Baked "Fried" Chicken

Pin It Who doesn't love Southern style fried chicken?  I certainly do... but since we're trying to avoid all types of frying in the house, I've figured out how to make a lighter alternative.  Of course, it won't be the same as fried chicken, but it's not bad either.

"Fried" Chicken

For two servings:

1 chicken breast (sliced butterfly style into 2 pieces)
buttermilk
chili powder
granulated garlic
onion powder
cumin
paprika
cayenne pepper
flour
1 egg beaten
panko bread crumbs

Marinate the chicken breast pieces in the buttermilk for at least two hours.  The enzymes in the buttermilk tenderizes the chicken breast and will keep it moist (Thanks to all those episodes of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives I've seen).

When the chicken is done marinating, pre-heat oven to 375-degrees F.  Mix all the spices, salt and pepper in a bowl.  Let the buttermilk drip off the chicken.  Season the chicken breast with the spice mix.  Dredge the seasoned chicken in flour, then egg, then the breadcrumbs.  Bake the chicken for 20 minutes on a cooling rack to make sure that both sides of the breast are crunchy.

Gravy

I got the original recipe from another blog--Cooking by the Seat of Our Pants--with a few revisions.  Instead of milk, I used fat free half and half only because we don't have milk in the house.  And instead of butter, I used I Can't Believe It's Not Butter.  I also used a couple of additional ingredients:

low sodium chicken stock
onions

I just eyeballed the amounts because I didn't need as much as his original recipe.  Sautee the onions and add the chicken stock and half and half when the onions are translucent.  In a small bowl, dissolve the flour with a little bit of water. I read somewhere you need one teaspoon for every cup of liquid you'll be using.  Add the flour mixture into the saucepan.  Season with salt and a lot of freshly ground black pepper.  Strain the gravy to remove the onions.
 I served the chicken with mashed purple potatoes and roasted green beans. A note, though, while I loved the color of the purple potatoes, I didn't really love them mashed because they were too starchy.  Should've gone for the Yukon gold.  For the green beans, I just tossed them in salt, pepper, and a little bit of olive oil.  Bake for 10 minutes in the 375-degree oven.