Having a plan for dinner sure does make even weekdays go much smoother. I try to come up with a weekly menu on Sundays, but sometimes that doesn’t happen. This Sunday we spent the afternoon and part of the early evening at the Country Fair (check out the pics on Instagram) trying to get in a little more summer family fun before school starts in a few weeks. Even though I didn’t have to make dinner that night, chicken is always on my meal plan at least a few times a week by itself or in a casserole. If I’m cooking a whole chicken, my children always fight over the drumsticks! 4 kiddos and 2 drumsticks always leaves someone a little disappointed at the dinner table. For this crispy and crunchy Oven Baked “Fried” Chicken I use only drumsticks so everyone is happy!
This chicken is great for your Sunday dinner, but it can easily be made any night of the week because it’s so easy to prepare. Simply lay out your chicken in a casserole dish, season it well and pour buttermilk over the top of it and let it sit all day in the refrigerator! You can do this quickly in the morning or you can even do it the night before, letting sit all night too. The longer the better- it makes for a really moist and juicy piece of chicken!
When you get home from work and are ready to get dinner started, get your breadcrumb mixture ready in a pie plate or large dish. I always use seasoned Panko breadcrumbs for this recipe along with a few extra spices to give this chicken a lot of flavor and a lot of crunch! Oh, it’s so good!
Pick each piece of chicken up out of the buttermilk and dredge it in the breadcrumb mixture. To get it on there really good, I like to use my hands to pack and push it on the chicken.
Place each piece of breaded chicken onto a lightly greased baking sheet lined with foil (for really easy cleanup), spray evenly with a little cooking spray and then bake for about an hour. That’s it! The fried chicken taste you love, right from the oven!
The end result is delicious chicken that the whole family will enjoy. Remember those yummy Rustic Sour Cream & Chive Mashed Potatoes I shared last week? Those go great with this chicken too, but even a baked potato along with some freshly steamed veggies will do.
A great meal doesn’t have to take a long time to make during the week, you just need to have a plan. Try this tasty chicken, I think you’ll love it!
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 - 4 lbs. skin on chicken drumsticks
- For the seasoning:
- 1-2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. black pepper
- 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp. paprika
- 1 qt. buttermilk
- For the breading:
- 8 oz. seasoned Panko breadcrumbs
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. cayenne pepper
- 1 Tbsp, dried parsley
- cooking spray
Instructions
- Line your chicken drumsticks in a large glass baking dish.
- Season the chicken well.
- Pour the buttermilk over the chicken evenly.
- Cover the chicken and store in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours.
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
- Mix together your breadcrumb mixture in a large pie plate or breading dish.
- Dredge each piece of the buttermilk soaked chicken in the breading well and place on a large, lightly greased (with cooking spray) foil lined baking sheet.
- Spray the breaded chicken lightly and evenly with the cooking spray.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes, depending on the size of your drumsticks.
- I like to turn the broiler in for the last few minutes to give the chicken a little extra crunch.
- Serve warm with potatoes and a fresh vegetable.
- Serves 6.
- Enjoy!
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*Linking up at Miz Helen’s Country Cottage, SITS Girls, Skip To My Lou
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