Lowcountry dish, pilau, pronounced “per-loo” in Gullah culture, is a traditionally steamed rice dish. It is served most often with meat, shellfish, or vegetables in a seasoned broth.
Charleston chefs are known to pull inspiration from both traditional European cooking and from the culinary traditions of the Lowcountry. Many have revised pilau to meet the tastes of modern diners.
Any form of chicken and rice, hence my Crispy Chicken with Herbed Carolina Gold Rice & Scratch Pan Gravy, is elevated by using fresh chicken, and most certainly Carolina Gold rice. Herein, I have swapped the broth for a rich scratch pan gravy.
Crispy Chicken with Herbed Carolina Gold Rice & Scratch Pan Gravy
Equipment
- carbon steel skillet more lightweight than cast iron which may also be used if you do not own carbon steel
Ingredients
Ingredients for the Crispy Chicken
- 6 6 ounce each boneless, skinless chicken breasts, ** Alternate Method: See Step 1 below; use only 3 chicken breasts
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
- 1 ½ teaspoons black pepper, divided
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup whole milk
- 2 cups panko
- 1 ½ teaspoons Italian seasoning or Herbes de Provence
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika, I used this bourbon-smoked paprika
- 3 tablespoons salted sweet cream butter
- 3 tablespoons quality olive oil
Ingredients for the Herbed Carolina Gold Rice
- 4 cups hot, cooked Carolina Gold rice or other short-grain white rice, I am using Charleston Gold by Carolina Plantation
- 2 tablespoons salted sweet cream butter
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
Ingredients for The Scratch Pan Gravy
- ¼ cup very soft, but not quite melted salted butter
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cups homemade chicken stock or full-fat chicken broth
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
Instructions
Prepare the Chicken
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Place chicken breasts between 2 sheets of plastic wrap, and flatten to about 3/4-inch thickness, using a rolling pin or flat side of a meat mallet. Sprinkle chicken with 1 teaspoon each of the salt and pepper. **Alternate Method: using only 3 chicken breasts, place your hand atop a breast and using a very sharp kitchen knife, carefully cut each in half lengthwise, cutting as slowly and evenly as possible.
- Whisk together eggs and milk in a shallow dish. Stir together panko, Italian seasoning or Herbes de Provence, smoked paprika, and remaining 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in another shallow dish.
- Dip chicken, 1 piece at a time, in egg mixture, shaking off excess; dredge in panko mixture, coating well and pressing to adhere.
- Melt 1 1/2 tablespoons of the butter with 1 1/2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large carbon steel skillet over medium. Cook 3 chicken breasts in skillet until golden, 3 to 5 minutes per side. Remove chicken from pan, and place on a rimmed baking sheet. Repeat with remaining butter, oil, and chicken. Bake in preheated oven until chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes.
Begin the Pan Gravy
- Using the same skillet as the chicken breasts, whisk together 1/4 cup melted salted butter and 1/4 cup all-purpose flour in a large skillet. Cook over medium, whisking constantly, until bubbly, about 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in 2 cups homemade chicken stock, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper.
- Cook, whisking often, just until mixture comes to a boil and is smooth and thick, 2 to 5 minutes. (If mixture is too thick, stir in up to 1/2 cup more broth, 1/4 cup at a time, until desired consistency is reached.)
For the Herbed Rice
- Combine all ingredients in a bowl, and stir until butter is melted. Serve with chicken and scratch pan gravy.
To Plate This Dish
- Mound 2 heaping (serving) spoonfuls of the herbed rice in the center of each plate. Using tongs, transfer 1 cutlet to each plate, standing the cutlet up on the rice at an angle. Top with a small amount of the gravy. Garnish with additional chopped herbs or handfuls of fresh thyme. Be sure to have the remaining gravy on the table for passing.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Live in Canada. CAN I use asian or Basmati rice ?
Lew, yes; absolutely you may use an alternate rice. Basmati is a good choice because of its texture. Cook the rice according to the package directions and start with 1 Tablespoon of butter versus 2 – if the rice is not becoming sticky once the herbed butter mixture has been added, I would then advise to simply melt an additional 1 Tablespoon of butter into the rice. Since I have not tested this recipe using anything but Carolina Gold, it is hard for me to know what 2 Tablespoons will do to the texture of other types of rice. Let me know how you enjoy the recipe should you make it – it’s worth it! x – Jenny
Many thanks Jenny.
Impresssed by your excellent instructions. I try/use a good dealof recipes from various countries and when I find/receive a recipe I wish to try (and then later maybe send to others) I put it into Word for easy following instructions as you have done.
Lew, thanks for saying so – organization is as important as measuring twice, don’t you agree? x – Jenny
I look forward to trying this recipe. My wife and I visited Charleston in March and purchased a 2 lb. bag of Carolina Gold Rice, it’s by far the best rice we’ve ever had! I continue to buy it online for all my rice dishes, it is well worth the purchase!
Mike, even more so pleased than I am to hear you may try out this chicken and gravy recipe, I am pleased you had the opportunity to visit the Holy City! What did you do, what did you see, and more importantly, what did you think? March is a good month to visit as it is our spring and not too hot yet. It’s my hope you were able to get out to see some of the plantations and gardens or cruise the harbor on a catamaran tour. Visits to Charleston for families with small children means the South Carolina Aquarium, The Children’s Museum, or let ’em run their energy out at our Farmer’s Market at Marion Square. I should be an ambassador for Charleston versus a food blogger, now shouldn’t I?? If you plan to come this way again, you must let me know!
Please send me a little note to tell me how you find this recipe. And I’m so, so glad you know about America’s little secret, Carolina Gold! x- Jenny
Anita and I will try this soon! Thirty years in the South, an hour’s drive from Carolina and I had never heard of Carolina Gold before. Will try it, with a dinnertime prayer of remembrance for the somber history that, as you said, it tells without words. — Cliff and Anita, Virginia.
Cliff, you and your wife should consider a trip down to Charleston – I think you sound like ‘you get it,’ and seeing this – all of this – would give you pause as it has me. The human spirit even in the wake of atrocities is not to be tamed. If you did make the journey, it would be my privilege to spend a day showing you Middleton Place Plantation. I take EVERYBODY who visits me there, so they understand what rice and cotton, but especially rice, meant to the South in the years leading up to the great war.
If you do not have access to Carolina Gold in your grocery, you can always order it from The Charleston Museum. Some part of that revenue goes to the Museum. Otherwise, I do believe I offer a link (affiliate, so I earn from your purchase) in my post. Either way, I bet once you cook it and taste it, you will always want to eat it above all other rice going forward – and it’s American grown so you support American rice growers which is huge by itself. Carolina Gold Rice Foundation / http://www.carolinagoldricefoundation.org
Let me know how you enjoy the recipe once you’ve had the opportunity to fix it. x – Jenny
I so love the hint of sweetness and smokiness from the bourbon smoked paprika. And the herbed Carolina Gold rice was a perfect complement to the crispy chicken. Sharing this recipe to my sister!
Elia, I have been asked by so many readers to share where to get the s://amzn.to/43a2Wzj”>bourbon smoked paprika – linked; it really DOES make a difference in the flavor profile of the overall dish. I will link it in the post, too. Glad you brought this up, and SUPER GLAD you enjoyed the recipe! x- Jenny