Oven Baked Fried Chicken

5 from 2 votes

Keep this recipe pinned to your fridge for the next time you want a quick dinner but don't want to compromise on delicious.

Prep Time10

Cook Time40

Total Time50

Course: main

Cuisine: American

Keyword: How to Bake Chicken legs, oven baked fried chicken

Servings: servings

Calories: 181kcal

Author: Wendi Spraker

Cost: $6

Equipment

bowl
baking sheet
baking rack (optional)

Ingredients

8 pieces of bone in/skin on chicken we like dark meat
1 stick of unsalted sweet cream butter
½ Cup all purpose flour
1 packet of medium heat taco seasoning
1 packet powdered Ranch dressing
1 cup potato chips crushed
1 tsp Kosher salt
1 tsp black ground pepper

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350. Place a rack inside of a rimmed baking sheet and set aside. Melt butter in the microwave in a small microwave safe dish. Remove the chicken from the package and pat dry using paper towels. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the flour, the taco seasoning, ranch dressing, crushed potato chips salt and pepper.
Brush each piece of chicken with the melted butter and then using your hands pat the flour mixture onto the chicken and pat it into the skin as well as possible so that it adheres well.
Lay each piece of chicken on the rack in the rimmed baking sheet and allow an inch or more between each piece so that the air in the oven can circulate. Once all chicken is coated, place the baking sheet into the oven on the middle rack and bake for 35-40 minutes. Chicken is done when the juices run clear and inner temp is 165. Allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Video

Notes

You can use any cut of chicken you would like but you may need to adjust the baking time.
If you are really concerned about the butter, you can use yogurt or egg or buttermilk. Honestly though, the butter works best because it helps to crisp the skin a little. You won’t be having that much butter on each piece any way.
Back before I had a cooling rack, I made this chicken by just baking it on a cookie sheet or by baking it in a baking dish - and that worked fine. The only issue is that the skin doesn’t crisp as much and the chicken will lay in any drippings that happen making it a little soggy and oily - but that isn’t the end of the world.
If you don’t have any potato chips, you can also use crunched up corn flakes cereal, crackers, breadcrumbs - just about anything that will make a crust - but at the Loaves and Dishes house, we like potato chips.

PRO TIP: If you are concerned about eating chicken skin, then it is just fine to remove it. This recipe tastes perfectly good without chicken skin. However, the skin does add a lot of flavor and we suggest leaving it on.

PRO TIP: It is super important to cook chicken to an internal temp of 165. Sometimes the chicken meat can be a pink color and be at the proper temperature.

Nutrition