This is the BEST Oven Fried Chicken recipe! It comes crispy right out of the oven, is much lower in fat and made with lean chicken breast. It takes just like KFC but it’s baked instead of fried! Includes step by step recipe video.
I seriously love chicken.
I love chicken every way: in pasta, on the grill, in rice, in tacos, in cupcakes (say what?!)…. you name it, we love it.
Since I really got into using my Instant Pot at the beginning of the year, I especially love making chicken breasts in there (check out my tutorial on how to cook chicken breasts from frozen!).
But one thing it cannot do is crispy, oven fried chicken.
And that’s why we’re here 🙂
Maybe this surprises you, but I can’t remember the last time I ate deep fried chicken.
Maybe for some of you that seems really sad.
It’s honestly not something I really long for, but what I do love about KFC is that incredible spice blend. This oven fried chicken is the closest I’ve ever come to KFC at home. It’s a recipe our family loves (and lots of you love!), and one that we make over and over again!
The last time I made it, it got rave reviews from our newest taste tester — our 10 month old girl! I know it’s a good one when she bounces up and down in her high chair, saying, “Mmm, mmm, mmm!” and becoming upset when it’s not on her tray fast enough.
How to Make Oven Fried Chicken:
This recipe is for oven fried chicken breast, and although you can use the same coating recipe for chicken thighs, chicken tenders, chicken wings or legs (do — it’s delicious!), the cook time will vary according to the cut you use.
The cooking time will also depend on the size and thickness of your chicken, so be sure to always check to make sure your chicken is done before diving in. The safest way to do this is with a meat thermometer. You want to ensure the chicken has reached 165 degrees F in the thickest part.
How to get truly crispy Baked Fried Chicken!
I know some people have had issues with sogginess, so I wanted to follow the recipe exactly as written, once more, and make sure there are no issues with the recipe. We had no issues with the coating falling off or sogginess, so I wanted to add some tips that might help:
- Use dark non-stick pans — this will help with getting a crispy coating as they heat to a higher temperature than light coloured pans.
- I keep my chicken breasts in the freezer, then thaw them in the fridge. They are quite moist when I stick them in the bag with the coating, and I have no trouble getting it to stick. If you’re working with fresh chicken breasts, you’ll want to soak them in milk first (buttermilk adds great flavor!).
- I know you might be tempted to bake the chicken with cooking spray instead of butter. This will not work as the coating needs some fat to make it crispy and golden brown. If you need a healthier substitute, try margarine or reduced calorie margarine.
- I cook pretty much exactly 10 minutes per side. Again, check the internal temperature to be sure, but be sure not to overcook it or it will not be juicy!
- As the chicken sits on a plate, the underside got a little soggy. Therefore I recommend serving immediately, and if it is going to be sitting on a plate for any length of time, lay it on some paper towel or place on a wire rack to keep it from getting soggy.
- To reheat oven fried chicken, place chicken pieces on a wire rack on a baking sheet and place in the oven at 250 degrees just until heated through.
The Best Oven-Fried Chicken
written by Ashley Fehr
Ingredients
- 3-4 chicken breasts about 1lb, cut in strips (I get about 3 out of one breast)
- 4-5 tbsp melted butter
- 3/4 cup flour
- 1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp seasoning salt I use Lawry’s
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 2 tsp paprika
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Place a large piece of parchment paper on the rimmed baking sheet (10x15x1″) and brush butter over top (there will be a little extra butter, but you need it to crisp up the coating!)
- *NOTE: If you’re working with fresh chicken breasts, you will want to soak them for 15-30 minutes in milk or buttermilk before coating. This will help the coating to stick. I use frozen, thawed chicken breasts so they are already very moist on the outside.
- Combine all ingredients besides chicken and butter in a large paper or ziploc bag. Add the chicken and shake to coat.
- OPTIONAL: For extra crispiness, do a double coat — simply dunk coated chicken in a little bit of buttermilk, and coat once again in the flour mixture. You would need extra coating mixture for this step
- Place your chicken on the prepared baking sheet, leaving a space between each strip. Bake 10 minutes, flip gently with a spatula, and bake another 10 minutes. (If the pan is dry when you flip the chicken, add a drizzle of oil to ensure the bottom crisps as well)
- Be sure to check to make sure your chicken is cooked (165 degrees F), as the thickness can greatly affect baking time. You want it to be done but not overdone and dry. Bake another 4-5 minutes if needed.
- Remove to a plate lined with paper towel to soak up any excess grease. Serve immediately. To keep warm until serving, place on a wire rack on a baking sheet in a 225 degree F oven.
Notes
Nutrition Information
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Laurie Rae says
I’ve been making this chicken for months now and it’s still a favorite. Very tasty and easy to make. I love that the ingredients are items that I already have in my pantry. I jokingly call it mom chicken since my mother always request I make it.
Ashley Fehr says
Haha! I love that! Thank you so much for sharing Laurie!
Shannon says
This chicken recipe is fantastic! The coating was delicious, and the chicken was very moist. I followed the recipe exactly, but I used a pound of chicken tenders instead of cutting breasts into strips. I soaked the chicken in milk for two hours, then shook off the excess milk before dredging it in the flour mixture. I removed the baking sheet from the oven before it finished preheating, so the butter melted, but did not burn. I baked the chicken for ten minutes on each side, and put the chicken on a plate with paper towels as soon as I removed it from the oven. The results were perfect!
Ashley Fehr says
Thanks Shannon! So glad to hear it was enjoyed!
Holly Prince says
I followed the recipe exactly and it was perfect. I had been looking for a recipe for chicken that was healthy and we do not eat fried foods ever so this was perfect. Thanks for sharing.
Ashley Fehr says
Thanks for coming back and commenting Holly! I’m so glad to hear it turned out well!
cindy says
Today I was looking to a new recipe for chicken breast so I found yours. I used two full boneless chicken breast pounded them until they were uniformed size. Put butter on the pan in the oven, chicken in flour/season/panko mixture, cooked for 20 mins, tested with thermometer and they came out fine. Only problem is the butter did smoke and turn very dark before they were finished. but will try recipe again in the future. note: instead of salt used garlic powder
Ashley Fehr says
Hi Cindy! I’m glad to hear they turned out for you! My butter does usually turn a bit dark on the pan by the time they’re done cooking, but only where the chicken isn’t covering it.
Melissa says
I made this recipe last night for my fiance and his son, it turned out perfectly! I sprayed the dark nonstick pan with a light layer of canola oil first and then added 4 tbs. of butter, melted it and then I thought there was too much. So I dumped out about half of it, so there was just enough to coat the pan. It wasn’t soggy at all, perfect! I also dredged it through my dry ingredients then egg, then the flour mixture again. I also used Italian seasoned bread crumbs. I copied your picture and made corn and red mashed potatoes with it and to top it off, mozzarella cheese bombs. It was oh so amazing! Definitely keeping this recipe! Thank you so much!
Ashley Fehr says
Thanks Melissa! I’m so happy to hear it turned out for you!
traci says
I did everything as noted and my chicken looked NOTHING like your chicken! it wasn’t that golden color at all and didn’t have much of a crust? it was flavorful, and moist as we ate it with salad, but looked absolutely nothing like your photos. not sure what happened???
Ashley Fehr says
Hi Traci! I’m so sorry to hear that! Do you think there was enough butter on the pan? It really needs the butter to get golden and crispy. If you used the higher number of chicken breasts then maybe there wasn’t quite enough. Ovens are all different too — maybe it was a bit on the cool side? I’m not sure if this helps!
traci says
Hmmm, I thought I did, as I followed the recipe exactly as written! Such a bummer because your photos look sooooo delicoius! I might try again with more butter in the future. Thanks for your response!
Ashley Fehr says
I hope it works out better for you next time Traci! If when you’re cooking it you notice the pan is looking a little dry, you can always add a little more butter (or even canola oil) to the pan to make sure it browns, and then just keep the temperature nice and high so it doesn’t soak into the chicken. Let me know how it goes!
Patti says
You could try pan-frying your Panko breadcrumbs first in a pan on the stove with 1 TBSP of canola oil, just until browned, then let cool before mixing with the rest of your ingredients. This makes them the light brown color. Just be sure to watch them closely and keep stirring. It doesn’t take too long, maybe 3-4 min? Good luck. 🙂
Stacey says
Ok, so it tasted really good!!! My house stinks like burnt butter but the end result was delicious.
Ashley Fehr says
I’m glad to hear it was good! I’ve never had the burnt butter problem before but I always take the pan out of the oven once the butter is melted before adding the chicken — was that maybe the problem?
Stacey says
I followed this recipe exactly and all it did was turn my smoke detectors on 🙁 I’m cooking it right now and we’ll….. It looks gross. My whole house smells like burnt butter and as stated, I followed your instructions exactly. I doubt this is going to taste good and I’m disappointed.
Ashley Fehr says
Sorry — I got your second comment first! I can’t say I’ve ever had that problem. You should remove the pan with the butter when it is melted before adding the chicken, but that’s the only thing I can think of that would make the butter burn.
Helen says
At 425 degrees, your oven has to be pretty clean as well, or you may set off smoke alarms.
Angela says
Hi Ashley! I have to say I love how responsive you are with your comments! I’m going to try this recipe this week & I’m wondering if maybe you have a suggested ratio for the amount of butter to use relative to the amount of chicken? The chicken breasts I buy come in a package of 6 individually packaged breasts, about 4oz each, so I’m guessing that may be smaller than what you use based on your photos. I don’t want soggy chicken & it seems that’s mostly dependent on the butter, so I’d appreciate some help! 🙂
Ashley Fehr says
Hi Angela! There have been people who ended up with soggy chicken, but I never have. I wouldn’t reduce the amount of butter for the amount of chicken you’ve mentioned because without the butter, the flour just stays flour — there’s nothing to crisp it up! I even tried with non-stick spray before and it didn’t work. You really just want an even coating of melted butter on the pan, enough so that when you flip the chicken there is enough to crisp up the other side as well. I hope that helps!
Kahla says
Hi I want to try this tonight and I am wondering if I could use foil on the baking sheet?
Ashley Fehr says
You can try! I never have, and I’m not sure if you’d get the same crispiness or not with the foil. If you try it, I’d love to hear if it worked out for you!
Ann says
My husband, Ken, loves your recipe for “The Best Oven Fried Chicken.” He says it tastes exactly like KFC. He’s hard to please, so thanks for the recipe!!
Ashley Fehr says
Thanks Ann! I’m so glad to hear you guys liked it! It’s one of our favorites too 🙂
Ann says
Now Ken says this is the best chicken I cooked in 22 years…wow!! I’m going to bake your Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies for dessert….no raisins this time, sorry Ken. I’m so happy to have found your site. Thanks again, Ashley!!
Ashley Fehr says
Wow! That is a pretty big compliment! I hope you found me here, too Ann — and I hope you love the cookies as much as we do!
Amanda says
Can I use this recipe on tenders and not breast? I’m asking because when I do chicken tenders I do about 20 of them and not sure if I should double the recipe or not.
Ashley Fehr says
You definitely can! If you’re doing 20 tenders, I would probably double the flour mixture just to be safe, or at least do 1.5 times the recipe.
Beth says
Am I the only one whose butter burned in the oven while preheating???
Ashley Fehr says
I’ve never had that happen Beth — sorry!
Kathleen says
I made this tonight using chicken legs. I opted for the flour/egg/flour method. It was PERFECT!!! Not soggy at all. I took pictures to post with this comment, but I don’t know how to attach them. This is now my favorite “fried” chicken recipe. Thank you!!!!!
Ashley Fehr says
Thanks Kathleen! I don’t think there’s any way to attach photos to comments, which is too bad! I would love for you to share them on social media (Facebook, Instagram or Twitter) if you’re on so I can see! Thank you so much for coming and leaving a comment!
Barbara says
I tried this recipe using the experiment using the coat in flour mixture, dip in egg, coat in flour. The chicken is absolutely moist and delicious. I like that I can put it in the oven with some scalloped potatoes and it all gets done about the same time. I will next try the 1/2 panko & 1/2 flour.
Ashley Fehr says
I’m glad you liked it Barbara! Let me know which way you like better!
Grace says
A new family favorite! Thank you so much for the recpe.
Robin Straley says
Could a black iron skillet work too?
Ashley Fehr says
Yes a cast iron skillet would work great!
GiGi Eats says
Mmmm! I have done this with coconut flour with great success! 😀
Lindsay says
I made this dish tonight, and while it did come out a bit crispy, the coating was very thin, and didn’t really resemble “fried” chicken. Perhaps it needs to be double dipped in egg and the flour mix.
Ashley Fehr says
I’ve tried it all and this is the way we prefer it! You can see all of the tests I did on different methods (including using egg) on the Great Oven-Fried Chicken Experiment post 🙂
Ashley says
These look good. I might try these soon.
Ashley says
Great! Let me know how you like it 🙂
Adam C says
Hi Ashley. I am impressed by how attentive you are to your comments.
I cooked this tonight and while the flavor is great, I did not get any crispiness. I think maybe part of my problem is that I cut each chicken breast into 5 pieces instead of 3, and so maybe it cooked too quickly? I coated each piece individually, but I found it odd that there was no egg used to help the batter stick.
Any tips on how to make this better next time?
Ashley says
Hi Adam! I’m glad you gave it a try. Have you looked through my notes above the recipe and the Great Oven-Fried Chicken Experiment that I did where I tested a few different methods? I did experiment with soaking the chicken beforehand and didn’t find that it made a difference because I start with frozen chicken breasts. When they thaw, they are moist so I’ve never needed to do anything to make the coating stick. If you check out my other post on alternate methods and don’t see anything that might help, let me know! One thing I tried that I liked it subbing half the flour for Panko bread crumbs — it did get a little extra crunchy!
Brittany Green says
I think people probably have the issue with sogginess if they use too much butter, the first time I tried the recipe I used more but as long as there is enough butter to coat a little more than the bottom but not just sitting there it turns out great. This is def a family fav. and I’ve passed the recipe onto many friends and family members!
Ashley says
That’s a good point! It’s definitely important to have enough butter to brown the chicken, but too much could definitely be a problem. A few tbsp is really all that’s needed.
Rox says
Can I use olive oil or coconut oil in place of butter?
Ashley says
I’m not sure as I have never used either as a substitute. I’m not sure what they do at high oven temperatures. If you try it be sure to let me know!
Lauri M says
I use 1/2 butter and half Crisco oil. Turns out great!
naila says
I”ve made this chicken more times now than i can count. to call it a slight addiction would be an understatement. the two pickiest children in the universe devour it too..and it’s SO easy..thank you!
Ashley says
That’s awesome Naila! I’m so glad to hear it!
Emily Flippin Maruna says
We are a dairy-free family so I soaked the chicken in organic coconut milk (canned) before I mixed it with the seasonings. I also added 1/2 cup of Italian seasoned Panko. Yum! My whole family liked it. Thanks!
Ashley says
The coconut milk is a great idea! Thanks Emily!