Random Question...

The other night I tried a new recipe that I was very excited about... and well it did not turn out well!  I had been wanting to try to make a battered-chicken dish for a while, and finally tried it.  I pretty much followed a recipe... dipped/covered chicken pieces in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs.  Here's where I think I may have ruined it... I almost always cook on the stove with olive oil, and so I did as I always do.  Within just about two minutes there was smoke filling the kitchen and the chicken was completely blackened/burned on the outside.  --Was it the olive oil?  Next time should I not put anything in the pan to cook it with??  Anybody have a thought? -Because I really wanted that recipe to turn out and Cody was excited about it as well.  He was sweet and still ate it and said it was great -minus the blacked parts that he scrapped off lol.  Just curious though because I'd love to try it again if I can figure out what to do differently!  And just for the record even though I haven't done a cooking success/fail post in forever... this is going down as a cooking failure!