Oven Baked Breaded Chicken Thigh

I had a hankering for crispy fried chicken one evening, but deep frying at home is not very practical when it comes to oil usage and clean up effort.

Oven Baked Breaded Chicken Thigh with Potatoes and Red Peppers

So I did the next best thing, I used the oven to bake a couple of breaded chicken thighs. So I got my fried chicken fix without actually deep frying, awesome!

Here's what I used for a meal for 2

For the Chicken Thighs:
2 boneless chicken thighs
1.5 cup plain flour
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves (or dried herb of your choice)
Black pepper and Salt (about 2 teaspoons of each)
1 egg beaten


For the Potatoes:
3 Russet Potatoes (Leftover baked potatoes are awesome for this)
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
Olive Oil for drizzling
Salt and Pepper

For the Sweet and Sour Red Peppers:
2 Red Peppers/Capsicum - Sliced into strips
1 Large onion - Sliced
2-3 tablespoons of Balsamic Vinegar
1 tablespoon of sugar
Salt and Pepper to taste
Extra virgin olive oil to drizzle

Steps for the Chicken Thighs:
1. Prepare the coating flour by mixing the dried herbs, flour, paprika, turmeric, salt and pepper in a broad bowl or dish.

2. Coat one chicken thigh in the flour mix, shake off any excess. Coat/dip it in the egg and then shaking of excess. Finally coat with flour again and shake off excess flour. Place it on lightly oiled baking tray/dish, skin side up. Repeat with the other thigh, flour, egg, flour and place on baking tray skin side up.

3. Drizzle a little olive oil on top the chicken.

4. Cook in a pre-heated oven at about 180 degrees for about 40 mins. (Cooking time may vary depending on the thickness of the chicken).

Steps for the Potatoes:
1. Bake potatoes in foil for about 50 mins in a pre-heated at about 180 Degrees Celsius. And leave them to cool, so you can handle them (Skip this step if using leftover baked potatoes).

2. Cut up potatoes into bite sized chunks and spread them over a lightly oiled baking tray.

3. Drizzle generously with extra virgin olive oil and scatter the rosemary leaves over the potatoes.

4. Bake them in a pre-heated oven at about 180 degrees (or higher) until browned. About 15-20 minutes.

5. Season with salt and pepper to taste

Steps for the Sweet and Sour Peppers:
1. Heat some neutral oil (like canola etc) in a frying pan over medium heat.

2. When oil is heated, add in the sliced onions and red peppers and stir fry for 1-2 minutes.

3. Add a tablespoon of sugar and fry for another 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently. When the peppers and onions soften and the sugar starts to brown the onions, add the balsamic vinegar and fry for another minute or so.

4. Add in fresh thyme leaves (Or herb of your choice) and fry for 30 seconds.

5. Turn of the heat and drizzle over some extra virgin olive oil. Mix well and set aside

Serve the chicken with both of the side dishes.

Notes:

• You can make the sweet and sour peppers side dish while the potatoes and chicken are in the oven.
• You can do the 2nd bake for the potatoes together with the chicken but you are then restricted to temperature you are cooking the chicken at.
• If you are doing the potatoes on their own, you can use a higher temperature for more crisp in the potatoes.
• The underside of the chicken can be a little soggy as some the juices are released from the meat. To have a crisp underside, you can use a baking rack above the tray.
• Experiment with your own seasoned flour combination. Garlic and onion powder come to mind.

Let me know how yours went. Have fun cooking!