Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Oven-Baked Crispy Fried Chicken

I tend to make a lot of stews and crockpot meals in the winter, but it's been a long winter and I felt like we needed a taste of summer.  Fried chicken is a staple of summertime picnics.  Unfortunately fried chicken is tough on the waistline.  Wrestling is over, but I'm not ready to pull out the deep fryer just yet.  Last night I made some Oven-Baked Crispy Fried Chicken.

I started by placing 4 chicken thighs in a ziplock baggie with 3/4 cup of ranch dressing and mushed it around until the chicken was completely coated.

I've used lots of different things as a coating on my fried chicken.  Back when we were a gluten eating family, Cheez-It's were a crowd favorite.  Since going gluten-free, falafel chips are the goto coating.  I like the spicy variety.  I put about a half a bag of the falafel chips in a large ziplock baggie,

and crushed them with a rolling pin.  You can use your food processor for this part, but you'll then need to transfer the crushed chips to a baggie.

I transfer the ranch coated chicken to the falafel chip baggie, close the top, and shake away until the chicken is completely coated.  Don't forget to close the top of the baggie before shaking or bad things will happen.  Ask me how I know.  Transfer the chicken to a foil lined baking sheet that has been sprayed with olive oil.  Mist over the top with some more olive oil.  I like using an olive oil mister vs a cooking spray, because you can use the very best olive oil in your cooking.






Place the tray in a 375 oven and in 45 minutes you'll have perfectly golden, crispy, fake-out fried chicken.
I served this with some rice and roasted cauliflower.

Thanks for popping in and cooking with me.  I'm linking this up to Gluten-Free Homemaker's Gluten-Free Wednesdays and Lisa's Gluten-Free's Food & Health Carnival.
hearthandsoulgirlichef

18 comments:

  1. Ohhh that looks good. My boys would love it too! Thanks for sharing. XO

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  2. Yum! That looks just like fried chicken!! We may be having that tonight for dinner!

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  3. Falafel chips are a nice choice on this! It looks delicious!

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  4. Just wanted to stop by and say thanks for visiting me! It's hard being "the new kid". haha. I found your blog and it really caught my eye - can't wait to read more!

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  5. You have done it again....another great recipe for me to try! I would have never thought of using the ranch dressing for this! Thanks!

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  6. They look healthy and delicious! What a smart use of the GF falafel chips to coat the chicken! Guess I'll have a new favorite to make for dinner!

    Amy
    http://utry.it

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  8. This looks delicious! I adore coated chicken and so does my hubby... he would be super happy if I made this for him! Thanks for sharing. :) I am your newest follower. ;)
    http://humblehomemaking.blogspot.com/

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  9. I loved the look of this recipe so much I featured it on todays Yummy Thursday post over at my blog Humble Homemaking.

    Head on over to the link below to check it out and collect your Featured Button. :) Have a great day!

    http://humblehomemaking.blogspot.com/2011/02/yummy-thursday-humble-chocolatte.html

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  10. You're welcome for the feature! I didn't realise you had so many other awesome recipes too! I will have to spend some time going through them. :) Have a great day.

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  11. That sounds good. I have chicken thighs that need to be used tonight. I might give this a try.

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  12. Oh my gosh, that sounds fantastic! I love that coating...I'm definitely going to give that a try. Ranch and cheez-its are sure to please =) Thanks so much for sharing this w/ the hearth and soul hop this week!

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  13. I love how this looks! What a great coating for the chicken, I generally avoid making fried chicken because of the calories but this looks like a good lifestyle choice, thanks :)

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  14. What a fabulous chicken dish! I love it! Thanks also for the congrats on buying our house!

    You have a COOl blog!

    Many greets from Brussels, Belgium!

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  15. Hubby loves Ranch and I've never tried it for making oven fried chicken. I certainly will now. I just tried Falafel chips (spicy, of course) for the first time last week. I would've never thought to use them, or Cheez-Its for that that matter, as a chicken coating. Thanks!

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