Cooking: Baked Fried Chicken Secret

A few months ago, on a trip to Indiana, my grandma and I were talking together at the kitchen table. That is where some of the greatest conversations occur. Cooking tips, family history, family secrets, catch up on the happenings of the family, etc. It is place where ideas are shared, dreams are dreamed, plans are made, games played, puzzles solved. In my family, the kitchen table is where life plays out. 

During my most recent trip to Indiana, while hashing out some cooking conundrums, we started discussing baked breaded chicken. We had both been stumped on how to get crispy chicken from the oven. When we bake it, one side is always soggy. So how do you get all sides crispy? I came up with an idea, but neither of us was sure it would work so we decided to try it out and see what happened.

Today I tried it. I made chicken nuggets from chicken tenderloins that were on sale. Cut them into 2 inch pieces. Dredged the pieces in a beaten egg. Coated in a breading mixture (panko is great, also crushing up some fried onion strings is also great). Place pieces onto a wire rack that is placed on a baking sheet. That's the secret! The wire rack allows air flow below the chicken pieces and allows the excess juices to drip to the baking sheet and leaves the chicken crispy. Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes until cooked through.

This time I did not spray the wire rack, but next time I will. Some of the pieces stuck to the rack a bit, but not much. 

So there is my new discovery! Bake breaded chicken on a wire rack and it should come out crispy all over! Yum yum!