Buttermilk Fried Boneless Chicken

UPDATE AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST!

Frying is messy, stinky, and you never know when the chicken is done... but it's tasty.   This chicken finishes its cooking in the oven at a low temperature, so you don't have to tend to it every minute, and you have a little leeway with cooking time.

This also frees up space on the stove to make a nice pilaf, or some hot veggies, or something else to go with it.   Sure, my stove has four burners, but who wants to mess around there with hot, frying chicken on it, hot oil popping on your hands... besides, my stove is weird and only has one large burner.  (Edit: now I have a stove with FIVE burners, talk about confusing... 😏)

You need an oven proof skillet for this.  If you don't have one, you can transfer the chicken to a shallow baking dish.  An 11 x 7 inch should work.  Or even a cookie sheet if it has a rim.

You also need an exhaust fan and/or an open window.

The oven is set for TWO-HUNDRED FIFTY degrees, that's not a typo.

I always use thighs but you could probably use breasts, too.  They might take a little longer to cook, but you'll have to try it yourself, I'm not gonna...****

BONELESS FRIED CHICKEN

4 boneless, skinless, chicken thighs
Salt
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 cup buttermilk*
Vegetable (NOT olive oil)

Heat oven to 250 F.

Rinse the chicken and pat dry with a paper towel.  Sprinkle with salt.

Mix the flour and pepper together in a shallow bowl or on a plate.

Pour the buttermilk into a shallow bowl.

Dip the chicken pieces into flour, shake it off, dip in the buttermilk, and then back into the flour.  Coat thoroughly.

Pour about 1/4 inch of oil into your skillet and heat over medium high heat.

Heat the oil until hot but not smoking.**

Brown the chicken on both sides, about 2 minutes each.

Remove chicken, drain the oil from the skillet, and return the chicken to the skillet.***

Place the skillet  in the oven for about 20 minutes.

NOTES

* You can use soured milk instead of buttermilk.  Use about 2 teaspoons of white vinegar in a half cup of milk and let it sit for 5 minutes.   You could also use plain Greek yogurt thinned with a little milk.  But buttermilk is best.

** Smoking things is bad.   Especially oil on the stove.  If it smokes, it's too hot, so turn it down before putting the chicken in or it'll burn.

DO NOT USE OLIVE OIL! It has a low smoke point.

***  If your skillet isn't oven proof, place the chicken in a shallow baking dish.

**** Tenderloins work well for this, too.

PS: I tried a recipe once that was similar... but it called for putting the skillet into a 475 degree oven, with all the oil still in the pan... let's just say that's it a good thing thing they were throwing that stove away when I moved out of that apartment... It was a mess, oil everywhere.  I never did get that thing clean.

UPDATE: After making this a dozen or so times, I've given up on the oven proof skillet.  I also don't dip the chicken in flour before the buttermilk.  Just salt it, dip in the buttermilk, and dredge in the flour mixture.

Use MEDIUM-HIGH heat to brown the chicken.  Place it on a rack on a cookie sheet to bake.  Less mess, less oil, less oily mess.

The dredging process is a mess no matter what, but it's less messy this way and tastes the same!


ANOTHER UPDATE: This works well on chicken tenderloins.  I'm not a white meat fan, but tenderloins are usually OK, and they stay moist and juicy when cooked this way.

This is before baking.  They don't brown any more in the oven, so get them how you want before baking.

Here they are, bubbling along on the stove... these will have to be turned over again to get browner.  It's better to not keep turning them over and over, the crust can crack and flake off.

 

Really, I meant 250...