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Friday Recipe Exchange: Oven Baked Chicken
Chicken à la noir.
I thought we’d covered oven baked chicken before, but it turns out we have not. Since this is one of my favorite ways to make chicken, I was surprised. So that’s tonight’s theme. There are many different ways to go about making crispy baked chicken, I like Italian bread crumbs and panko for mine. Sometimes I soak the chicken in buttermilk for an hour and use that instead of egg to get the breadcrumbs to adhere. But if I’m in a hurry, it’s just the traditional recipe that I’ve posted below. And by traditional, I mean the one I grew up with, although my mom used rice crispies and cut up chicken pieces.
To change things up, you can add ingredients, like parmesan cheese, sesame seeds (there’s a recipe for that below), corn flakes or rice crispies. I saw a very interesting recipe recently that used toasted pecans, breadcrumbs and panko as the coating. I’m going to recipe test that one when I have a chance.
If you want something a little different, one of my favorites is Crispy Potato Chicken (recipe here).
Craving a Crispy and Spicy Chicken Sandwich? Here’s a recipe that comes close to a famous fast food joint.
And for something completely different, how about Baked Chicken with Peaches? (recipe here)
If you’re looking to barbecue chicken that’s not all scorched on the outside and raw inside, either on the grill or in the oven, I have some simple tips here.
Grilled, baked, fried or barbecued, what’s your favorite style of chicken? Do you have one of those favorite childhood foods you just have to make once a week or so? Share some recipes in the comments.
On to tonight’s two featured recipes:
Oven Fried Chicken
- 2 boneless chicken breasts
- 4 bonelss chicken thighs
- 1 cup Italian breadcrumbs
- 1 1/2 cups Panko
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ¼ cup water**
- salt & pepper to taste (at least 1/8 tsp each)
large mouth bowl, large plate and baking sheet lined with foil or parchment
Wash and pat chicken dry. In a large bowl, add water, eggs, oil, salt and pepper and beat well. Mix together and spread Italian breadcrumbs and panko evenly on large plate. Take chicken pieces one at a time and dip in egg wash, coating completely, dredge in bread crumbs until lightly coated on all sides. Place on baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes with foil covering the chicken, uncover and cook additional 15 minutes.
If you want to punch up the coating, you can add additional dry herbs to the breadcrumb mixture, I usually add some extra garlic and onion powder, a touch of cayenne, a bit of dried basil and rosemary.
This next recipe is great when the kids want chicken fingers, or it can be used with breasts and thighs as well, but you’ll need to increase the portions of breadcrumbs and sesame seeds to equal 3 cups.
Sesame Chicken Fingers
- 1/2 cup stone-ground mustard
- 1/2 cup honey
- 3 tbsp limejuice
- salt & pepper
- ½ cup sesame seeds
- 1 cup Italian breadcrumbs
- 1 egg, beaten
- ¼ cup water
- 1 tbsp sesame oil or olive oil
- 1 to 1 ½ lbs chicken tenders
baking sheet, greased or lined with parchment or foil
2 bowls and 1 plate
Mix mustard, honey & limejuice in bowl, set aside. On plate mix salt, pepper, breadcrumbs & sesame seeds. In second bowl, add egg, water & oil. Dip chicken in egg wash then dredge in breadcrumbs. Line on baking sheet, bake at 425° for 10 minutes, turn, and bake an additional 5 to 10 minutes, should be crispy on all sides. Serve with mustard dipping sauce, waffle fries and a fresh vegetable tray for a quick and easy dinner.
Crispy Baked Chicken and Gadget Update
Chicken à la noir.
Kinda wish I had that lighting all the time.
This was going to just be a gadget update, but I thought the chicken turned out so good, I figured I’d include it.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about my newest gadget and I’ve been using it pretty consistently since it arrived. I thought I’d give an update, because I’m really pleased with it. It’s almost all pros. It’s a breeze to use, it doesn’t take a lot of force to penetrate the meat. I love the way it infuses the meat with whatever seasoning
or marinade I cover it with – quite literally it helps the meat absorb all the marinade in a couple of seconds. Another plus is how neat it is while tenderizing – the meat, especially chicken, doesn’t need to be wrapped before pounding – there is no meat flying around the kitchen. The real plus is how easily it cleans. Because of the guard between the base and the meat, stuff doesn’t get all caught up in the tines. A bit of soap and hot water and the thing is spotless. Really important with chicken. The one con I have, and it may be a strength issue for me, is that sometimes the tines get caught in the meat and I have to pry it out, kind of like pulling a stick out of mud, and start again. This happens with the thicker parts.
Today I used it to tenderize chicken breasts before breading and oven roasting them. When making this basic oven fried chicken, breasts can be difficult because they can dry out easily. Pounding them flat first makes for quicker cooking, less chance of drying out. And here’s the recipe I used today:
Oven Fried Chicken:
First I seasoned the boneless breasts with salt and lots of pepper. I pounded them on both sides. Then I dipped them in an egg wash (1 egg and 2 tbsp of water per 4 breasts) and then dredged them in a mixture of bread crumbs, panko bread crumbs and seasonings – I used garlic powder, basil, sun dried tomato flakes, rosemary and a touch of oregano. I lined them up on a foil covered baking sheet, covered them with foil and baked at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Then I raised the oven temp to 425 degrees, removed the foil and baked for an additional 5-7 minutes until crisp.
They were very moist on the inside, with a nice crisp crust. Leftovers will be great in lunch salads…
Mmm… onion rings
Per TaMara’s suggestion, I used panko for the breading this time. Most excellent advice! We’ve used this recipe before and I think it’s the best of those I have done myself. The pancake batter recipe rings are an easier preparation but the extra step of breading the battered rings is worth it.
The shrimp were good but they were frozen and ready to fry so I won’t claim much credit. I did goose the heat in my cocktail sauce with some sambal oelek but it was otherwise the standard preparation made with ketchup, horseradish, lemon juice and Worcestershire.
Crispy (and spicy) Chicken Breast Sandwiches
The other day on another blog, someone mentioned making chicken patties. There were some questions about the recipe, so I went and took a look. It sounded great and I thought, I should make that. But when I went to make it, remembered it called for ground, cooked chicken and thought, eh, too much work. I prefer a chicken breast cutlet with a crisp, spicy crust, anyway. So I decided to play with ingredients to come up with something that made me feel guilty eating it. All spicy and crispy. This what I came up with:
Crispy Chicken Breast Sandwiches
- 4 large boneless-skinless chicken breasts
- 1 cup dill pickle juice
- 1 egg (if you’re going to bake, add 1 tbsp of olive oil to egg)
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 cup panko
- 1 cup Italian bread crumbs
- Olive oil
Spice Mix
- 1 tsp of salt
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp dried marjoram
- 2 tsp dried sage
- 2 tsp dry basil
- 2 tsp of celery seeds
- 1 tsp of black pepper
- 1/2 to 1 tsp cayenne powder
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 2 tsp of paprika
Sandwich Fixin’s
- 8 crusty sesame sandwich rolls
- Mayonnaise
- Tomato slices
- Lettuce
- Dill pickle (or for extra spice, jalapenos – my choice)
skillet
Fillet breasts to make two thin fillets from each breast and then soak in pickle juice for 30 minutes. Transfer chicken to buttermilk and let marinate for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, mix together panko, bread crumbs and spice mix. Beat egg.
Remove chicken from buttermilk mixture, dip in egg and then dredge in breadcrumb mixture, coating well. Fry in skillet with 1-2 tbsp of oil, turning until golden brown on both sides. Or alternately, bake at 375 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes. (I covered it for the first 10-15 minutes to keep it moist, then uncovered to get it crispy).
Serve with sandwich fixin’s.
Cooked fillets can be frozen and reheated in the oven at 450 degrees until heated through.
