Baked Fried Chicken

I think most people love the taste of fried food, but don't like all the fat and calories and unhealthiness associated with it, so this recipe came from the desire for the yumminess, but not the fat waist.

In an ever trusty ziplock bag, add a generous helping of breadcrumbs, about three quarters of a cup or so. I really like the Shasha brand of breadcrumbs. They are spelt, which means Alan can eat them, and I have found them to be SUPER tasty. They give a marvelous crunch.

To this, throw in a whackload of seasonings. I added a couple tablespoons of garlic powder and zaatar, a tablespoon of black pepper, cumin and oregano. I also added about a teaspoon each of salt and chilli powder. It really doesn't matter what you throw it, it all works. I don't measure. I just throw it all in. Once, the plastic lid on the pepper fell off so about a quarter of a cup of black pepper fell into the mix. It still worked, but was quite spicy.

Dip the chicken pieces (or fish or cheese sticks or whatever you want to batter) in a beaten egg. One egg will do for a lot of chicken pieces. I know that you are supposed to dip the chicken in flour first, then the egg, then the breadcrumbs, but I can never be bothered doing that, and it works just fine without it. Once you dip the chicken in the egg, throw it in the breadcrumbs and shake it around to coat it. In essence, you are making a healthier (and tastier) version of shake and bake. I bought a whole chicken and cut it up into pieces, skinned it, and picked up some extra legs as well. The backbone of the chicken I throw in another ziplock freezer bag and keep for when I want to make chicken soup. So much more economical to buy a whole chicken than to buy pieces, and you have the extra bones for soupmaking.

Lay everything on a baking sheet, crank the oven to 350 and bake for about an hour.

Delicious. Sadly, the kids dove into the chicken befoer I could snap a picture of it, so you will have to trust me on the fact that it looked and tasted delicious.

A note: Once you have finished tossing all chicken in the breadcrumbs mix, whatever is left over needs to be thrown away, unless you enjoy getting salmonella.