I’m consciously avoiding perfecting fried chicken at home for two reasons; firstly, I’m lucky to get away with my life when working an oven let alone a vat of hot oil. Secondly, my blood pressure won’t be able to keep up with my adoration for perfection.
My middle ground is a buffalo style breaded, oven baked chicken thigh that is so fucking *chefs kiss*.
Maketh them up, chucketh in the freezer, and cooketh at a whim (pls over-pronounce the ‘h’ in that k thanks).
Cockadoodledo, bitches.
What you’ll need:
For the chicken:
- 10 chicken thighs, boneless (I prefer skin on as it gets extra crispy and omggggg)
- 120g plain flour
- 2 eggs
- 200g breadcrumbs
- 55g panko breadcrumbs
- 55g cornmeal
- 1 tbsp lemon peel (I have dried, fresh zest will also work)
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 2 tbsp chili powder of your choice (I love ground Calabrian chili, but regular chili powder or anything other variety you love will work well).
- 1 tbsp dried parsley
- 1 tbsp mustard powder
- 2 tsp salt
- freshly ground black pepper
For the waffles:
- Box waffle mix because I’LL DO WHAT I LIKE THANK YOU VERY MUCH KAREN
To Serve:
- Maple syrup
- Hot sauce of choice
What to do:
Take your chicken thighs and pat them dry with kitchen towel before putting them to one side.
You’re about to get yourself an assembly line that’ll put Wonka to shame.
Get three dishes that’ll hold at least one or two thighs. In the first one, add your flour and season it. The second gets the eggs, beaten. The third, your breading mix (everything under the chicken list from the breadcrumbs down). I like to use a big mixing bowl for this last one.
Mix it WELL because trust me karma will find a way to let you be the first one to figure out that you didn’t mix in that chili powder properly.
At the end of your three steps, add a tray that’ll fit into your freezer (or the tray you intend to bake these on), and line it with parchment.
Lastly, before embarking on your dredging journey you’ll want to make extra sure that you can differentiate between your right hand and your left hand (although after all the alone time we’ve been getting lately I’m sure you know them well). Designate one hand your dry hand, and the other, your wet hand (a little on the nose?)
Your dry hand will pass your chicken thigh to the flour and will coat it before dropping it into the egg. Your wet hand takes over to coat it in the egg, and then allows any excess to drip off the thigh before dropping it in the breading mix where your dry hand will tag back in and make sure that the thigh is totally and unutterably embellished with your breadcrumbs. When done, lay the thigh on the baking tray and don’t stop ’till you get enough.
If I have breading left, I like to double dredge a few thighs to use it up by dipping in egg again then more breadcrumbs. If you don’t use it, please lose it because salmonella isn’t cute on anyone.
At this point, I typically freeze them and then bag them up. Whenever you want to cook them, preheat your oven to 400F. Once up to temperature, drizzle both sides of the chicken with some oil and bung in the oven (I prefer to cook them close to the bottom). Fresh, they’ll cook in 20 mins (be sure to flip at 15) and frozen will take around half an hour (also don’t forget to flip).
In this time, prepare your hedonistic box waffle mix and WAFFLE TO IT BABY. Keep the waffles to one side, and once the waffles are ready and the chicken is cooked, turn the oven off and transfer the waffles to the tray with the chicken; toppity tip; use the waffles to mop up the chickeny goodness left in the pan. We’ve come this far, don’t let me down now.
When your inner demons are screaming for this meal, plate up a waffle with a chicken thigh on top. Now drown the fucker in maple syrup and your favourite hot sauce (this is a Valentina’s household. Any hot sauce that’s also a drag queen is the sauce for me).
Now grab a beer and have a private moment with both hands and the beauty they created.
Plunge, munch, enjoy.
Munch Kitchen 