Who doesn’t love a perfect piece of fried chicken? There’s something magical about biting through crisp skin and into juicy, succulent, tender chicken. It’s like a little piece of heaven. Trust me, just try this recipe and you’ll have perfect oven fried chicken every single time. No fuss. No muss. No fryer.
Please note, this isn’t a “healthy fried chicken” recipe. The thing that makes this chicken incredibly crisp and juicy is butter. Yep. Butter. The chicken gets tucked into a preheated baking dish that’s been coated with melted butter before it even hits the oven. The butter, in turn, browns the breading and crisps the skin to perfection while keeping the juices inside. No soak in buttermilk required. (Though I’m sure it would help even more.)
To say that this chicken was a hit would be an extremely large understatement. The kids went for seconds and my wife and I were right behind them. We didn’t quite fight over the last drumstick, but a few glances were made around the table and it’s possible someone might have been kicked under the table. We’ll be making this chicken again, and soon. But the next time we do, I’m going to make a lot more!
So, are you ready for some chicken? Dive on into the amazingly simple recipe below and enjoy some today!
The Ultimate Oven Fried Chicken Recipe
Perfectly crisp skin and tender, juicy chicken every time. This oven fried chicken recipe is sure to be your family go-to.
Ingredients
- 3 to 4 pounds chicken pieces (Skin on)
- 1/4 cup flour or rice flour
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder (Or cayenne, if you want a lot of heat)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 3 Tablespoons butter
Instructions
- Heat oven to 425 degrees.
- Place butter in a shallow baking dish and place in the oven.
- Wash chicken and pat dry. Mix flour paprika chili powder salt and pepper in a shallow dish. Coat chicken pieces in seasoned flour. Shake off excess. flour.
- When butter is melted, place chicken skin side down in baking dish. (Careful, it'll be hot!) Bake chicken for 30 minutes. Turn chicken and bake an additional 15 minutes, or until cooked through. (Juices should run clear.) Remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes before serving.
- Share and enjoy!
Notes
For a gluten free version, use rice flour in place of regular flour.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 568Total Fat: 25gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 14gCholesterol: 276mgSodium: 513mgCarbohydrates: 19gFiber: 1gSugar: 0gProtein: 61g
What I would have done differently had I thought of it at the time:
Aside from making a bigger batch? Not much. This is about as good as oven fried chicken gets!
Thoughts on our oven fried chicken recipe?
Do you have a favorite oven fried chicken recipe? Maybe a preferred soak or breading? If so, leave us a comment and let us know.
I love fried chicken, but hate making it! Oven fried always sounded good, and this recipe seems like the perfect place to start! Thanks so much, I love seeing your recipes!
Love oven fried chicken! This is just like my mother’s recipe, except we like to do the shake’n’bake method–you know, put the flour mixture in a ziploc bag, and shake up the chicken in that to coat it. Yum yum now I’m all hungry for it!
I’m sure the bag trick would work wonders!
This chicken was so good!!! Loved the crispy skin!
So glad you liked it!
I hate the mess of fried chicken, so I love the sound of this!
Oh my goodness Jerry! I am making this this weekend fo sho!
This looks like the perfect fried chicken. I can’t believe it is baked!
I’m with Anne @Webicurean – when I try I’m going to use the “shake ‘n bake” method. Definitely on my to do list!
This is really fast and easy recipe
How can I make this a Garlic Chicken recipe?
The simplest method would just be to add garlic powder to the flour, but you could also marinate the chicken in buttermilk with crushed garlic cloves for an hour before you coat them.
That looks yummy. Never knew that it was so easy. Will definitely try.
Thanks for sharing, I love finding new recipes for chicken. We eat a lot of chicken, ha. How has your experiance been using rice flour rather then regular flour? My wife (therefore the family) is gluten free due to allergies and I am always looking for new ways to cook with substitutes to regular flour.
Thanks again for the recipe.
The Broke Dad
I’d say to simply use a gluten-free all purpose flour substitute if you want a really crispy chicken. It works wonderfully for this kind of recipe.
Great chicken but it didn’t get as crispy as I expected. Thinking of maybe some olive oil on the skin before applying the seasoning mixture. Any thoughts?
Strange that it didn’t crisp up for you. Our oven fried chicken has always come out very crispy, crunchy, and just about like fried. You could try oil, but it might actually degrade the coating. Perhaps a mist of cooking spray over the top and a slightly hotter oven?
I actually was thinking of a spray olive oil. I’ll kick the temp up 10 degrees and see how that works.
I hope it works out better on the next run! For a tip, try some gluten free flour. That tends to be more crispy in my experience (at least in deep frying) I’m absolutely not sure what the reason is, but it’s worked for us in the past
And please share your results when you try it again. We’d love to know how it turns out!
What about adding some cornstarch to get a crispier skin?
Corn starch or rice flour could work, too. Generally speaking, anything that will absorb the butter completely will make for a crispier skin. Again, your particular oven may have something to do with it, as all ovens are slightly different. I just hope your next try gives the results you’re after.
Is there a substitute for the chipoltle chili powder? My family isnt a huge fan of the flavor.
Shanna,
Sure. You can use whatever spices your family likes. Onion salt, garlic salt, seasoned salt, Mrs. Dash, whatever makes Y’all happy will work here!
Great! Thank u so much.
great recipe without any wet ingredients, I also coat the flour/ rice flour using a gallon bag.