Oven-fried Cornflake Chicken

My husband and I are big fans of fried chicken. We are literally one of those couples that is always down for gold old Popeyes. Last month I had some leftover cornflakes, that neither of us wanted to eat with milk. So the next best thing that I could think of, was to make oven fried buttermilk chicken with the cornflakes. 

While I do agree that oven-fried is never the same as deep-fried chicken, but using cereal instead of breadcrumbs, does help achieve that crunchy effect. And yeah, is definitely a comparatively healthier alternative (closes-eyes-when-adding-butter). Another hack that I used to make my chicken a lit notch healthier, was to mix milk and vinegar instead of buttermilk. So instead of 2 cups buttermilk, like the recipe asks, I substituted it with 1.5 cup 2 percent milk and white vinegar. The consistency and effect it adds to ur chicken is the same as buttermilk. 

With these few hacks, there was a good compromise between taste and health. Hopefully, you guys enjoy this latest gorge from kitchen! 

Prep time: 5 mins Cook time:  40 mins (Additional time required for marination)

Ingredients:

For the marinade - 

• 4 Chicken Legs, cut in 2  ( so 4 thighs and 4 drumsticks)
• 2 cups Buttermilk
• 1 tbsp Ginger Garlic paste
• 2 tbsp Hot sauce (Frank's hot sauce or similar)
• 1 tbsp Salt
• 2 tsp Pepper
• 1 tsp Paprika

For the coating - 

• 3 cups Cornflakes (crushed)
• 2 tbsp Butter
• 1 tsp Mrs Dash seasoning
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Combine all the ingredients for the marinade except the chicken in a large bowl and stir until combined.
2. Add Chicken and refrigerate. You can marinade anywhere between 30 mins to 2 hours. In my case, I let it sit for about an hour. Take it out of the refrigerator while you prep for the remaining stuff. 
3. Pre heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and 
4. Line your baking tray with aluminum foil and grease it with some cooking spray.
5.  Mix the crushed cornflakes with the remaining dry ingredients. I like to season my crumbs, and thats why I add the spices and seasoning to it. If you prefer your crumbs without the seasoning, that is an option too. Also, to crush my cornflakes, I simply added them to a zip lock bag and crushed them using a rolling pin. I added the dry spices to the zip lock too and that reduced all the crumb messiness for me.
6. Add the cornflake crumbs to a shallow dish. Remove chicken from buttermilk mixture and evenly coat with the cornflake crumb mix. 

7. Place the coated chicken on the baking tray. Drizzle melted butter over chicken pieces. Bake until crispy and golden, approximately 40 minutes.

If you are unsure of whether your chicken is done or not, try sticking in a fork, if it goes through smoothly, you are good to go. If not, bake another 5 minutes and try again. Let your chicken rest for about 3-4 minutes before you devour it!

Feel free to comment and give me your feedback on the recipe, or to ask any questions. Until then, Live, Love, Laugh & Eat.. Oh yes, EAT!