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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.
Thursday Recipe Exchange: Grilled Chicken
Photo by JeffreyW
Tonight we’ll start with grilling chicken. I have a stockpile of marinade and grilling recipes for chicken breasts. I may be in the minority, but when it comes to many chicken dishes, including bbq and fried chicken, I prefer thighs. They have more flavor and are moister. The introduction of boneless thighs was like a culinary miracle as far as I was concerned.
When I am using marinades, though, I actually prefer boneless breasts. Similar to pork loin, they take on whatever flavors are introduced and cook up quickly. When using a marinade, I think their blandness proves more of an asset than a deficit; they are kind of like a blank canvas for introducing flavors.
And for busy weeknights, nothing is quicker and easier than pulling marinated chicken breasts out of the refrigerator, doing a quick stir-fry or grilling them and serving with rice and a salad. I have three recipes to get us started:
Cranberry Grilled Chicken (recipe here) is one of my favorites and anyone who has read this blog, knows I LOVE cranberries.
And Sunrise Chicken (recipe here) is a great citrus based marinade.
Tonight’s feature recipe is a marinade that is meant for grilling. Grilling gives the marinated breasts a nice crust. It can also be used on pork loin or boneless pork chops, though I prefer apple cider or cranberry juice to the grape juice in that case.
So what do you look forward to the most at a picnic? What’s your favorite thing to grill?
Fruit Juice Marinated Chicken Breasts
- 4 chicken boneless breasts
- ½ cup grape or cranberry juice
- ½ cup soy sauce
- ½ cup wine
- 2 tsp crushed garlic
zip lock bag or sealed container
Add all ingredients into zip lock bag and thoroughly coat & let marinate overnight. Grill 15 minutes each side, 165 degrees internal temp.
When grilling, to avoid drying chicken out, sear on each side (about 5 minutes each side), cook 5 additional minutes for each side, baste with marinade if desired, then move away from high heat for rest of the cooking time. The thickness of the chicken breasts makes a difference here, so adjust accordingly.
You’ re on your own tonight. I’ve been asked to film a drumming on Sunday and tonight is going to be a trial run. Should be fun.
What’s for Dinner? Teriyaki-Ponzu Barbecue Chicken
I had a hankering for my mom’s Soy Sauce Barbecue Chicken, but since I didn’t plan ahead and wasn’t really prepared to make the original recipe, I decided to see if I could use what I had on hand and make something just as tasty. I didn’t have soy sauce, but did have teriyaki and ponzu sauce on hand, so those became the base of the marinade. I had boneless thighs and only an afternoon to marinate. Next they were barbecued on grill, not baked in the oven. I think overall they turned out good – moist, tangy and sweet. I served it with steamed brown rice and watermelon.
Teriyaki Ponzu Barbecue Chicken
- 10-12 boneless chicken thighs
Marinade:
- 1/2 cup teriyaki sauce
- 1/2 cup Ponzu sauce
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 heaping tbsp honey
- 1 tsp or more of crushed garlic
- 1 tsp or more of ground ginger
Mix marinade ingredients well so sugar dissolves. Put chicken and marinade in sealed container and marinate for 1 hour. Remove chicken from marinade and place on a foil. Wrap up tight and place on a grill (depending on your grill – 350 degrees or not directly over the coals). Turn at the 15 minute mark. After an additional 15 minutes, remove from foil and place directly on the grill, still not directly over coals, basting well every 5 minutes until the sauce is sticky and the chicken cooked through (about another 15 minutes).
Mystery Meals
I shun plastic whenever possible. So my meats, poultry and fish are wrapped in foil in the freezer. I think it keeps them better than plastic bags, less freezer burn, etc. Now this poses a problem, mainly identification. There are many ways to solve this – freezer pens, freezer tape, segregation. The latter is what I’ve always done. I just have everything separated and I can reach in and grab a wrapped package and know if it’s chicken breasts or ribeye.
Or at least I could. Something happened this week. I’m blaming it on a capricious freezer fairy. But I have reached in, grabbed a foil wrapped package, put it in the refrigerator to thaw, unwrapped it and WTF?! Chicken thighs turned out to be chicken breasts, not that big of a deal. Hamburger turned out to be small piece of sirloin. A little more challenging.
Tonight I thought for sure I had it right. Boneless chicken thighs. I was going to slice them up, stir fry them with some green onions, garlic and Ponzu sauce and serve with brown rice. Yummy and easy.
My chicken thighs? London broil. Luckily it was still slightly frozen, so I could slice it thin without too much effort and then I prepared it just as I would have the thighs. Whole different flavor, but what the heck, I’m always up for a little adventure in cooking.
Tomorrow? I’m still searching for those boneless chicken thighs. This time I”m sure I have it right. BBQ and garlic mash potatoes. Or not.
BTW, sliced up the tomato today and it was awesome. Can’t wait for the real harvest.
Chicken and Dumplings
Creamy Chicken & Dumplings
- 2 boneless chicken breasts
- 4 boneless chicken thighs
- 2 sprigs of parsley
- 2 stalks of celery, chopped, w/leaves
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- 32 oz chicken broth or water
- 1 tbsp flour
- ½ cup milk
dutch oven or large saucepan
Cut chicken into large pieces add all ingredients (except flour & cream), to saucepan bring to a boil, reduce to medium and cook for 20 minutes. Stir flour into cream, add to saucepan with chicken, bring to low boil, stirring constantly. Add dumplings.
Dumplings:
- 1 cup flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup milk
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
Mix together of dry ingredients, add milk and oil, stir just to moisten. Drop by spoonful into boiling chicken mixture (do this lightly, so they sit on top). Cover and simmer on med-low for 12-15 minutes. Remove dumplings with slotted spoon. Serve immediately.
