Oven Fried Chicken

One of my favorite meals is fried chicken paired with buttery mashed potatoes… washed down with an ice cold glass of Coke (with a fresh lemon wedge, of course!). The last time I fried up a batch was on July 4th for a small group of friends. It was a blistering hot day and I was deep frying 24 drumsticks for over 2 1/2 hours in the kitchen. Oil splattered everywhere because I used my Lodge cast iron skillet that is 2″ high, and the temperature inside the house kept rising. Everyone stood around waiting for me to finish so that we could all sit down and eat together. It got to the point where some of us became delirious, including myself, and probably delusional. The chicken turned out good but not great.

I decided to give it another shot when I came across Ina Garten’s recipe for Oven Fried Chicken. It enables you to fry it halfway ahead of time and then finish it off in the oven all-together just before guests arrive. Soaking them in buttermilk prior to the day of frying will help ensure juicy-ness. The results? Amazing. Ina Garten never disappoints.

Frying Tips:

• Use a higher heavy-bottomed stock pot to prevent a whole lot of oil from splattering everywhere. I used my dutch oven.
• Assembly line and organization helps a LOT when deep frying.
• Do not get any water in the oil! That’s when it starts popping and splattering like mad!
• Stay close by and keep an eye out on the temperature of the oil as it heats up. It takes much longer to cool than it does to get hot.
• A neat trick I learned from my mother is to cut open a few brown paper bags and line the surrounding floor. Clean up is a breeze!
• Tongs may keep your fingers clean from batter but fingers are the way to go.
• Invest in a candy thermometer that will latch onto the rim of the pot easily and stay there.

Oven Fried Chicken (adapted from Ina Garten)

Ingredients

• organic whole chickens- 2 at no more than 4.3 lbs each cut into 8 serving pieces
• buttermilk- 1 quart (***1 1/2 quarts if you’re using chickens larger than 4 lbs each***)
• unbleached all purpose flour- 2 cups
• kosher salt- 1 tablespoon
• freshly ground black pepper- 1 1/2 tablespoon
• onion powder- 1 teaspoon
• garlic powder 3/4 teaspoon
• cayenne pepper- 1/2 teaspoon (more if you dare!)
• dried Thyme- 1/2 teaspoon
• Vegetable oil or any other oil you prefer for deep frying

1. Place chicken pieces in a large bowl and pour buttermilk to submerge them. Cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
3. Place a wire rack on top of a sheet pan. Set aside for chicken that have completed frying.
4. Line another sheet pan with wax or parchment paper. You’ll use this to place battered chicken awaiting their turn to be fried.
5. Combine flour, salt, black pepper, and all your seasonings in a shallow dish. I used a round 9.5″ Pyrex dish. Set aside near chicken submerged in buttermilk & sheet pan lined with paper.
6. Heat  1 1/2″ of oil until it reaches 360 degrees on a candy thermometer.
7. Take chicken out of the buttermilk and evenly coat it with the flour mixture. Place into hot oil. Do not over crowd the pot.
8. Fry 3 minutes on each side.
9. Remove and place on wire rack set on sheet pan.
10. When all the chicken is fried (if you’re using larger chicken, you will need to do two separate batches) place into the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes. (I checked mine with an instant read thermometer inserted at the thickest part until it reached 160 degrees).

We dug into the first batch while the second finished baking in the oven. By the time we were close to being done, they were hot and ready to go! We love our sauces. Above we have Chalula, Sriracha, Tobasco, and ketchup.

My favorite combo: ketchup + Chalula!

Much better than all those fried chicken chains. Far less salty, higher quality meat, fried in new oil (not from days [maybe even weeks] of use!), and made with love ❤