Unfried Buttermilk Chicken
Years ago, before Oprah was really Oprah, she had a personal chef named Rosie who put out a waist friendly cookbook. When I was cleaning out my cookbooks after I sold my house in Nantucket I came across this vey stained dog eared cookbook - and in it was the recipe for her unfried chicken. When Rosie first made this dish in 2002 it was considered ground breaking, but today with the advent of air fryers and healthier cooking options - this is the way to do it. Here is our 2020 version of this delicious recipe -for those of you who don’t have an air fryer.
Ingredients
12 chicken drumsticks - or any combination of chicken piece - as long as they are similar size (legs, thighs or breasts)
1 1/2 cup of buttermilk
2 tablespoon of chili powder
3 smashed garlic cloves
2 tablespoon of paprika
1 cup of flour
1 cup pf breadcrumbs
Vegetable oil cooking spray
1 tablespoon of cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon of paprika
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
In a ziplock bag pour the buttermilk into it and add the chopped garlic, chili powder, paprika and Italian spices. Add the chicken to the bag and close and place int the refrigerator for at least eight hours to marinate.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray a sheet pan with vegetable oil cooking spray.
Combine the flour, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper in a bowl. Coat the chicken with the mixture and lay on the sheet pan. When you finish coating the chicken with the flour/breadcrumb mixture do once again. You will have tossed the chicken pieces twice.
Place back on the sheet pan and spray the top of the coated chicken with the vegetable spray.
Place in the oven for 40 minutes to 1 hour turning every twenty minutes until golden brown.
** If you don’t have buttermilk you can make your own Simply add two tablespoons of lemon juice for every cup for milk and allow to sour.