I’d describe this as a borderline diet dish. It’s a lower-fat version of Southern Fried Chicken, except it’s not fried and in this incarnation it comes from East Anglia. It is chicken though.
Bung this in the oven and bake a few tomatoes on the same shelf, steam some French beans and Bob’s your uncle. Or just have a salad on the side. Yes, I know avocado is fattening but it’s the healthy kind of fat, right?
I think I actually like this even better than the fried chicken I made a week or so back. That one really put the cat among the chickens, as friends bombarded me with messages debating the cooking method and the spicing (or lack of it).
I had no idea fried chicken could ruffle so many feathers and I think it’s something I’ll come back to, incorporating some of the suggestions I was given. Have your say at the bottom of this page: I’d love to hear what you think makes the perfect Southern fried chicken.
By the way, I’ve had some requests for printable recipes and thanks to Ken and Jody at The Garum Factory I now know how to do it. Just press the print button within the recipe. I’ll be gradually going back over older posts to make the same facility available throughout.
Oven Baked Chicken With a Parmesan Crust
Ingredients:
8 skinless, deboned chicken thighs
250 ml low fat natural yoghurt
1 dessertspoon of Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper
150-200g dry white breadcrumbs
80g grated Parmesan cheese
A scant 1/2 tspn dried thyme (optional)
1 tspn salt 1/2 tspn ground black pepper
Method: 
Preheat the oven to 350F/180C/Gas Mark 4.
Stir the mustard into the yoghurt and season well with salt and pepper.
Drop the chicken into the bowl and stir well to coat. Marinade for a while if you have time or move straight onto the next step.
Put the breadcrumbs, cheese, thyme and seasonings in a deep flat dish and mix well.
Remove the chicken from the yoghurt a piece at a time, roll in the seasoned breadcrumbs to coat thoroughly, reshape into a fat pillow and place on a lightly oiled baking sheet.
Bake until the coating has browned and the chicken juices run clear when pricked with a knife, 45-60 minutes. Eat hot or cold.
I’ve never actually cooked fried chicken so I will keep my useless opinions to myself. But this looks mighty good. Love the green plate too – we have one but only a tiddler that we keep the salt and pepper on.
Well, you know, god forbid someone should criticise me for using the same china all the time 😉
I have a huge collection of these but sadly they’re getting stupidly expensive, no longer a boot fair bargain.
I’ll have to get my act together. I have been meaning to do something to expose the charlatan Col. Sanders with his secret recipe. Secret recipe for crappy food by the looks of things. You are inspiring me to put some spices together and produce some excellent chicken.
Yours looks lovely and is extremely healthy, of course.
I look forward to your version … American and American-travelled friends assure me that US KFC is completely different and a million times better than the UK (and presumably Irish) version and they spend ages trying to equal its secret spicing. I’ve never had the US version so it’s hard to know what the fuss is about. Going on what I’ve tried over here, I’d rather eat my own spleen.
Mmmmm spleen…..
My speciality.
I read a wit on Twitter recently who claimed to know the secret spice blend – he said “KFC have a blend of 11 herbs & spices, 9 of which are salt” It has been a very long time since I had KFC, but this version is much better, in my humble opinion.
I make a similar crust. Depending on mood, I use oregano, smoked paprika, cayenne pepper or just black pepper.
Lol! I can believe it.
Your blend sounds great, I’ll try spicing it up a bit more next time. I did try some thyme in it but I preferred it without as it came through a bit dominant.