Every once in awhile I get a craving for fried chicken.  I just want to bite into a crispy piece of mouth-watering delicious good chicken. But I don’t want all that fat from frying so I love to make oven-baked fried chicken cutting down on the fat and calories. I leave the skin on my chicken cause I don’t eat fried chicken with skin that often but if you want to cut down further on the calories use skinless chicken or just pull off the skin. For me, if I am going to indulge I’m going all the way!

First I always soak my chicken in water and sea salt for thirty minutes to clean the chicken. Drain chicken and pat dry with paper towels. I also soak my chicken overnight in buttermilk which makes it extra juicy. You can serve this chicken hot or cold, I just love it either way!

Chicken pieces, 2 breasts, 4 legs, four thighs, and 6 wings.

2 cups buttermilk

1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce or other hot sauce

1 1/2 cup four

1/2 cup cornmeal

1teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon fresh black pepper

2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 teaspoon rubbed sage

olive oil

cooking spray

Soak chicken in cold water with 2 tablespoons of sea salt for 30 minutes.  Drain and pat dry with paper towels. Combine buttermilk and Tabasco sauce. In a large baking pan soak the chicken in buttermilk mixture overnight.

Preheat oven to 400 F. Spray two large baking pans with spray cooking spray. Set aside. Combine flour, cornmeal, sea salt, peppers, and sage in a food storage bag. Toss chicken pieces one by one in flour mixture to evenly coat. Place chicken skin side up on the baking pan.  When all the chicken is on the baking pans, spray lightly with cooking spray. Bake for 20-30 minutes until chicken is golden brown but still juicy.  Serve warm or chill to serve cold.

Enjoy!