Buttermilk Fried Chicken

No summer is complete without making fried chicken.  It is the quintessential picnic food that is always a crowd pleaser  This version let's you have your fried chicken and eat it too.  Cooking the chicken in the oven cuts on calories while still providing that crispy crust that everyone loves.  The trick to creating a crust on both sides of the chicken is to preheat the oven with a cookie sheet inside.  That way when you are ready to put the chicken in the oven, there will already be a heated surface to crisp the bottom side of the chicken.  Try this recipe on your friends and see if they notice a difference.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

Ingredients:

1 Chicken- cut up

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons garlic pepper

1 teaspoon sugar

2 teaspoons paprika

1 cup buttermilk

2 eggs

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

Olive oil

Preheat Oven 350 degrees:

In a baking pan, whisk together flour, garlic pepper, sugar and paprika. In a medium size bowl, whisk together buttermilk, eggs, baking powder and baking soda until smooth.

Dip each piece of chicken into buttermilk mixture, shaking off excess. Roll in flour mixture and then dip into buttermilk and flour mixture a second time. Place in baking pan and drizzle with olive oil.

Bake about 50-55 minutes or until chicken is golden.