Dana’s Oven Baked Fried Chicken
This one is courtesy of my friend Dana. She’s from Iowa and in addition to working full time and raising her two boys, the family run a farm and breed cattle. She can even artificially impregnate cows, which is a skill that I’m sure we are all in awe of. Those pictures will go with me to my grave.
So as she’s all about the beef, here’s her famous recipe for…
… chicken.
There is only one thing to dislike about fried chicken – the enormous, precarious vat of boiling oil, the greasy smell and the clean-up. OK, there are 3 things to dislike… (Monty Python moment – sorry)
One of the joys of this recipe is that you get all the flavour of fried chicken but none of the risk (Alex! Cats! Out of the way!) and only a fraction of the cleaning up. You DO, however, get all the crunch, all the succulence and all the flavour.
Ian wants to marry her; hey, after cooking this recipe, my Mum and Dad want to marry her. Try this chicken and you too could dream of marrying Dana. Dana, we love you and good grief woman, do we love your chicken.
Start by heating the oven to GM7/425F/220C.
In a tin measuring about 9×13″, put around 2oz salted butter. Put the tin straight into the oven – the butter can melt and start to go golden whilst the oven heats.
Dana’s recipe calls for 1 chicken which you cut into portions ( in which case, you would up the butter to 3-4 oz) . I had a packet of thighs and drumsticks, so I used that.
No, they haven’t got jaundice – they’re corn fed. Sorry, they WERE corn fed.
Into a large freezer bag, put 1/2 cup plain flour, 1 tsp salt (I used celery salt – might use garlic salt next time), 1 tbsp black pepper and 1 tsp dried crushed jalapeno chillis. You can add whatever dried seasoning you like, but don’t hold back too much.
Twist the top of the bag and give it a shake to combine.
Rinse the chicken pieces under cold water and sort of dry them. That’s a rubbish description, but what I mean is that you don’t want them bone dry – nor do you want them dripping wet. That leaves you with ‘damp’ but I’m not convinced that ‘damp chicken’ is particularly good a description either.
Put a couple of the pieces of chicken in the bag at a time, twist the top (trapping some air) and shake it around to thoroughly coat the pieces.
Once the oven is up to temperature, place the chicken into the butter skin-side down.
Bake for 20-30 mins ( I cooked it for just 20 mins because the chicken was quite thin).
Turn the chicken over and return to the oven for a further 20-30 mins.
Glorious
Bronzed
Crispy
Fabulous.
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Dana’s Oven Baked Fried Chicken
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1 whole chicken, cut into portions – or as many portions as you need
2-4oz salted butter
1/2 cup plain flour
1 tsp salt (or celery/garlic salt)
1 tbsp ground black pepper
1 tsp dried, crushed jalapeno pepper
Heat the oven to GM7/425F/220C.
Cut up the butter and place in 9×13″ tin.
Put the tin straight into the oven so that the butter can melt whilst the oven comes up to temperature.
Combine your seasoning with the flour in a large freezer bag.
Wash the chicken and shake dry.
Put into the bag in batches, twist the bag and shake to coat the chicken.
Once the oven is up to temperature, place the coated chicken pieces, skin-side down in the tin and cook for 20-30mins.
Turn the chicken pieces over and cook for an additional 20-30 mins.
Serve, crispy, bronzed and delicious.
Will definitely try this recipe, cor! I was salivating just reading it.
LOVE this chicken!!! The simplicity of it is amazing!!
Do, do do! Dana’s chicken is the darling of our group – for good reason too. I really want to eat it again tomorrow. Really badly.
Hahaha! Anna! This chicken is awsome though.
So yummy! My husband wanted to marry me again when I made this for him. Not kidding!
Lucky you – Ian wanted to marry Dana! LOL!