The Best Oven Fried Chicken Recipe – Baked Fried Chicken

This Baked Fried Chicken has all the crispy, juicy flavors of a classic fried chicken recipe but is baked instead of fried. There’s a secret to getting a super crispy crust from the oven which I will share with you – so keep reading!

A Pinterest pinnable image of a plate of oven fried chicken.

When did a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken get so expensive?

My daughter asked for KFC one night and having nothing pulled out for dinner, we obliged. When my husband returned home with the family meal for somewhere around $36, I nearly fell off my chair. That’s the moment we decided we’d get into the kitchen and try our hands at creating our own fried chicken recipe ours would be baked and not fried. The oven fried chicken we created is amazing!

Oven Fried Chicken is tender, juicy and delicious! I’m all about baking over frying so this recipe is good news for those of you who feel the same way. Who needs all that extra work, grease, and clean-up anyway? Not me!
With this recipe, you can feed a family of 4 fried chicken for about $8 – even less if you stick strictly to thighs and drumsticks.

A tray of Oven fried Chicken with dishes and a vase of pink knock-out roses in the background.

How To Make Oven-Fried Chicken Crispy

Because we are cooking our chicken in the oven, we will employ a secret ingredient to make the chicken crispier. We do this by adding baking powder (not baking soda) to the dredge. This is a trick I learned from Cook’s Country Magazine a while back and it’s amazing. It really crisps up the skin in these Crispy Baked Wings.

a close up of a plate of oven fried chicken. plates and napkins sit on a woven mat in the background.

How to Make Fried Chicken in the Oven

Some recipes require you to “fry” the chicken in butter placed on the bottom of the baking dish. However, this causes the bottom side of the chicken to be soggy.

The best way I’ve found is to use a roasting rack nested inside a rimmed baking sheet [paid link]. This allows any excess fat to drip off and allows the oven’s heat to circulate around each piece of chicken creating a crunchy coating.

Cook the chicken until it is deep golden brown and a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest portion of the meat registers 165 degrees F and the juices run clear.
a landscape photo of a tray of oven fried chicken.

What to Serve With Oven Fried Chicken?

I typically serve this meal with Broccoli-Cheese Mashed Potatoes or Stove Top Mac and Cheese, and freshly steamed vegetables for a homestyle family-friendly meal.

Looking for more chicken recipes? Check these out:

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Oven fried Chicken is baked in the oven for a crispy coating without the added preservatives and MSG, unlike the big chain chicken places.

Oven Fried Chicken

Ronda Eagle | Kitchen Dreaming
Oven Fried Chicken has all of the crispy, juicy flavors of a classic fried chicken recipe but without the added fat from frying. This Oven Fried Chicken is tender, juicy, flavorful, and always a family favorite!
4.95 from 17 votes
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes
Course Dinner
Cuisine American
Servings 4 servings
Calories 138 kcal

Equipment

Ingredients
  

  • 4 lbs Chicken pieces (cut up fryer) [See Note 1]
  • non-fat cooking spray like Pam [See Note 4]

Wet Dredge:

  • 2 Eggs
  • 1/2 cup Buttermilk helps the flour dredge stick to the chicken

Dry Dredge Coating:

  • 1 cup All-purpose flour
  • 1 cup Bread crumbs Plain or Italian seasoned
  • 1-1/2 tsp Baking Powder [See Note 2]
  • 2 tsp Salt
  • 1 tsp Ground black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp White pepper
  • 1/2 tsp Paprika regular or spicy
  • 1 tsp Poultry seasoning [See Note 3]
  • 1/2 tsp Celery salt
  • 1/2 tsp Onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp Garlic powder

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  • Create the Dredge Station: In a shallow bowl, beat the eggs and then whisk [paid link] in the buttermilk.
    In a separate bowl or shallow dish, combine all the dry ingredients to make the coating mix.
  • Prepare the Chicken: Trim the chicken and remove any excess fat.
    Dip each piece of chicken into the buttermilk mixture and then toss to coat in the breading mixture until very well coated. Set aside and allow the chicken to rest for a minute or 2 in the breading mix for the coating to set up. Vigorously shake off any excess breading mix and arrange it onto a roasting rack fitted inside a rimmed baking sheet [paid link]. Excess flour will not brown without a generous coating of cooking spray oil
    After all the chicken is coated, spray each piece generously with aerosol oil or non-fat cooking spray. This helps the coating brown evenly and crisp up in the oven. (Even a generous coat of aerosol oil is still much less oil than deep-frying).
    Bake for about 45 minutes or until the chicken is well browned, the internal temperature is 165 degrees F and the juices run clear.

Notes

  1. I use a whole cut up fryer chicken. It yields 8 pieces of chicken. You can purchase one precut from the butcher or butcher a whole chicken into 8 parts.
  2. Be sure to use Baking Powder and not baking soda. This gives really crispy crust on baked chicken. This is a trick I leasrned from Cook's Country Magazine quite a while back. It's great for so many baked chicken recipes.
  3. Poultry Seasoning is so versitile. It's seasoning combination contains marjoram, sage, ginger and rosemary - the same ingredients in the Colonel's 11 herbs and spices.
  4. I use non-fat cooking spray instead of butter to crisp up the chicken. All you need is a light coating. I find using butter in the bottom of the pan causes one side of the chicken to remain soggy. This is also why we use a baking rack fitted inside our rimmed baking sheet [paid link]. The chicken is up off the pan getting heat on all sides while it cooks.

Nutrition

Serving: 1pcCalories: 138kcalCarbohydrates: 7.2gProtein: 19.3gFat: 3.1gSaturated Fat: 0.9gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gCholesterol: 85mgSodium: 200mgFiber: 0gSugar: 0.9g
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

35 thoughts on “The Best Oven Fried Chicken Recipe – Baked Fried Chicken”

  1. These were delish Sunday so much so I made more this evening with wings(We ate them before I had a chance to take a picture). I also made half the wings in a Sweet Chili BBQ Sauce

    Reply
  2. Hi Ronda, I made this chicken and my family loved….altho, next time I make it, I am going to spray each piece with my cooking spray all over instead of just on the top, yup, that will do it….

    Reply
  3. Sorry this was a big miss for me. This looked nothing like the picture when done. The flour just stays on the outside, it’s all white and powdery. When you eat it the flour drys it out. The only good thing to note is the rack does help cook the chicken on all sides. I will be trying other recipes with the rack in the future.

    Reply
    • Hi Amber,
      I’m sorry you did not enjoy this recipe. Achieving a crisp oven chicken takes a little bit of extra work. Unlike deep frying, you have to really shake off excess flour because, as you said it doesn’t brown. Also, you must generously coat the chicken pieces with aerosol oil or cooking spray to achieve the browned skin as in the photos. The raw flour just can’t brown without it. Even a generous coating with aerosol cooking spray or non-fat spray is still much less oil than deep-frying. This technique is very similar to how you would need to set the chicken up to cook in an air fryer. I hope this helps.

      Reply
  4. if using breast,thigh,wings and legs, they all require the same cooking time? The breast don’t take longer? This will be my first time trying this and want to use all chicken pieces.

    Reply
    • Hi Kim,
      Yes, we do it all together in the oven just like you’d roast a whole chicken only now it’s cut up. Occasionally, breast meat does require some extra cooking time if the chicken breast is pretty large. This is usually less than 10 minutes more.

      Reply
    • Hi Nikita,

      I use the baking rack nestled inside the pan so air can circulate all around the chicken making it nice and crispy.

      You can use just the baking pan but know that the chicken won’t get as crispy from resting on the bottom of the pan.

      Hope you enjoy.

      Reply
      • Great recipe! The baking powder is key to crispy as well as coating all dry flour with cooking spray.
        You can use a “cooling rack” over a sheet pan that fits. That’s what I did before I got a rack/pan combo and it served well. Definitely a keeper!

        Reply
  5. How can the total time be 2 hrs and 55 minutes when the total prep and cook time equal 55 minutes? About to make this but i’m confused…

    Reply
  6. Yummy oven-fried chicken. I really couldn’t believe it turned out that moist inside. The juices were running down my arms. Thanks for this great recipe! We will be adding this to our rotation.

    Reply
  7. Got this recipe in my email via your newsletter and happened to have chicken out for dinner. Looked so good we had to try it! So tender and juicy! Thanks for another fabulous recipe!

    Reply
  8. Happened by this recipe on Pinterest and decided to give it a try – it was amazing! I can’t say as we’ve even had such a moist chicken and we tried the brine which was quite easy too.

    Reply
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    Reply

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