What’s for Dinner: Oven Fried Chicken

Here’s my take on the Oven Fried Chicken that I made tonight:

I originally wanted to use thyme as the main herb in the recipe, but of course I had none at the moment. I had every other type of herb in my pantry, but of course not the one I wanted/needed. Parsley, Oregano, Basil, Rosemary, you name it… I had it.

Anyways, I improvised. Since I was serving it with the Soft Dinner Rolls that also had rosemary, I decided to use that in the chicken along with basil.

• I preheated the oven to 425 degrees. Spray your dish with non-stick spray.
• Meanwhile, I took boneless skinless chicken breasts (would work well with boned-in as well other types of chicken pieces I suppose) and after cleaning them, I didn’t let them dry completely (this is important because it gave it the crispiness without using eggs or something else to help create the crust). I marinated it with salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, cayenne powder, basil, and rosemary.
• I seasoned flour with cayenne pepper, basil leaves, and crushed rosemary as well. Coat the chicken pieces in the flour mixture, and transfer them into your dish. At this point, I also sprayed the chicken from the top with the non-stick spray to help give it a crispy crust.
• Your cooking time may differ depending on the type of dish you use. I used a glass dish, and I cooked it originally for 25 minutes, then flipped the pieces around and let the other side cook for another 20-25 minutes after spraying the bottom of the dish once more with the non-stick spray.
• Update 1/03/13: when I made it again today, I made the oven fried chicken on a baking sheet lined with foil. The cooking time in this instance was about 20-22 minutes on the first side. After flipping the chicken pieces over, I baked it for another 15 minutes on the other side.

P.S. This post is a part of my “What’s for Dinner” series, where I share what what I’ve been cooking and my recipes.