Easy Oven Fried Chicken with just five ingredients tastes like fried chicken without the deep frying with bisquick mix, butter and a few spices.
Easy chicken recipes are some of the most popular recipes on the blog including Crispy Chicken Casserole, Chicken Salad and Slow Cooker Brown Sugar Chicken (If you haven’t tried this one you should add it to your calendar immediately!).
Oven Fried Chicken Recipe
This recipe has become a go-to for us in place of Fried Chicken when we want a healthier option that is still kid-friendly. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good fried recipe, but this baked chicken still has the crispiness we crave when we want fried chicken and we’re still saving lots of calories.
Magically almost, the butter oven fries the baked chicken making it the most delicious and crispy chicken your kids will love. And when the leftover fat is measured against what amount was added to the pan all 6 pieces only used 3 tablespoons of butter to cook.
In addition to it being much more low-fat and easier to clean-up than deep-frying, you can also make the recipe with whole-wheat flour if you’d like to make your own baking mix using the recipe below, making it even more kid-friendly.
All that flavor in half a tablespoon of butter. That is less than you’d smear on this great recipe for homemade dinner rolls (which you should definitely make to serve with this recipe).
If you want another option you can also look at my Shake and Bake Pork Chops, that classic recipe can also be used on baked chicken thighs with delicious crispy results.
To me that just means I get to enjoy this recipe with a giant square of cornbread, hot sauce and some crunchy KFC Cole Slaw.
How to make Oven Fried Chicken
Crispy Oven Fried Chicken is a crispy, flavorful oven baked chicken with chicken thighs and drumsticks that are coated in a combination of Bisquick and paprika, garlic salt, pepper and baked in a baking dish coated in a small amount melted butter.
How long do you Bake Oven Fried Chicken?
We bake Oven Fried Chicken skin side down for 30 minutes first, then flip it over and bake an additional 15 minutes.
Crispy Oven Fried Chicken
This recipe doesn’t require that you use chicken thighs or chicken drumsticks but the skin and bone do aid in keeping the chicken moist.
You can also use chicken tenders (sometimes called chicken tenderloin) which are thinner pieces from the bottom of the chicken breast. These pieces are small enough that you can coat them in the breading and they’ll hold onto the coating well. Just be very careful about turning the chicken to prevent the topping from falling off.
If you’d like to use skinless chicken breasts you absolutely can get them crispy with just a small adjustment. Score some lines into the chicken about 1/2 inch deep into the chicken to give the coating something to adhere to or the crispy coating will fall off. This will give it a chance to bake into the chicken breasts when it would normally not adhere well to it.
Cooking Time Adjustments:
If you’re using many different cuts of chicken you’ll have to adjust your cooking times.
- Skinless Chicken Breasts: Cook for 20 minutes, turn very carefully then cook and additional 20 minutes.
- Bone In Skin On Chicken Breasts: Cook for 30 minutes, turn then cook for an additional 20 minutes.
- Chicken Wings: Cook 15 minutes, turn then cook 15 more minutes.
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Can I swap out the butter?
I tested this recipe with both olive oil and vegetable oil and the flavors were simply not good. I just don’t recommend oven baking it with them. If you’d like to coat the chicken and pan fry the chicken in vegetable oil you can but I would avoid using olive oil in this recipe at all.
What to serve with Oven Fried Chicken?
- Side Salads: We love to serve this baked chicken with Cole Slaw, Macaroni Salad, Pasta Salad or Potato Salad.
- Vegetable Sides: options we love Roasted Green Beans, Sautéed Green Beans or Green Beans with Bacon.
- Starchy Sides: we love Easy Mashed Potatoes, Loaded Mashed Potatoes and Twice Baked Potatoes.
Substitute for Bisquick baking mix?
Many people prefer not to use pre-made or processed ingredients, we actually use a homemade combination for recipes that call for Bisquick which is just 4 easy ingredients which is shelf stable. You can find the recipe below.
I would not recommend swapping out the Bisquick recipe for something like cornflakes, cornmeal, breadcrumbs or panko and baking it in the butter with the same method. The recipe composition of the Bisquick is important to the recipe.
Bisquick Baking Mix
- 6 cups flour
- 3 tablespoons baking powder
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 cup vegetable shortening
- Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl then cut the shortening in with a pastry blender until the mixture is fully combined and the flour resembles small crumbs.
- Store for up to 3 months in an airtight container.
How to add more flavors to this Oven Baked Fried Chicken:
- Classic Flavor: In this recipe we use paprika, garlic salt and pepper
- Spicy Crispy Baked Chicken: Chili powder, paprika, garlic salt and pepper
- Smoky Crispy Baked Chicken: Smoked paprika instead of paprika, garlic salt and pepper.
- Lemon Garlic Baked Chicken: Lemon Pepper, Garlic Powder, paprika and garlic salt.
- KFC Flavored: Use the seasoning mix from my famous KFC Potato Wedges (you will make this over and over again I promise).
- Southern Oven Fried Chicken: Cayenne pepper, buttermilk powder, paprika, kosher salt and pepper.
- BBQ Fried Chicken: BBQ rub, kosher salt and pepper.
Tips for making Super Crispy Oven Fried Chicken:
- Do not skimp on the butter. I promise it is important to this recipe.
- Don’t use flour or panko in place of the bisquick (I have my homemade bisquick recipe listed above).
- Start the baking process with the skin side down, this gives it the longest time to render the fat out in direct contact with the hot pan ensuring that you end up with crispy skin.
- Use a baking pan for this dish not a baking sheet, there will be butter in the pan and chicken fat that renders out during cooking.
- There is no need to marinate your chicken before baking here.
- Melt your butter in the oven in your baking pan instead of in your microwave so the butter can be hot when the chicken goes in. This will help prevent sogginess.
- You can coat the chicken and let it sit on a baking sheet while you’re waiting for the oven to preheat. I normally coat the pieces then put them back in, skin side down in the flour mixture waiting for the pan to come out of the oven.
- You can make this fried chicken dairy free by using margarine in the oven frying. When tested it had a different flavor but was still delicious (and kosher!).
- Once you remove the baking dish from the oven remove the baked chicken from the baking pan to your plates or a baking sheet to keep it from sitting in the cooling butter as it will start to become soggy.
Oven Fried Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 chicken legs
- 3 chicken thighs bone in and skin on
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 cup Bisquick mix (recipe above)
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 2 teaspoons garlic salt
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees with an 8x8 baking pan with 6 tablespoons of butter in it and mix the Bisquick in a bowl with the paprika, garlic salt and pepper.
Coat the chicken pieces well in the Bisquick mix then place skin side down in the butter and bake for 30 minutes.
Turn carefully taking care to not tear the skin and bake and additional 10 minutes.
This recipe is delicious second time making it my husband and I love it
I loved this recipe! I’m so thrilled that I found a truly crispy oven fried chicken. No mess. I changed one thing. I used convection bake at 425 degrees. The circulating air helped creat crispier skin. I couldn’t get it crispy without doing this. Got this idea from another recipe. I’ve been searching for an oven fried chicken recipe for years! Thank you. I’m making it again tonight.
Awesome! Thanks for the feedback.
I like to add powdered buttermilk to my bisquick mix.
I’ve read that butter can be used as a sub for veg. shortening… Can I do that for the Bisquick recipe? I hope to hear from you soon as I’m making this tonight… But no rush Sab, lol, cuz I’m going to try it anyway… Whether I hear from you or not, I’ll let you know. Thanks for all your yummy shares, I’ve never made a bad dish using your recipes 🙂
I’ve not tested it but I can’t wait to hear how it turned out for you!
Can you use jiffy biscuit mix?
I haven’t used that particular kind before, but if you do, I’d love to hear how it turns out!
Hi I made this and it was delicious! I was wondering if the bisquick mix would work well with tilapia also?
Sure, sounds amazing!
Do I melt the butter prior to putting it in pan? Or put in cold slices of the butter
You want to melt the butter in the pan prior. Under my tips section, I have my preferred method.
This recipe will be our go-to for crispy chicken from now on. Followed it as written and my family enjoyed them thoroughly. Took a couple to work the next day for lunch and they were just as good cold, with zero sogginess.
So glad to hear! Thanks for the 5 stars.
Thanks for the homemade Bisquik recipe. I made this chicken with chicken thighs and it turned out super crispy and delicious. Great easy recipes.
You’re welcome, Amanda! So glad you enjoyed it.
I plan to make this for dinner tonight since I need to cook the 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken legs and 2 chicken thighs that I defrosted, and I have a box of Bisquick. My son is allergic to dairy and has IBS, but I always have Earth Balance vegan margarine to use instead of butter. Spicy food upsets his stomach so no cayenne or red pepper flakes. Can I use garlic powder or garlic cloves in this recipe? I don’t have garlic salt. This recipe will be a great alternative to frying chicken in the skillet. I never know what to do with all that grease after the chicken is cooked.
I’m so sorry I’m just now seeing this. It got caught in my spam filter. You can use garlic powder as substitute. I hope you enjoyed the recipe.
What a great alternative to frying chicken. My kids will absolutely love this oven fried chicken.
I hope you all enjoy it!
Thank you for the tips on making it crispy! That’s always my biggest issue is not having a soggy crust. This sounds much easier than frying chicken!
Yes, so much easier and less mess.
is breast suitable for this recipe
Yes though using skin on and bone in helps to keep the chicken moist. Enjoy!
If you want really crispy chicken or fish, use rice flour instead of wheat flour — It makes a big difference!
OMG, I want to dive into the screen and eat this chicken. It looks like a classic recipe we should all know how to make!
Haha, wouldn’t that be nice if we could do that?!
Totally agree that oven frying chicken is a game changer, and yup, those with skin and bone are the best, definitely much better than simply meat. Your version with bisquick mix looks awesomely crunchy and delicious. Will definitely try it out for my next batch of fried chicken. 🙂
Definitely crunchy! I hope you enjoy it!
I love using Bisquick to aid in fast meal preparation! This looks like one that I haven’t tried but will ASAP! Looks delicious and I love how easy it is!
I’ve also added the ingredient list to make your own Bisquick mix. Enjoy!
I am defiantly going to try this recipe asap.
I hope you enjoy it!
Can I use regular Bisquick, instead of making the above recipe?
Yes, you can use the it instead of mixing your own. I hope you enjoy it.
You do realize the regular Bisquick contains GMO’s? They still have not changed that, it’s like eating poison in small doses.
I added my own ingredient list to make your own. 🙂
Really??
Just tried this recipe and loved it. Was actually searching for why oven fried was so bad, found this and decided to try it. Will be making this again. Crispy and flavorful.
So glad you liked it and you were converted! 🙂
Can you se smart bisquick ck in this receipe