Oven "fried" Chicken 🍗

ans of fried chicken rejoice! We have a no-oil recipe that upholds the crunch and juiciness of traditional fried chicken. Also, (if it matters to you) it's super low-carb, but feel free to pair it up with a nutrient-dense carb of your choice. We tried this out first with chicken thighs, then had a light bulb moment and thought, "what it we used the breading to make homemade DINO NUGGETS!!?" 🤯 🦖

The breading is made from 4505 Pork Rinds, which is a delicious BBQ spot in San Francisco, but the bags can be bought at Whole Foods or at Costco if you're trying to stock up. If you don't eat pork, I've seen various vegan pork rind options in the chip aisle, so you can experiment and let me know how it turns out!

You're going to need an oven-friendly wire rack so that it can be crispy all-around. If you don't have one, I would suggest making the investment because you'll want to make this recipe multiple times! Also, you can use it for baking cookies! Double-whammy!

Ingredients

• 12 skinless, bone-in chicken legs and thighs, medium-size pieces

Wet Batter

• 1 egg
• 2 oz mayonnaise
• 3 tbsp dijon mustard

Dry Batter

• 4 oz pork rinds
• 1.5 tsp thyme dried
• 1 tsp sea salt dried
• 1 tsp black pepper dried
• 1 tsp oregano dried
• 0.5 tsp garlic powder dried
• 1 tsp smoked paprika dried

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400°F
• Crush pork rinds into a powder-like texture, you can use food processor, blender, or your bare hands! A few big chunks is totally okay!
• Add thyme, S&P, oregano, garlic powder, and smoked paprika. Spread out on large plate or something flat.
• Combine egg, mayo, and dijon mustard in a bowl. Add chicken and mix to evenly coat each piece.
• Roll each piece in the pork rind mixture until evenly coated.
• Place chicken on a wire rack over a baking sheet and bake for 40-45 minutes.

Dino Nuggets Variation

• About 2lbs of boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs
• Pound each piece to about 1/4 inch thick
• Use dinosaur cookie cutters to form dino pieces
• Cut the scraps to make regular nuggets
• Dip in wet batter and into the breading the same way as above.
• Place chicken on a wire rack over a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes.

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The Dino Nugget variation does take a little more work, but the cooking time is cut by half, so if you have some dinosaur cookie cutter lying around, why not?!

Ultimately, we found the breading to be super versatile, so you can even play around with chicken tenders, "fried" shrimp, etc...the world is your oyster! Oh! Try it with oysters!! Enjoy!