10 Must-Try Fried Chicken Recipes For Your Backyard Social

While classic Southern fried chicken is very popular, we have ten great variations you should try. Some include Caribbean infusion, Asian and Middle Eastern marinades just to name a few. With these great recipes your legendary dish is already taken care of, the only thing left to think of is what savory side dishes you will pair with it.

This delicious and slimmed-down version of everyone's favorite — fried chicken — is a recipe you'll want to make over and over again for the family. Oven-baking the chicken cuts out the grease, while a tangy barbecue sauce makes it finger-lickin' good.

Chef Ashley Christensen of Beasley's Chicken + Honey in Raleigh, North Carolina, shares her recipe for old-fashioned, Southern fried chicken. Served hot off the stove or chilled in the fridge, this dish is the perfect summertime entree.

Ditch the bucket of cold, greasy chicken and load up on these extra-crispy chicken breasts, drumsticks, and thighs. If you want a spicier kick, add a few drops of hot sauce to the buttermilk coating. If you prefer chicken fingers, you can use this same coating mixture on boneless chicken tenders.

If you like fried chicken, try Chicharrones de Pollo, the Dominican version. It's one of those iconic Caribbean fusion dishes with a Spanish influence. – Hector Rodriguez

This is the best fried chicken ever. The smoke permeates the meat, seasoning it from the inside out. Combined with the crunchy exterior and juicy meat, it is revelatory. Just remember to let it rest before eating.

The enzymes in buttermilk act as a natural tenderizer and the jalapeño provides a nice fresh kick of flavor in this marinade. It's a perfect treatment for fried chicken, but also works well for grilled foods. — Ray "Dr. BBQ" Lampe,

This recipe uses Greek yogurt mixed with mustard, garlic, and seasonings, so that there's not only acid to break down the chicken and make it juicy, but added flavor from the yogurt and mustard.

Saffron is used in a lot of Middle Eastern and South Asian marinades, oftentimes with yogurt, and it complements the flavor of chicken amazingly.

Simplicity is the key—after all, the star of the show is the chicken.

Don't be intimidated by the amount of hot pepper sauce in the marinade; the chicken will pick up only some of the heat.