Buttermilk Oven Fried Chicken

Do you remember when KFC was actually called Kentucky Fried Chicken? I remember it being a real treat to get KFC, go to the park, and have a huge picnic with my family. My dad loves fried chicken from the deli and we had a lot of summer picnics with fried chicken.

Fried chicken also always look so good on TV...everytime I watch "Man vs. Food" going to some place that makes fried chicken it makes me want to buy a deep fryer for my kitchen. That will probably never happen, so here is an enlightened, but delicious version of fried chicken.

Another hit from Cooking Light, this recipe uses cracker meal for the breading which is genius. This is a hit with bone-in chicken but you can also use boneless skinless chicken breasts if that's all you have on hand. This is a delicious "fried" chicken you can feel pretty awesome about serving since it is briefly pan-fried and then baked to perfection in the oven. The chicken tastes like the real-deal fried chicken without all the fat. I served mine with a green salad and roasted carrots with rosemary.

 Ingredients:
1 cup lowfat buttermilk (Make your own with 1 C milk, and 1 tbsp vinegar OR lemon juice, let stand 10 min)
4 bone-in chicken breast halves, skin removed, about 8 ounces each
1/3 C all-purpose flour
1/3 C cracker meal made by food processoring (or ziploc bag and roller pinning them) about 10 saltine crackers until finely ground
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp butter

1. Preheat oven to 425

2. To prepare chicken, combine buttermilk and chicken in a shallow dish, turning to coat.

3. Combine flour and cracker meal in a shallow dish. Transfer chicken from buttermilk to a work surface. Sprinkle chicken evenly with 1/2 tsp salt and pepper. Working with one chicken breast half at a time, dredge chicken in flour mixture, shaking off excess; set aside. Repeat procedure with remaining chicken and flour mixture.

4. Melt butter in a large ovenproof nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken to pan, meat side down; cook 4 minutes or until golden brown. Turn chicken over, and bake at 425 for 32 minutes or until a thermometer registers 165. If you don't have an oven proof skillet, just transfer the chicken to a baking dish for the oven cooking step. Serves 4.

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