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Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Recipe: Oven-baked crispy yogurt chicken (Ree Drummond)

I cooked fried chicken for dinner the other night!

What's the big deal about that, you may ask? In my kitchen, I have a no deep-frying policy, so until today, I have NEVER cooked any deep fried food at home. If I hanker for deep fried fish or chicken, I will just eat it in the restaurant.

When I was browsing Ree's website, I came across this recipe for crispy yogurt chicken -I almost did not click on the recipe as I was sure this chicken needed to be deep fried in order to be crispy. Luckily I did - the chicken is oven-baked but gives similar results to deep fried chicken, so now I too can have fried chicken at home ;)


Crispy yogurt chicken


For this recipe, I used a mix of chicken drumsticks and thigh. The chicken is first coated in a mixture of yogurt, garlic, fresh herbs, and lemon juice. I also grated the lemon zest and threw that in as well. Then, the chicken is coated in a layer of panko (Japanese breadcrumbs). Finally, the all-important ingredient, a generous slab of butter is topped on each piece of chicken to keep it moist and make it crispy at the same time. By the way, this is a recipe your kids can help with - Baby D helped me make dinner and we had fun in the kitchen together :)



The verdict? Moist succulent chicken with a delicious crispy coating. It is also a lot healthier than eating deep fried chicken. The only part of the chicken that was not super crispy was the underside, which I think can be solved if the chicken is placed on a grill rack (will try this the next time). I served the chicken with a side salad (avocado, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, carrot with a honey dressing) and some Thai sweet chilli sauce for dipping the chicken in.



The chicken was finished within minutes of it being served, and everyone sat there licking their fingers. The biggest compliment came when my kids said "Mummy, next time we don't want KFC anymore... this is the BEST fried chicken!". Woohoo!

Really delicious oven-baked chicken




Oven-baked Crispy Yogurt Chicken
Recipe by Baby Sumo, adapted from Ree Drummond
Preparation time: 15-20 minutes
Cooking time: 40-45 minutes
Serves 4


Ingredients
5 chicken maryland (5 drumstick + 5 thigh)
1 cup natural yogurt
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/2 juice and zest of lemon
1/2 tsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper

1 3/4 cups Japanese breadcrumbs (panko)
Butter (1 Pat For Each Piece Of Chicken)

For the side salad (Recipe by Baby Sumo)
2 avocado
1 calamansi lime
1/2 box of cherry tomatoes
1 pack lettuce leaves
1 carrot, peeled and grated
2 shallots, finely chopped

Dressing:
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp cider vinegar
2 tbsp honey
Freshly ground salt and black pepper



1. Preheat oven to 180°C.

2. Clean the chicken and pat dry with a kitchen towel. Sprinkle with salt.

3. In a medium sized mixing bowl,  add yogurt, garlic, herbs of your choice (I used parsley, thyme, and rosemary), lemon juice and zest and a pinch of salt. Mix together to combine.


Measuring the yogurt


Mixing the ingredients together


Squeezing the lemon for juice



4. In another bowl, place the breadcrumbs. Sprinkle with salt and stir to mix.

5. Butter a baking dish or tray. With a pair of tongs (or you can also use your hands/gloves on), place the chicken, one piece at a time into the yogurt mixture first. Turn it over thoroughly to coat. Then roll
the chicken in the Panko breadcrumbs. Cover each piece thoroughly with bread crumbs and place on the baking tray.


Coating the chicken with yogurt


Followed by panko breadcrumbs


Finally, the butter!


6. Place a slice of butter over the large part of each chicken piece. Repeat for all the chicken pieces.

7. Bake in preheated oven for 40-45 minutes. The panko coating will be golden brown when you remove it from the oven. To check if the chicken is cooked through, put a skewer through the thickest part and the juices should be clear. Serve the chicken with the salad and some sweet chilli sauce.

8. For the salad, whisk the dressing ingredients in a bowl and set aside. Please refer to this post on how to pit and peel the avocado. Place the lettuce leaves in the dressing, then arrange on plate. Top with other ingredients, then pour the dressing all over.



Note: Your kids can help with Step 3 -5, including measuring out the ingredients and squeezing the lemon.


Finger licking good!




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I am submitting this to the "Cook Like Ree Drummond" event which I am co-hosting with Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Mich of Piece of Cake. To join, simply cook or bake any recipe from any Ree Drummond websites or cookbooks for the whole month of September 2013. You can link your posts at one of the host's pages.

Your post must be a current post i.e. posted in September 2013 - please do not link older posts.Please mention Cook like a Star in your post and link back to Zoe of Bake for Happy KidsMich of Piece of Cake and Baby Sumo of Eat your heart out.

Happy cooking! Do check out the other bloggers recipe below:

41 comments:

  1. Oh wow, lucky for us you clicked on this recipe! super yumms and great assistant you got with you in the kitchen!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Emily! My son and I had a great time preparing this for the rest of the family, pleased it turned out good!

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  2. this oven baked chicken looks good... i actually like deep fried food but it seems a waste of oil everytime i cook it. Hopefully i can get an oven soon :)

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    1. Oooo cool. Hope u get one soon... oven is good for baking and healthy cooking ;)

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  3. Its great to have mummy to cook delicious yummy food....like this crispy oven baked chicken. Healthy version with yogurt and oven baked instead of deep fried.

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    1. Thanks Mel! Love to see my kids enjoying good food :)

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  4. ivy sew http://simplybeautifulhealthyliving.blogspot.comSeptember 10, 2013 at 7:11 PM

    Wow, I also don't want KFC liao. I want your children's baked crispy chicken! Very yummy and will give this a try :)

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    Replies
    1. Hope you like it! Maybe u can try my tip and put on a grill rack so it will be crispy throughout.

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  5. This "fried"chicken looks good! I never fry anything as well, so this recipe is up my alley.

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    1. Haha hi-5 Mich! Some of my friends find it strange tht I have this phobia of deep frying in the house.

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  6. Thank you Yen for clicking onto this great recipe. Now I can enjoy fried chicken without frying them.

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  7. Thanks for sharing the Recipe, looks so yummy!!! ✿◕‿◕✿

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  8. Oven bake sound less oily and easy to make, yum!

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    Replies
    1. Yes, just prepare everything and put in the oven. No need to worry abt oil splashing everywhere.

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  9. All in one pan is my preferred way of cooking.

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  10. Wow, this is interesting, nice to know a healthier way to make fried chicken. Love your 'kitchen assistant', he's so adorable!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks :) I always try to involve my kids when I cook/bake. My boy really loves it.

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  11. I could easily eat one (or two!) of these right now!

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  12. Soooooo good... and am in love with ur sous chef

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  13. Hi Yen,

    I will also do the "Woohoo!" thing if my boy tells me that he is not going to KFC and Macca but he didn't!!! He said that my cooking and baking is good but still like KFC and Macca - Ai ya ya!!!

    I'm with you with the no-deep-frying policy at my kitchen but I do deep-frying at our outdoor - Ops! :p Nice that this fantastic recipe doesn't require deep-frying at all!!! So that I don't have to fry anything in the hot sun or winter chills :D

    Zoe

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    1. My kids dont really like McD, just like their ice cream :P Ooooo I think a lot of Malaysians have a "wet" kitchen to do their deep frying too, but I told Hubby I don't need one cos I will never deep fry stuff cos it just makes the house sooooo oily! (maybe it's just me being lazy to clean up afterwards :P)

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  14. how can you deprive your kids from deep fried stuff? they need to build resistance to the real world food! hahah

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    Replies
    1. Aiya not depriving them.. I just don't deep fry food at home. We just had deep fried fish for dinner last night but in a restaurant ;P

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  15. Hi Yen

    It looks yummy and your assistant is so cute :)

    Most of my food are prepared in oven or microwave. My family hardly take deep fry food at home because I'm still not good in cooking food over the stove. But I think I'll have no-deep-frying policy in the my kitchen too :D



    But we'll have KFC once in a while.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hob cooking is really simple, esp if you try stir fries. They take minimal time to cook, compared to oven-cooking.

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  16. I know, Yen, you are so health-conscious, haha! I had tried oven-baked "fried" chicken before & the kids were also love eating & kept asking for more. What is so special about this recipe is to use yoghurt to replace with beaten egg, very clever!

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    1. Jessie, no deep frying is mainly bcos I wanna keep my kitchen clean and oil-free. :P I am happy my kids enjoy this more than deep fried chicken!

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  17. wow...it looks nice. Just like deep fried chicken...without the excess oil :-)

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  18. Healthy version of fried chicken! I want to try this! :D

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  19. I too, do not like to deep fry in my kitchen - for the very same reason: less healthy, oily kitchen and lazy to do the cleanup afterwards! haha.

    By the way, do you flip the chicken when it is cooking mid way so that the skin/batter is cooked evenly in both sides?

    Thanks!

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    Replies
    1. Hi there! I did not flip the chicken over this time, but perhaps I should try it out the next time and see if it solves the problem.

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  20. Baby sumo, this is a good recipe, can have crispy chicken without frying and will not oily the kitchen. ha... i like this.

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  21. I love baking chicken! I am a chicken when it comes to deep frying and I like the calories saved too! :D

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    Replies
    1. Haha! Same here.... I get paranoid about oil splashing all over the kitchen (and me!).

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  22. Yen, looks like you got a big hit there at home!! With your mini Curtis Stone helping you, I'm sure your yoghurt chicken tastes even better ;) Like you, I had deep frying although deep fried chicken always seems to taste very good until I tried to bake chicken and I was sold! Oven baked chicken can tastes as good as fried ones ;) Fingerlicking good!!

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