Oven Fried Savoury Chicken (my version of Copycat KFC Chicken)

When this post about "Oven Fried Copycat KFC Chicken" popped up in my Bloglovin' feed I knew I had to make it. My kids love KFC but I don't approve. In general I do not allow them to have fast food. On the very rare occasion that we have had it, I find that KFC is very salty, greasy and low grade chicken. It tastes ok to start with but about 15 minutes afterwards I feel sick. My kids are annoyed that I don't let them have KFC, but this post looked promising...homemade KFC style...so I could use really good chicken and control the fat and salt content and maybe win back the love of my poor deprived children :-D

The first problem I encountered was that I couldn't find the US spice mix listed in Karen's recipe - Morton's Season All. I looked at the ingredients to see if I could find something similar in the UK. "Morton Season All" is a blend of salt, and savoury spices, including paprika, black pepper, onion, and garlic, with a hint of chilli pepper. I found some on Amazon.uk but it was very pricey including shipping. My local supermarket didn't have anything like this so I just got a jar of Barts Chicken seasoning which has the following ingredients: Onion, Sea Salt (18%), Red & Green Bell Peppers (15%), Garlic, Black Pepper, Demerara Sugar, Parsley, Tarragon, Lemon Peel, Paprika, Celery.

Not the same at all. But sounded tasty. And probably meant my chicken wouldn't taste anything like the Colonel's secret recipe! I continued undaunted but aware that I might not be able to pass this off to my kids as a KFC copy!

As with all these types of recipes where you need to coat something in a breadcrumb or batter, it can get messy and you do need to have everything ready and organised and set out in a sensible way. Other than that, this is a pretty easy to prepare dish.

To go with the chicken, I made some mini roast garlic potatoes and served with a simple flageolet bean salad

My kids were sceptical at first when I put the plate down in front of them. KFC style chicken?? Well, they said it didn't really taste like KFC but they preferred it and proceeded to wolf down the lot!

Pretty successful I think! Thank you Karen!

Oven Fried Savoury Chicken (my version of Oven Fried Copycat KFC Chicken)
Serves 4

Ingredients:
4 tablespoons butter
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (I always buy chicken breasts with the skin on because they are a lot cheaper than skinned chicken, I just remove the skin myself)
100ml milk
140g plain flour
2 tsp paprika
1 tablespoon Bart chicken seasoning
3/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp Marigold vegetable stock powder

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Mix together the flour, spices, seasoning and stock powder.
3. Cut the butter into pieces and divide between two baking trays. 
4. Put the baking trays in the oven for a few minutes to melt the butter and then set to one side.
5. Slice the chicken breasts horizontally so that you get a thinner cut of chicken that cooks more evenly.
6. Get two plates, one for the milk and one for the flour and spice mix. Dip the chicken into the milk, and then completely coat with the flour/spice mixture.
7. Place the pieces into the buttered baking tray, and bake for 20 minutes on one side.
8. Remove the pan from the oven, flip the chicken pieces over, and place the pan back in the oven.
9. If your oven is not big enough to accomodate 2 trays side by side, put them on different shelves but remember to swap them round when you turn the chicken.
10. Bake for an additional 20 minutes. Remove the pieces from the butter immediately and place on a plate. 

Recipe adapted from Karen's Kitchen Stories, adapted from Burnt Apple, adapted from Our Life Uncommon.