Oven Fried Chicken

I planned on making oven fried chicken today, but when I went to my Pinterest board I found out that my favorite recipe pin had been removed!  What to do?  I looked up some other recipes, but they called for corn flakes or breadcrumbs or something that I didn't already have on hand, so I made up my own!  And you betcha I'll be pining it so when I forget that my old recipe is gone I'll find my own in its place! And, btw, it was DELISH.

This recipe is enough to make 10-12 pieces of bone-in, skin-on chicken (about 3 1/2 lbs).  I made 5 thighs and 5 drumsticks.  Plan ahead!  You need to bake for 1 1/2 hours.

But aside from the long baking time, this recipe is pretty easy:

Soak your chicken

Wipe your baking sheet with shortening

Mix your seasonings

Coat your chicken pieces and pop into the oven

Drizzle dry spots with cooking oil

Continue cooking until you have crunchy skinned, moist chicken

Ingredients:
Chicken Mix:
3/4 cup flour
1/3 cup cornmeal
2 tbsp onion powder
2 tbsp seasoned salt
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp sea salt (or regular table salt)
1/2 tsp cracked pepper
Other stuff:
3 1/2 lbs, or about 10-12 pieces of chicken thighs/drumsticks (bone in, skin on)
1/4- 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup buttermilk*
Cooking oil for drizzling

*(I never have buttermilk on hand, so I use 1 cup milk mixed with 1 Tbsp lemon juice or vinegar, and let sit for about 10 minutes)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place buttermilk in a large mixing bowl and add chicken.  Mix chicken until every piece has been dipped completely in the buttermilk.  Let sit while you prepare the pan and mix.

Line a large baking sheet (preferably one with a rim) with aluminum foil.  Using a paper towel, scoop about 1/4-1/2 cup shortening and rub the foil to coat.  Rub it on fairly thick.

Add all of the Chicken Mix ingredients in a gallon size zip-top bag.  Seal and shake to mix.  Add the chicken pieces, 2-3 at a time, to the bag.  Seal with a lot of air in the bag and shake to coat the chicken.  Remove chicken from bag and place the pieces on the shortening-coated baking sheet. Repeat with remaining chicken pieces until all pieces have been coated.  Discard remaining chicken mix and buttermilk.

Bake in oven for 1 1/2 hours until golden brown and crispy.  After 30 minutes of baking, check chicken and drizzle oil (I use a canola/olive blend) on any dry white spots.

Serve with napkins because this is finger-licking good!