Best Oven-Fried Chicken

By GratefulSea

I doubled both the buttermilk (so it would cover all the chicken), seasonings, and bread mixture. . . and had a lot breading leftover. I also find it much easier to dredge the chicken in the breading than to use a plastic bag for this. The result was fabulous!

Ingredients

• 10 chicken tenderloins, or 6-8 slices of scallopine
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup cornmeal
• 3 Tablespoons butter
• Spice Mixture
• 1 Tablespoon salt (it won't taste salty)
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika (may sub. regular)
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder

Preparation

Step 1

Mix Spices together in a small sealable bag. Add 1 Tablespoon Spices, 1 cup buttermilk and chicken to a large freezer bag and marinate 6-24 hours. Store remaining spices.

Preheat oven to 400F degrees. Line a large rimmed baking tray with parchment paper (foil will NOT work because the chicken sticks to it). Add butter to baking tray and melt in oven while it preheats. Remove baking tray once butter is melted.

Mix together flour, panko, cornmeal and remaining spices in a large bowl. Add half of this breading mixture to a large freezer bag.

Remove chicken tenders from buttermilk and allow excess marinade to drip off (I line my sink with paper towels then dab the chicken with paper towels as I add them to the breadcrumb mixture.)

Add half of the chicken to the breadcrumb bag and shake until well coated, pressing the breadcrumbs into the chicken with your fingers through the bag. Lay breaded chicken in butter on baking tray. Add remaining breadcrumb mixture to bag along with remaining chicken and repeat.

Bake at 400F degrees for 10-12 minutes until golden then carefully flip chicken and bake another 5 minutes then broil to desired crispiness.
Serve with your favorite dipping sauce. Enjoy!