We pulled this recipe together at the last minute for dinner on Sunday night. I wanted to make the fried chicken recipe from the Weight Watchers cookbook, but we didn’t have cornflakes, which were a critical ingredient. So, I turned to Williams-Sonoma and found a fried chicken recipe that coated the chicken with a combination of flour and cornmeal instead so I ran with that. Of course, the Williams-Sonoma recipe also called for frying the chicken in a ton of shortening and that isn’t terribly diet friendly, so I stuck with baking the chicken in the oven. It turned out well, but I do think it would have been better with the cornflakes. The baked cornmeal/flour combo just didn’t provide the crispiness you expect from fried chicken. We’ll definitely make this again when we have cornflakes on hand as I’m sure it’ll be wonderful.
By Tracey
Oven Fried Chicken
adapted from Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook by Weight Watchers and Williams-Sonoma
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup fat-free buttermilk
- 1/4 cup cornmeal
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/2 tsp chopped fresh sage
- 1/4 tsp paprika
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp onion powder
- 4 teaspoons canola oil
- 1 lb chicken breasts
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 F. Spray a large baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.
In a large bowl, slip the chicken pieces into the buttermilk. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or as long as overnight.
In a shallow baking dish, stir together the cornmeal, flour, salt, pepper, sage, paprika, garlic powder and onion powder. Remove each piece of chicken from the buttermilk, allowing the excess to drip away. Coat the pieces evenly with the seasoned flour and place on the prepared baking sheet. Drizzle the chicken with the oil.
Bake 3o minutes, then turn the chicken over. Bake until cooked through, 15-20 minutes longer.
