Paleo Dinner Recipes:
Golden Oven-Fried Chicken
PREP/COOK TIME: 35 minutes
We are coating chicken in a delicious herb and spice mixture and then pan-frying it before finishing it off in the oven. We like to use lard or bacon fat to fry the chicken pieces but you can use any paleo-friendly oil with a high smoke point. Here are the smoke points of some of the common paleo friendly oils:
- Extra Virgin Avocado Oil – 400 F
- Coconut Oil – 320 F
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil – 325 F
- Macadamia Nut Oil – 413 F
- Walnut Oil – 320 F
Fried chicken makes wonderful comfort food but the commercial kind is not paleo-friendly at all, and contains ingredients you don’t want to eat, so choose this one instead and you can expect all the crispiness and flavor your taste buds are craving. After being browned in a pan, the chicken will need about half an hour to bake in the oven. This might be less or more. It depends on the size of your chicken pieces.
Ingredients:
6 chicken pieces (thighs, breast etc)
1/4 teaspoon dried sage
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1 3/4 teaspoons sea salt
1 cup tapioca starch
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 cup lard
Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and use paper towels to pat the chicken pieces dry. Put the sage, garlic, salt, tapioca starch, black pepper and turmeric in a Ziploc bag, then seal and shake it. Now add 2 pieces of chicken and shake well to coat. Repeat with the rest of the chicken, 2 pieces at a time. Let any excess coating come off.
Heat the lard in a cast-iron pan until it spatters when you flick a drop of water in there. Add the chicken, using tongs, and cook it in batches so the pan isn’t overcrowded. You will need to fry the chicken for about 3 minutes per side.
Now arrange the chicken on a wire rack over a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Serve hot.
- 6 chicken pieces (thighs, breast etc)
- ¼ teaspoon dried sage
- ⅛ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1¾ teaspoons sea salt
- 1 cup tapioca starch
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ½ cup lard
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and use paper towels to pat the chicken pieces dry. Put the sage, garlic, salt, tapioca starch, black pepper and turmeric in a Ziploc bag, then seal and shake it. Now add 2 pieces of chicken and shake well to coat. Repeat with the rest of the chicken, 2 pieces at a time. Let any excess coating come off.
- Heat the lard in a cast-iron pan until it spatters when you flick a drop of water in there. Add the chicken, using tongs, and cook it in batches so the pan isn't overcrowded. You will need to fry the chicken for about 3 minutes per side.
- Now arrange the chicken on a wire rack over a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Serve hot.
