Week 2: Fried Chicken (Katie)

This week Lorren had everyone pick their own Fried Chicken recipe. I have a good one from the Murphin Ridge Inn cookbook, but I wanted to try something new. So I did a search on Taste Spotting and found one that looked perfect for this week.

Here's the recipe I used:

Oven Fried Chicken
Serving size – 3 medium chicken breasts

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
8-10 grinds of pepper
3 medium chicken breasts
1 cup of dry bread crumbs
1 teaspoon garlic powder/granules
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon dried parsely
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
10-15 grinds of pepper
1 teaspoon California chili powder
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
Olive Oil

DIRECTIONS

In a shallow dish, like a pie plate, combine the buttermilk, ¼ tsp garlic powder, ½ tsp kosher salt, and 8-10 grinds of pepper.

Trim the chicken breast of fat. Gently pound to an even thickness. Place each one in the buttermilk mixture and let sit in the refrigerator overnight (or at least a couple hours). Make sure you use a dish that is wide enough so that all of the chicken can lie flat.

In another shallow dish, combine bread crumbs and seasonings. Stir till evenly combined. Take each breast, one at a time, from the buttermilk (leave all the buttermilk on there - no shaking it off) and place it in the bread crumb mixture. Using a spoon, cover the top with bread crumbs and press all over the surface lightly to help the crumbs adhere.

Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and set a rack on top of the paper. Gently place each chicken breast on the rack. Make sure they aren’t touching, and put the whole thing in the refrigerator for 30 to 60 minutes, depending on how much time you have.

Preheat the oven to 400º. Pick up the rack, remove any crumbs from the pan, and drizzle a line of olive oil where each breast will be - about a teaspoon each. Lay each breast flat on the line of oil and drizzle another teaspoon or so over the top of each one. Bake for about 12 minutes, and then turn each one over and bake another 8 minutes or so.

Here's the link to the recipe if you want to see the original post. It has some great step by step pictures.

I didn't make any changes to the recipe. I made the buttermilk mixture the night before and let it sit all night and day. The result was the most tender and moist chicken! That was definitely my favorite thing about the dish.


I also let it sit on the rack in the fridge for an hour after breading. The website said this would help the breading to adhere, and it seemed to work.


Here's the finished product:


Overall, I really liked this recipe. It was easy to make, and I had the spices and breadcrumbs on hand, so all I needed to buy was the chicken and buttermilk. My only caution would be that you really have to plan ahead when making it. Since it has to marinade overnight, and then sit on a rack 30-60 minutes before you cook it, it's not something you can throw together last minute.


As far as taste goes, it really was delicious. Like I said before, it was super moist. And the breading was very flavorful and spice-y (not spicy as in hot, but rather tasting of a lot of spices!). I actually might tone down the spices next time, but that's a preference thing. Brent loved it! I also liked that the coating wasn't too crispy like KFC...it made it easier to eat, and it seemed healthier too :) I will definitely make this again!

Brent: 5 stars, A+
Joy: 5 stars, A
Katie: 4 stars, A-

I know this post is supposed to be about fried chicken, but I can't resist throwing in a picture of our dessert. These Southern-Style Strawberry Cream Cheese Cupcakes were delicious!


Thanks for the great suggestion, Lorren! I'm already brainstorming what to pick for next week!