Oven Fried Chicken Legs

The flavours of the coating on this chicken were amazing but in trying to cut some of the fat, I removed the chicken skin and I believe it would have been a lot juicier had I left the skin on. 

If you don't have buttermilk, combine 1/2 cup of milk with a squeeze of lemon juice and let it sit for 10 minutes to sour. Buttermilk only comes in 1 litre cartons here so whenever I buy it for a recipe, the leftover (which is a lot) ends up going down the drain. The milk/lemon substitute makes more sense if you don't use a lot of buttermilk or can't buy it in smaller quantities.

Oven Fried Chicken Legs

Original recipe from Eating Well

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup 2% milk
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce (or to taste)
• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 4 skinless chicken legs (or cut them into 4 drumsticks and 4 thighs)
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds (or black seeds)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• cooking spray

Directions

1. Mix together the milk and lemon juice and let it sit for 10 minutes to sour. To the sour milk, add hot sauce, mustard, salt, pepper and garlic. Stir well and place it in a dish just large enough to hold all your chicken pieces in a single layer. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (mine marinated for 2 hours).
2. Preheat the oven to 425F. Line a baking sheet with foil and place a wire rack on top that's been sprayed with cooking spray.
3. In a large bag, place all the other ingredients and give them a good shake. One piece at a time, remove the chicken from the marinade and let the excess drip off a bit. Shake each chicken piece in the dry mixture until coated.
4. Place the coated chicken pieces on the wire rack and spray them with more cooking spray. Or just give up and use chicken with skin in the first place.
5. Bake for about 40 minutes or until no longer pink inside. If you're using boneless it may take less time. Let them rest for 5 minutes before serving.