Although there are a variety of ways to beautifully prepare chicken, none to me is as easy, as satisfying, and as homely as oven-fried chicken. I had the great fortune of being raised by a mother who specialized in it. She preferred to use whole chickens cut up by the butcher, and her technique is more intensive than my own. Mine is a stripped down version that can be endlessly expanded upon.
Step One: Ingredients
This recipe requires chicken pieces: the aforementioned cut-up whole chicken (use the livers and the heart too, you baby), breasts, legs, wings, thighs. This is chef’s choice. I prefer thighs, in that they’re cheap, moist, easily acquired in larger batches, fatty but not too-fatty (and easily trimmed). In this case, I went with boneless, because that’s what was in my freezer. Bone-in pieces are fine too. Please also note that I went with the Value Pack, although you could conceivably go with your locally-sourced, free-range, eight-times-as-expensive stuff too.
Step Two: Everything Else, Including Melted Butter
That’s a bowl with 3/4 cup of flour, 2 tablespoons of paprika, a generous grinding of black pepper (two teaspoons, maybe), and a less generous grind of salt (less say a teaspoon). Everything goes into whatever you’re willing to use for dredging the chicken – my do-everything steel bowl in my case, but a plastic freezer bag would work perfectly. Mix thoroughly. The paprika will turn the white flour a darker hue.
Please note that any spices will work here. Fan of garlic? Add garlic powder. Prefer heat? Add red pepper. Prefer lots of heat? Add cayenne.
The only other necessary ingredient is butter. In the case of this package of thighs, a full-stick melted slowly on the oven for later use proved more than sufficient. I used the leftover butter for quickly-cooked green beans.
Step Three: Dredge The Chicken While An Oven Gets To/Near 400
Start your oven preheating. Lower temperatures work too but take longer. I’ve found that an oven at 400 (or, on a Fast Bake setting, 375), can finish a package of chicken thighs in less than an hour. This is ideal if the point is eating quickly.
While waiting for the preheat cycle to complete, take each piece of chicken and cover it on one side and then the other in the flour/paprika/pepper/salt mixture. Cover thoroughly. Use both hands and get that mix into the available crevices. There’s a sink nearby. You can wash-up when you’re done. Spread the pieces on a cookie sheet. Worried about your cookie sheet sticking? Use a splash of your melted butter on the sheet beforehand. In the end, you’ll have a cookie sheet that looks like this:
Step Four: Use Melted Butter To Paint The Chicken Pieces
Again as with the flour, each of these pieces should be totally covered in the melted butter. A brush of some sort proves most useful here. Ideally, the pieces look like they’re soaked, and ideally, you start to wonder if you haven’t just taken the flour/paprika/pepper/salt mixture off of the chicken. You haven’t, by the way.
Step Five: Into The Oven For 22 Minutes And 30 Seconds Then Flip
After 22 minutes and 30 seconds, the chicken in the oven will be a light, golden brown color. When the chicken is flipped, it will likely appear to be a darker color on the side that has been touching the cookie sheet. This isn’t a problem.
Step Six: Into The Oven For 22 Minutes and 30 Seconds More, Then Serve
After another 22 minutes and 30 seconds, remove the chicken from the oven and let rest for a few minutes. Then put on a plate, put the plate on the table, and let the eating commence. Serve with literally anything.
Feeling frisky? Make double the amount you think you’ll need for one night’s worth of food, and have the leftovers the next day. Cold oven-fried chicken might – might – be better than warm oven-fried chicken. A piece of cold oven-fried chicken and a drink on ice makes for a delightful lunch.
I have found using dipping in buttermilk before dredging gives it a nice flavor and using pulverized melba toast in the dredge gives it a satisfying, almost fried crunch.Report
So excited to try this. Thanks!Report
This looks seriously good and you save the cost of having to buy a deep fryer. Does the same technique work for other things like vegetables or anything else you might want to fry?Report
@leeesq I oven fry fish all the time various dredges cornmeal, panko, crushed pecans, go crazyReport
We oven fry porkchops, too.Report
That’s not quite kosher….Report
Do you make sure the ambulance is ready to pick everybody up after supper?Report
The same technique would work for whatever you’re interested in cooking, with one huge caveat: the timing is going to be very different depending upon what you’re cooking.Report
Spices that go here might also include:
Tandoori Seasonings
Curry
Poultry Seasoning (I recommend Bell’s)
BBQ dry rub seasonings
Fine Herbs
Garam Masala
Za’atar
Dry salad dressing or soup mixes — the kinds used to make dips or oil/vinegar dressings.
And like @anne said, go crazy with the crunchy coatings.
Also, I suspect you could dissolve pastes in the butter; mustard, harissa, Thai curry pastes, etc. as well.Report
Perpetually-Popular Post Part II: The Sam Strikes Back
This looks pretty great, I’ll have to try this. Are the final 30 seconds on each side crucial?Report
No – I just wanted to hit roughly 45 minutes of total cooking time. I’m relatively certain the chicken would have survived 23 minutes a side.Report
I’ve always been intimidated by fried chicken. It’s one of my favorite foods in the world but growing up in the South there is a lot of cultural pressure to either do it right or go home. This recipe sounds easy enough to give it a try.Report
Ugh. I hate that nonsense. Most of the recipes I put up on here should be considered base recipes – they’re a place to start from. As evidenced by the comments already, there are plenty off variations including changing up the breading, changing up the spices, and changing up the meats.
Just as with chili, I’m sure there are those who will declare that, for various reasons, my own recipe doesn’t count. Screw ’em. I had a good dinner last night. They had their cranky objections to a world that doesn’t heel to their needs. I much prefer my food to their expectations.Report
Mike I’m a transplanted Southerner, but I understand where you’re coming from on fried chicken down this way.
But I don’t think it’s worth being intimidated over. I make fried chicken in a very similar way on to what Sam’s posted all the time (and I’m going to take some of his steps as improvements, thank you!) in the oven and the family loves it.
When I have more time or inclination, I actually take a similar prep (basically up to his step three but with smaller pieces) and cook it in about an inch of canola oil in my cast iron skillet on the range.
I use a digital thermometer and maintain oil temperature at about 350F or so and place them in on one side for a few minutes and then turn them over to a few more. If you’re skittish about if they’re cooked thoroughly, I’m not shy about cutting a piece open with a knife to be sure they’re done all the way through.
It’s messier and riskier (not to mention probably even less healthy), but I think it’s a distinct improvement in the final product, a little crisper and juicier.Report
I admit that with this place, and this place, and what can only be described as miracle chicken, we haven’t been cooking chicken much, but when we do, we always do it in the oven. We’re going to have to use this next time we do.Report
Yeah, this is similiar to my mom’s as well but she used an iron skillet.
She won’t make me her fried chicken anymore since she doesn’t like to take that much time to cook it. Her smoked standing rib roast was delightfull though
I might have to try this method as a ode to moms.Report
A cast-iron skillet is a great suggestion here depending on how much chicken you’re making. I don’t have one large enough to accommodate the amount that I was making.Report
@sam
Adopt me!Report
You’d be so bored. Well-fed, but bored.Report
I tried to pot fry chicken recently with poor results. I think my oil was too hot as the outside was blackened. Not quite burnt, so it was at least edible, but not anywhere close to what I wanted. I think the thermometer I had was less-than-sufficiently accurate. I ordered a new one which I have yet to put to use, but will probably try this method with the chicken legs I have in the freezer. Thanks again, Sam.Report
For whatever it is worth, I do not and will not mess around with home deep-frying. Between having three kids around, not the greatest ventilation, and a general aversion to that much risk when making food, I much prefer the workarounds like the one above. Also, it is so easy to go an get good fried food (it’s available EVERYWHERE) that I figure it is a job best left in the hands of professionals. I suppose this makes me a bad cook in some way but…Report
I have. I do not recommend it if you own the place, though, as you will never manage the cleanup, and will have grease on everything in the kitchen.Report
I don’t know what technically qualifies something as “deep frying”, but I rarely have more than an inch or two of oil in the pot. And if I’m going above a half-inch or so, I’m using the much deeper dutch oven.
Fried eggplant, homemade crab rangoons (my wife’s specialty), homemade tortilla chips… these are all too tasty to abandon frying altogether.
I considered buying an actual deep fryer, but most of the home models seem unreliable to the point of being a waste of money.
All of this is likely to change once Mayo can’t just be strapped into a chair anymore. When’s that happen? 13?Report
Kazzy,
Stirfrying or sauteing (same technique) is when you have relatively little oil and relatively high heat.
Deepfrying is when you submerge the food in the oil.Report
Alright Sam – you have succeeded in making me think about this recipe for the last couple of days. Question: Using a basic kitchen stove with two racks, what do you think the maximum number of pieces are that I could do at once? I’m asking because I throw myself a birthday party every year as an excuse to cook for about 20 people and I am wondering if I could feed everyone with this. The problem of course is that if I do it in two stages, how do I keep it warm if I do it in two rounds (trying to hit a target of about 60 pieces total)? Am I shooting too high here?Report
Mike,
I really don’t see how you could possibly have 60 pieces prepared at once if you’re working with a standard sized oven. You could conceivably fill the top and bottom rock, and when you went to flip the chicken, switch the racks that they were on, but even then, that much chicken is going to change the timing, and I really couldn’t guarantee what the ultimate outcome would be.
Two possible workarounds:
-Make 30 pieces and cook for 45 minutes, and switch racks when flipping. Put a second round in, cook for 50 minutes (I’m assuming more chicken will require a bit more time), and serve. Pop the first 30 pieces back in for five more minutes to get them warm, serve those. It’s staggered service but better than nothing.
-Serve cold. I’m not sure cold (oven) fried chicken is for everybody, but it definitely is delicious. You could make three batches of 20, chill in a fridge overnight, then serve the next day. That though might be a bit too old-school for your crowd. It’s perfect for a picnic though, or an outside party.Report
Sam,
If I cooked all of it the day before, does it reheat well? I could do all 60 and then give them 5 minutes or so in the oven after the guests arrive.Report
I do not think that would work particular well owing to the lost crispiness during a reheat. Could you try with a much smaller batch? Maybe make 15 pieces, eat some, see how the rest reheat?Report
I think that maybe we’ll just have to give up on this idea. All the more reason to upgrade my kitchen with dual ovens.Report
Nobody seems to worry about having everything done together when they’re grilling.
It’s “burgers are done” and people fly for ’em.Report