Easy Faux Fried Chicken

Faux Fried Chicken is easy to make, tastes like fried chicken, and is WAAAYYY healthier for you. Now that I’ve gotten good at baking chicken where it’s not raw in the middle, we will never go back to the greasy fried chicken we ate for so long.

We L-O-V-E Faux Fried Chicken!

Step 1 – Assemble your line up

In container #1: 1 cup of flour + dash of salt + 1 tsp of pepper, garlic powder, basil, parley flakes, paprika + 1 tbs minced onion mixed with 2 cups of crushed chips, pretzels, crackers, or even cereal make for an excellent crunchy coating.

You can also add red pepper flakes, ground mustard, or cayenne pepper or other spices. For this meal, I used the mixture listed plus 2 cups of crushed Nabisco Cheese Nips.

In container #2: You also need 2 slightly beaten eggs in a separate dish. I also flavor the egg wash with some salt and pepper.

Line up your dishes in this order for fast assembly: chicken, egg wash, flour mixture, baking dish.

Step 2 – Dunk. Roll. Dunk. Roll.

Remove the skin from the chicken. This is not completely necessary but if you are going for a healthy meal then do it. I can’t taste a difference either way so I remove the skin. You may also choose to soak your chicken in a buttermilk marinade for a couple of hours in the fridge to increase flavor. Then again, you may not. Sometimes I do. Sometimes I don’t.

Lightly roll the chicken in the flour mixture. This helps the egg wash stick to the chicken. Dunk your chicken in the egg wash. Roll in the flour mixture again. I like an extra thick crunchy crust on my chicken so I repeat the dunk and roll process.

 

Step 3 – Bake. Cool. Eat.

Place coated chicken on a pan coated with cooking spray. If the chicken has a very thick coating (like mine usually do) then spray the top with a little bit of water to help the top of the flour coating brown off and crunch up. (As you can see in the photo below, I should have sprayed a bit more water on the top of my chicken. Oh well, it still tasted FANTASTIC!) Bake in 425 degree preheated oven for 30 to 45 minutes depending on size and quantity of chicken you are cooking. Internal temperature should be around 180 degrees.

Allow the chicken to cool for about 10 minutes before cutting into it. This allows the juices to redistribute and makes for a perfectly juicy and wonderfully flavored bird!

The crust is crunchy and FULL of nine kinds of flavor! This was served with roasted potatoes and herb flavored cheese puffs. So YUMMMM!

What’s happening in your kitchen this week???

Jenn also blogs about food, crafts, and raising a family all on a budget at Frugal Front Porch.