Monday, August 27, 2007

So-Simple Oven-Fried Chicken

Here's our standby baked chicken method (I almost hesitate to call it a recipe because it's so simple). This amount of coating mixture will cover 10 to 16 thighs or 5-7 lbs. Just double or halve the amounts as needed for the quantity of chicken you're baking.

This is really easy--just pop it in the oven and ignore it for about an hour. It's pretty forgiving if you leave it in the oven, too, as long as you leave the skins on the chicken.

You can use the same recipe for boneless skinless chicken, but you'll need to reduce the baking time and watch carefully to make sure it's not getting too dry.


  • Raw (thawed) bone-in chicken pieces with the skin on.

  • 1/2 cup flour, any kind (I've used rice, whole wheat, or a combination of various alternative flours)

  • 1 teaspoon RealSalt Organic Season Salt or 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of your favorite seasoning mix.

  • One or more large baking dish(es)


Preheat oven to 425° F.

Mix together flour with salt. Put flour mixture in a shallow dish wide enough to roll a piece of chicken. This should be enough for 10-16 pieces of chicken, or 5 to 7 lbs.

Take raw (thawed) chicken pieces (I use thighs) and rinse with cool water if desired. Let any excess water drip off and roll the chicken pieces in the flour mixture to coat.

Lay the pieces into a baking dish. (Use a rack or a broiler pan if you want to minimize fat content, but I usually just use a plain glass baking dish). Bake at 425° F for 40-60 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 180° F.

You might want to cut the meat off the bones and save the bones in the freezer to make bone broth later. I'll be posting a recipe for bone broth soon!

Chicken cooked this way is good chilled, or can be frozen and reheated. I usually bake up a huge batch and freeze some for later.

2 comments:

Karen said...

Love it! I'll definitely be trying this out. I like fried chicken but worry about the high fat, this seems like a much healthier version of an old favorite!

purple_kangaroo said...

I hope you enjoy it! I've used other spices, or even cinnamon and sugar, in the coating mixture too.