It's been 2 weeks that I have been hiding this recipe from you and I'll tell you without hesitation that it has been down-right wrong of me to do so. Why? Because this recipe is up there on the list of my favorite things I've ever made. Far up there.
Lately, I've been craving Southern Fried Chicken, but being that a) good fried chicken is hard to find in the north, and b) no one I live with really appreciates when I fry things (I think it's a combination of after-dinner guilt and the lingering oil smell in the house), I was pretty much out of luck. That is, until I came across a recipe for Southern "Baked" Chicken. And another. And another.
These recipes looked pretty good in the pictures, but I was apprehensive. I mean, Southern Baked Chicken? I know there are a ton of fried chicken purists currently screaming "NOOOOOO!" at their computer screens, slamming their palms against their desks, and maybe even letting out a whimper or two. Southern Baked Chicken. The horror!
However, at this point I was desperate for some sort-- any sort-- of Southern chicken, so I took some ideas from exactly one million-billion-trillion recipes, combined them, and came up with a basis to start from. Believe it or not, I made this chicken once and had absolutely nothing I would even dream about changing in it, which rarely basically never happens when I have pretty much no idea what I'm doing. I made it for myself and Amanda, who said something amazing about the chicken that I really wanted to remember to tell you... but it was 2 weeks ago and I'm drawing blanks. Just know that, in essence, she said it was the best chicken she'd ever had. My mom, who had leftovers 2 days later, said the same.
(By the way, my mom isn't one of those moms who pretend to like everything I make. In fact, 20 people might try something I make, love it, ask for seconds and thirds, and my mom will usually be the one to say, "Eh. It was... good." But not this time.)
Besides the fact that this Southern Baked Chicken tastes awesome and doesn't leave that nasty oil smell for days, it also is far less messy to put together and much lighter than it's fried counterpart. It's the kind of meal you can add to your weekly rotation, bring to parties, pack for picnics, and find any possible reason to make because you really just want to eat it again. For example, James didn't have a chance to try this chicken, so I will be making it very soon for him. And of course by "for him" I really mean "for me, and I guess he can have some too." I'm telling you, if you're anything like me, you'll have plenty of seemingly selfless acts of Baked Chicken in the future to disguise your obsession. No one has to know the truth... I'll never tell if you won't.
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Southern Baked Chicken
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 4 1x
Description
This easy, less-mess, lightened up recipe will shock you. Southern Baked Chicken that is just as flavorful as its fried counterpart? You can bet this is going to be a regular in my house.
Ingredients
- 8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- Cooking spray (olive oil spray works best here!)
For the brine:
- 4 cups water
- 3 tablespoons Kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- Dash hot sauce
For the breading:
- 1 cup plain bread crumbs
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons fresh cracked black pepper
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon white pepper
- ½ teaspoon dried sage
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
For the dredge:
- 3 whole eggs
- 1 ½ cups skim milk
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine all of the brine ingredients and stir until the salt has dissolved.
- Place the chicken thighs in the brine, cover, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight.
- Remove the chicken thighs from the brine, rinse them off, and pat them dry with a paper towel.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F
- Combine all of the breading ingredients in a large bowl and mix until all of the ingredients have blended. (I simply washed out the first bowl that held the brine and used that to save dishes.)
- In another bowl, beat the eggs and add in the milk. Whisk to combine.
- Take each chicken thigh and dip it in the egg and milk mixture, turning if necessary to ensure an even dip.
- Take the thighs and press them into the breading, and use your hands to push breading on the top half of the thigh and press down. Let the chicken sit in the breading for a few minutes and then remove to a rack. Repeat with each thigh.
- Transfer the chicken to a baking sheet that has been sprayed with nonstick spray. Then, spray the chicken generously with the cooking spray. This will help it crisp up in the oven. Go ahead and give it another spray. It's got enough when there are no dry-looking patches of breading left.
- Bake the chicken for about 40 minutes, or until the breading has reached the desired golden-brown color.
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 40 mins
stacy says
this looks delicious! any suggestions on what could be a substitute for the fish sauce? that is not easy to come by in my neck of the woods (italy). thanks!
Morgan says
The fish sauce is there to give a umami (or savory) flavor to the meat. Typically, MSG would be used by chain restaurants instead of the fish sauce for a similar flavor, but there is a lot of controversy over MSG and its effects on health, which is why I use fish sauce instead. Any glutamine-rich sauces will have a similar effect. Mushrooms, shellfish, and soy sauce are all known to give a similar umami flavor, so mushroom stock, shellfish stock, or soy sauce may work as substitutes (or, of course, MSG if you can find it).
If you'd like, you can make your own fish sauce that you'll be able to use to add awesome flavor to your meats and veggies in other meals besides this one. http://www.cheeseslave.com/homemade-thai-fish-sauce/ Here's a good recipe if you're interested-- make sure you use anchovies and not just any fish!
Lastly, it's okay if you decide just to skip the fish sauce (or replacement) all-together. The flavor of the chicken won't be as crazy good, but you'll still wind up with some great baked chicken!
I hope I was of a little help, Stacy!
Danielle says
I use miso paste- for this purpose- adds a wonderful umami to even vegetarian dishes. You should be able to find this in a supermarket. As a substitute I suspect you could get away with worcestershire sauce- Lea and Perrins is a great sub for umami.
Morgan says
Thanks for the advice Danielle!
tammy says
I just soaked mine in warm water with a tea bag. Left to plump up.
Libby says
This looks AWESOME! Cant wait to try it!
Morgan says
Thanks Libby!
Deb says
Can you use chicken Breast ?
Morgan says
Deb, you can use chicken breast but I definitely recommend the thighs. I tend to choose breast over thighs because I prefer white meat, but the thighs really stay juicy in this recipe, whereas breast will be slightly less so. That's not to say that breasts shouldn't still be tasty-- if you're not a dark meat person, go ahead and try them out!
J says
Hi Morgan! I just wanted to know if you used panko bread crumbs or just plain (Fine) bread crumbs?
Also, can I ask what you served the chicken with?
Morgan says
Hi J! I usually use just plain bread crumbs, but in the pictures it's about a half and half mixture of panko and fine because I didn't have enough plain bread crumbs on hand for the whole batch. Either way works great, but don't use just panko as it might not give you as good of coverage. I served the chicken with Buttermilk Biscuits with Jalapeno-Honey Butter and Lightened Up Baked Mac n' Cheese.
J says
Thanks Morgan! I plan on making a deviled version of this tonight! Hope it comes out like yours!
Have a Great Day. =)
(P.s.-I'm a new follower of yours, and love the blog)
Morgan says
How'd it turn out, J? Also, I'm so glad to have you here! Hope you enjoy what I'll be sharing in the future =) and I hope you have a great day as well!
J says
Wow! I didn't expect a follow up. It turned out Great! Only thing, I knew to check the chicken after 30-35 minutes, and possibly flip it around that time mark , because my oven (sucks) seems to be a little hotter than others. It worked like a charm. Thank you so much for your hard work =)
Will be checking in on a regular basis and I receive your Emails already. Have a Great Day!
Morgan says
I'm so glad you liked it! That's a good point-- I didn't have to turn my chicken but some people might want to depending on their ovens... I know if I had baked them when I still lived in my old apartment, I definitely would have needed to. Thanks for reporting back!
Avi's KitchenAvinesh says
Can I shallow fry it in pan? My oven is out of order. 🙁
Morgan says
I don't see why not! Try it out and let me know how it goes for you!
Batts says
I made this for the fam tonight and it was delicious! I made mine with 1/2 panko and 1/2 breadcrumbs - I love the crunch that the panko adds. Next time I made it, I might add in a little more panko to see if it'll get even crunchier. Oh - and I will make more chicken. hehe I made just enough for each person to have some, but I can imagine this would be awesome as leftovers.
Thanks for the awesome recipe!
Morgan says
So glad to hear you enjoyed it! Panko sounds like a great addition =)
Akumar says
What do you think about marinating the chicken overnight in buttermilk rather than the brine? If you were to use buttermilk, would you still use the egg mixture?
Morgan says
You can make a buttermilk brine by replacing the water in the brine with buttermilk and that is delicious, too! I would still use the egg mixture because the buttermilk, while thick, might not be thick enough to make the breadcrumbs stick while baking.
Hazel says
Just wow! I add hot sauce to the brine and chilli powder to the breadcrumbs to give it that KFC hot wings spiciness. Oh and I bake it on a grill pan rather than a baking tray so it's healthier and crispy all over. Thank you so much for this recipe and the addiction I now have
Morgan says
I'm so glad to hear you enjoy the recipe, Hazel! It's definitely one of my favorites. I think adding hot sauce and chili powder sounds great-- I'm going to try that next time. I'll also be giving the grill pan a try. Thanks for all of your suggestions!
Jamie says
I make A LOT of chicken and this is by far the best I have ever made! The boyfriend even loved it! I added chili powder (quite a bit) and cayenne pepper to my dry mixture and then I baked it on a cookie sheet in the pan so it would get crispy on all sides. I then broiled it for about 3 minutes until there were just a couple burnt spots on the top and it was perfect! I made it with homemade mashed potatoes and gravy that also had pepper and cayenne added to it. I definitely will be making this again and will be letting the kids try it.
Great recipe and thanks for sharing!
Curtis Taft says
Great recipe, family loved it. I was getting a bit grossed out by the thigh on the bone with skin, so I bought boneless skinned thighs, scoured the interweb for a brined oven fried recipe that didn't include buttermilk (because I didn't have any). Only deviation was no white pepper, and the addition of ground celery seed (a major note in KFC chicken, atleast to my palate). All the schmaltz cooked out, nice texture on the breading, great flavor, juicy meat, A+. Being the only one at the table that likes spice, I made a honey, soy, vinegar, chili flake and cayenne glaze to brush on mine when it came out of the oven, similar to BobChon chicken (which we just got here in Ohio). YUM!
Lisa says
Can I get the chicken ready before my guests arrive and then just pop in the oven when needed?
Nicholas says
Excellent recipe! Reasonably healthy too.
Dawn says
Tried this recipe tonight. Very impressed how crispy it turned out. I didn't use the fish sauce. I made my own bread crumbs. My husband is pretty judgemental when it comes to recipes like this and he actually liked it a lot. This is going into use often recipes. Thanks for a great recipe for healthy oven fried and (crispy) chicken.
William says
Just finished making this. Boy, is it good, lip-smakin' in fact! After reading the reviews, I decided a couple of changes...I used boneless/skinless chicken thighs cut into pieces, and dredged in some cornstarch. (1 tablespoon = 2 thighs) I boiled down the sauce a bit before adding the chicken (approx. 15 minutes), and once I added chicken it cooked very quickly. (20 minutes). Other then that, I did everything else the same and it was Awesome with a capital
Cor says
Thanks for this recipe! I found it through a post on Reddit, and I'm eating the leftovers as we speak! It turned out great for me, though I do have a question about cooking chicken meat. My partner and I love cooking chicken, but we can't seem to find the perfect middle ground - we like white meat breasts, though they typically get too dry, and I'm just not a fan of having to trim the meat so heavily before cooking the dark meat thighs (it adds another step, and there's always some fat and gristle left over). Any tips or alternatives?
Amanda Reddick says
i think about this recipe on a daily basis
Yoshi says
I used white meat and omitted white pepper and sage, as I didn't have it. Wow, this chicken is SO good! I'll definitely try it with all the spices next time, too. Thanks for the amazing recipe, Morgan!
Andrew says
I just made myself a thoroughly delicious dinner of baked chicken and long-grain rice! Although, I found my first run with the chicken to be way too salty - I suppose that could be because I was using breast tenders rather than whole thighs, but still. I made a batch this evening with about a quarter of the salt, and this is definitely going in my recipe book!
Diane says
Hi! I made this recipe tonight using breasts because that is what I had. I used my air fryer. Very very good! I will be making this again!