“Fried” chicken with all the flavor of deep fry without all the extra oil and mess! Oven-fried chicken for the win – both in flavor, texture and healthy eating. This recipe coats pieces of chicken or thighs in a tasty panko hemp heart breading, baked to a crisp and delicious golden brown.
This oven-fried chicken recipe takes the healthy aspect of comfort food to a new level. Not only is baking the chicken in the oven instead of deep frying a healthy alternative, the breading itself takes a heart-healthy turn with the addition of hemp hearts. Not only are hemp hearts a great source of amino acids and vital antioxidants, they add an extra bit of crunch to the panko breading and herbs. You won’t believe how close this comes to the real deep fried thing – this is how you do comfort food right! Read on for Dr. Igor’s healthy take fried chicken, and never worry about overeating a favorite again.
Ready in 120 minutes + 30 minutes
Makes 4 servings
Hemp & Panko Crusted Oven Fried Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken broken down into individual cuts OR 8 chicken thighs
- 1 cup of buttermilk
- ½ teaspoon each of:
- Salt
- Garlic powder
- Onion powder
- Smoked paprika
- Cayenne
- Sugar
- Black pepper
- Dried thyme
- Celery salt
- ⅓ cup of hemp hearts
- 1 cup of panko bread crumbs
- Oil spray for the roasting rack
- Flaky sea salt to finish
Preparation
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the buttermilk, all the spices and herbs and whisk everything together. Submerge all the chicken parts into the buttermilk and marinade for a minimum of 2 hour or up to 24 hours for the most flavorful result.
- Preheat an oven to 400F and set up a roasting rack on top of a roasting tray lined with parchment paper. Spray the grates of the rack with oil spray to ensure no sticking.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the panko bread crumbs and hemp hearts, this is your breading.
- Working in batches of two at a time, remove the chicken from the marinade onto a tray lined with paper towel to sop up some of the buttermilk. Transfer the chicken into the breading bowl and coat each crevice with the hemp and panko. Transfer the chicken onto the roasting rack and repeat this process with all the chickens.
- Bake the chickens in the oven for about 15-35 minutes depending on the part and size of the chicken you have. After the 15 minute mark, check the dark and white meat separately with a meat thermometer. A fully cooked piece of chicken reads 165F or upwards. The white meat might cook quicker so whenever they are ready take them out and place them onto a different roasting rack. Place the dark meat back into the oven and continue cooking until all parts have reached an internal temperature of 165F
- Return the white meat back onto the roasting rack with all the dark meat, return in the oven for another 3 minutes or until everything is hot. Serve with some hemp heart coleslaw and cornbread!
Tips
- It is very important to cook the chickens fully and check once or twice with the meat thermometer, to avoid the risk of salmonella.
- Marinating the meat for a longer time is not severely important but it does provide a more flavorful and tender chicken!
- Alternatively, these could be fried in a deep fryer set to 350F. Cook times are cut in half (7-15 minutes) but follow the same rules of cooking the white and dark meat at different times.
