Garlic Parmesan Crispy Oven Fried Chicken

This Garlic Parmesan Crispy Oven Fried Chicken is the only recipe you’ll need for crunchy baked chicken! The BEST golden breading that actually sticks to the chicken and great intense flavor – better than KFC!

Ever since I posted this Crispy Oven Fried Chicken last year, it has been one of the most popular recipes ever on Savory Nothings.

Right alongside these homemade chicken nuggets by the way – I guess you and me both love golden-crunchy baked chicken?

It only seemed obvious to continue adding to this collection, so today I’m sharing this Garlic Parmesan Crispy Oven Fried Chicken recipe with you.

It’s pure comfort food with rich flavors, but it’s also incredibly easy to make. So easy, in fact, that it suits itself for weeknights (though maybe not THE busiest, you should turn to a chicken sheet pan dinner in that case).

My family absolutely adores this crispy baked chicken breast. We usually serve it with plenty of steamed green veggies (think green beans, broccoli or spinach) and… Mac and cheese. Don’t judge

how to make your crispy oven fried chicken a definite success:

pay attention to the breading method

One bowl gets egg and buttermilk, a separate bowl gets flour, parmesan, breadcrumbs, baking powder and seasoning.

Don’t mix them all in one bowl as a batter, because that simply won’t stick to the chicken in the oven!

Then it’s dipping the chicken pieces in the following order: FIRST into the dry ingredients, then into the egg mix, then AGAIN into the dry ingredients! That way you get a thick layer that really coats the chicken – yum.

don’t leave any ingredients out of the breading!

They really are all there for a reason.

I know breadcrumbs are not on traditional fried chicken, but they really help making oven fried chicken a lot crunchier than using flour by itself. I never find panko anywhere, so I use just regular crumbs you can find at any old corner store.

The baking powder is very important, too! It helps a lot with the browning (it’s some chemical reaction… Don’t ask me for an in-depth explanation, I just know it’s better that way) and it also helps puffing up the coating a little. That’s important so the juices from the chicken can’t just seep into the crispy layer.

it really needs that much seasoning!

Yes, really.

I know it seems like a slightly crazy amount of salt and spices, but if your flour mix isn’t seasoned right, your chicken will end up bland – and who wants bland oven fried chicken? I definitely don’t!

use a dark pan

This one is VERY important.

A dark pan reflects heat differently than a white or silver colored pan would.

To get the perfect crisp, I’ve found it’s crucial to use my dark pan. I use a deep roaster kind to minimize butter splatters in my oven!

I have an oval one similar to the one you can find here, it’s great for whole roast chicken, too!

preheat the pan

Finally, it’s of extraordinary importance to preheat the pan.

Just as you would heat a skillet before browning meat, you need to heat up the roasting pan before adding the breaded chicken.

Not only does it make it super easy to melt the butter, but it also keeps the breading from soaking up all the fat, making it soggy and keeping it from really crisping up.

allow it to rest, but not too much

Right when you take it out of the oven, the coating will be a bit soft.

Let it sit for 3-5 minutes, and it will have crisped up as the butter cools.

But then serve it right away – because after a while the juices from the chicken will make the coating soggy – but that happens with regular fried chicken, too.

So you have about a 30 minute window of extraordinary and super crispy oven fried chicken – but I’m guessing it will all be gone way faster. At least it vanishes in the blink of an eye at my house!