I LOVE fried chicken but it can be a pain to make. Standing over a pot of chicken while you receive a grease steam bath is not on my top 10 list of enjoyable cooking moments.
So why am I sharing a recipe for fried chicken?
Because this oven fried chicken cannot touch any I’ve previously eaten . That’s right oven fried chicken.
I adapted this recipe from Ina Garten’s cookbook, . She echoes my frustration with frying and splits the cooking into 2 stages. She starts frying the chicken enough to obtain a light brown crust and then finishes cooking the chicken in the oven. This allows you to move on to other tasks and when the chicken is finished you can turn the oven off and leave the chicken there until you’re ready to eat.
You can buy a whole chicken already broken down into pieces or do it yourself like I did so I could keep the bones for stock. I turned mine into a 10 piece cut chicken by dividing each breast which allows for uniform cooking.
Never cleaned a whole chicken? Check out this video from Gourmet on how to clean a whole chicken.
Brining the chicken is key. If you’re new to the process check out my post, brining 101. I took my chicken brine recipe one step further and added several sprigs of rosemary which added depth to the chicken.
A mixture of flour, paprika, salt and pepper give the crispy crust an extra boost of flavor which is followed by the rosemary brine in the chicken.
I took Ina Garten’s advice on this one and used a large pot to fry the chicken. No more splattered grease to clean up!
You only need to fry the chicken for 3-5 minutes to form a light brown crust. Then place the pieces on a wire rack over a cookie try to finish cooking in the oven.
Golden fried perfection without the hassle.
Ingredients
- 8 cups warm water
- 1/4 cup kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 3 sprigs rosemary
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For the Chicken
- 1 Whole Fryer Chicken, cut into 10 pieces
- 2 cups white all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon fresh ground pepper
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 6 cups vegetable oil or shortening
Instructions
- Dissolve the salt and sugar in warm water along with the rosemary springs. Allow to cool down before adding to chicken.
- Place the chicken pieces in a large bowl and pour the rosemary brine over them. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2-4 hours or up to overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Pour the oil into a large heavy-bottomed stockpot or dutch oven to a depth of 1-inch and heat to 360 degrees F on a thermometer.
- Combine the flour, salt, and pepper in a large bowl.
- Drain the brine from the chicken and rinse with cold water, drain again to remove all liquid. Coat each piece thoroughly with the flour mixture.
- Carefully place several pieces of chicken in the oil and fry for about 5 minutes on each side until the coating is a light golden brown (it will continue to brown in the oven).
- Be careful not to crowd the chicken.
- Remove the chicken from the oil and place each piece on a metal baking rack set on a sheet pan. Allow the oil to return to 360 degrees F before frying the next batch.
- When all the chicken is fried, bake in oven on the middle rack for 45 minutes.
[sc:lijit]
That skin looks perfect. Nice job.
When you don’t have time to do the brine from scratch, you might like to give Fire & Flavor’s liquid brines or everyday brines a try. http://fireandflavor.com/index.php/en/products/brines
Keep up the great work.
That chicken looks delicious. I hate frying myself, so this is the perfect way situation for me.
Thanks Randy! The recipe makes it a little more bearable since you don’t spend the entire time frying!