Oven Fried Chicken – Recipe!

Fried Chicken is something the Bell family is quite familiar with because my grandmother used to make it once a week for dinner for her family.  My Grandma Bell was raised in Arkansas, and southern recipes were part of her weekly mealtime regime, even after she moved to Southern California as a young women.  “There isn’t any big secret about making good fried chicken,” she would say, but somehow hers always tasted the very best.  It’s been along time since I had my grandma’s fried chicken, but every time I prepare anything similar, I think of her.

Eating a lot of fried foods, isn’t something I do often, and when you can make a recipe that changes up the cooking technique from frying to oven roasting, and it still tastes fried, I’m game.  Oven Fried Chicken, does that even seem achievable without frying to give it that crispy crunchy outer coating?  Yes, it’s possible, but with a slightly different texture to be honest.  When oven frying, as I like to call it, you need two different coatings and a seasoned egg wash in between, to give the chicken a proper crust.  It also helps to bake it in a hefty casserole dish, preheated with melted butter.  The preparation is easy enough, and the results are quite good.

I used all chicken thighs, just because I love them, but you can use a whole chicken cut-up, chicken legs, or chicken breasts for that matter.  I would reduce my cooking time a few minutes, if oven roasting breasts alone, depending upon their size of course.  I think my grandma would be proud, and probably astonished that you can have these results, but made in the oven.

Ingredients

3 cups buttermilk

1 tablespoon hot sauce, any variety

6 bone-in skin-on chicken thighs, or similar mix of chicken

4 tablespoons butter

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon seasoned salt

1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika, divided

3 large eggs

2 cups Panko breadcrumbs

salt & pepper

parsley leaves, optional

(Serves 4)

To Prepare:

1. Add buttermilk and hot sauce to a large bowl, stir.  Place chicken to soak for at least 4 hours, up to overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In a large casserole dish, add butter and place in oven until melted.  Remove and set aside.
3. In one bowl, add flour, 1 tablespoon seasoned salt, 1 teaspoon paprika, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, stir to combine.  In another bowl, whisk eggs with remaining paprika, set aside.  In final bowl, combine Panko and 1 teaspoon seasoned salt, stir to combine.
4. To coat chicken – dip into flour mixture, then egg mixture, then panko.  Place skin side down into melted butter in dish.  Repeat until all chicken is coated.
5. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes.  Remove and carefully flip chicken over with tongs.  Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and parsley, if desired.  Serve hot or room temperature.  Enjoy!