the best oven fried chicken recipe ever
This is the best oven fried chicken recipe I have ever tried. You will LOVE this easy and DELICIOUS recipe so much you may never make regular fried chicken again! That might be an overstatement but this oven fried chicken is REALLY good.
The Best Oven Fried Chicken Recipe
You use much less oil when you oven fry chicken than you would when you fry chicken the traditional way making this healthier and less expensive to make. I use chicken thighs with the skin on but the thigh bone removed, that may be hard to find so just buy bone in, skin on chicken thighs and remove the bone yourself. I like to use boneless chicken thighs for oven frying because they cook more quickly and they are relatively flat so they cook evenly.
Brine the chicken thighs in cold salt water overnight or for at least 6 hours. I use the large Cambro containers (there is an affiliate link below), I love them because they’re square so they fit easily into my refrigerator. The lids fit really well so they don’t leak, that’s important for food safety issues.
In the recipe below I use a simple salt water brine but feel free to adjust it to your taste. Add fresh thyme sprigs, black pepper-feel free to get creative.
This oven fried chicken goes great with greens like my recipe for Church Basement Collard Greens
…or this Rainbow Swiss Chard recipe
WARNING: This tends to smoke a bit so make sure your oven is clean and turn your vent on. I’ve set my smoke alarm off more than once while making these. A hot oven is the key to the best oven fried chicken recipe ever!
Use a very sturdy sheet pan with at least inch sides to oven fry this chicken, you don’t want a pan that will warp at high heat. Here is an Amazon Affiliate link for good, strong sheet pans.
best oven fried chicken recipe
Ingredients
- 8 chicken thighs- skin on bone out
- 1/2 cup kosher salt for brine
- 8 cups of water for brine
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
- 1 teaspoon granulated garlic or garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon pepper to season the flour
- 1 teaspoon granulated garlic to season the flour
- 1 teaspoon paprika to season the flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons canola oil
Instructions
- Dissolve the 1/2 cup of Kosher salt in the water, add the chicken thighs, cover and refrigerate overnight or up to 8 hours
- Pre heat your oven to 450 degrees
- Drain the chicken thighs and pat them mostly dry
- Season the chicken thighs with pepper, granulated garlic, onion powder and paprika. I don't add any additional salt because the brine will make the chicken salty enough.
- Season the flour with the additional salt, pepper, granulated garlic and paprika. Stir or shake in a zip top bag to combine
- Shake or dredge the chicken in flour and shake off excess flour
- Use a sturdy sheet pan with at least 1 inch high sides
- Pour 3 tablespoons of oil on the sheet pan and spread it around
- place the chicken thighs meat side down on the sheet pan then turn the chicken over onto the skin side so that both sides are coated in oil
- Bake the chicken skin side down for 20-30 minutes. The chicken should be golden brown
- Flip the chicken over and bake for another 20-25 minutes until done
the best oven fried chicken recipe
Jennifer
June 13, 2017 at 9:44 pm (7 years ago)I came to this recipe through Michael Twitty’s Twitter recommendation. Your recipe was so good! My family loved it and I loved not having to slave over a hot frying pan. The chicken tasted just like regular fried chicken without the mess and hard work. I will definitely make again.
Demetra Overton
June 13, 2017 at 10:20 pm (7 years ago)WOW. Thanks so much for the complements! This is one of my favorite recipes. I love fried chicken and this is a delicious and clean way of making it. I appreciate Michael Twitty’s recommendation, that means a lot to me
Jeanne
July 11, 2016 at 12:46 am (8 years ago)Have you tried this with skin-on, bone-in chicken breast halves? That’s the portion of the chicken that we prefer. My guess is that they would require a bit longer in the oven. Otherwise, this looks delicious and I can’t wait to try it.
Demetra Overton
July 11, 2016 at 2:49 am (8 years ago)I have tried this with bone in, skin on chicken thighs and it works. They take longer to cook with the thigh bone in. Since cooking this at such high heat can get a bit smoky and the outside of the chicken can burn befor the inside is cooked, I want the chicken thighs to cook more quickly.
Wilma
July 6, 2016 at 1:30 pm (8 years ago)Looks good do you have the nutritional data?
Demetra Overton
July 7, 2016 at 3:19 am (8 years ago)Hi Wilma. I do not have the nutritional data
Cathy
May 4, 2017 at 10:39 pm (8 years ago)Im trying this tonight for dinner
Demetra Overton
May 4, 2017 at 10:44 pm (8 years ago)AWESOME! Please let me know how you like it, I’d love your feedback.