Cooking For Engineers

[Crystal]

I need some advice. When I make breaded chicken, it never comes out nice and crispy like how my mom used to make it. I use bone-in chicken thighs (because they are so much cheaper than boneless chicken breast). I am not sure if I am supposed to skin the chicken before I coat it, or if it would be better to keep the skin on. Personally, I would want to remove it.

The coating I use is simple breadcrumbs. I dip the chicken in beated egg and then shake it in a bag with the crumbs. When it is coated as evenly enough as I can get it, I bake it in the oven. By the time it is done, the coating is greasy and soggy.

Can anyone tell me how to fix this problem?

[Anon]

Proper breading technique involves:

1- dredge item in flour, shake off all excess.
2- dip in egg/milk mixture, shake off excess.
3- roll generously in breadcrumbs

Sogginess would probably come from frying oil that is not hot enough. Heat your oil and test with a little ball of egg & breadcrubs- if it doesn't sizzle and brown immediatly, your oil isn't hot enough.

You can also spray the breaded chicken with a little Pam and bake your chicken (turning once) with good results and probably less chance of sogginess (also less clean-up).

[Crystal]

Thank you! I'll make sure to try this the next time I want crispy chicken!

[julian]

I don't bread chicken but I do fish. The trick is to roll it in flour at least twice and then add breadcrumbs and a lot of them. Then the chicken needs to be fried promptly and in at least 1/2 inch to an inch of oil in a pan. If you will deepfry, then fill it about halfway. You're welcome!
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[SirSpice]

The three most important tricks I found for frying in oil:

-make sure you have enough oil and don't overcrowd the pan
-use a good frying oil, my favorite is peanut oil because it doesn't have any smell or taste
-take the plunge and buy a fry thermometer, it's very cheap and you'll know exactly how to fry your food right

For quick cooking things I'd start putting stuff in at 360 and keep it at 350 by adjusting the heat from time to time. For cooking chicken thighs I'd go lower to around 325 and cook it longer.

[julian]

I agree with SirSpice. Peanut,canola, and vegetable oils are best for frying and don't forget how much oil you use and oil temp are most important.

[opqdan]

I think your problem lies completely in that you are baking them. It is possible to get crispy breaded chicken by baking, but you'll have to fiddle with it a bit. Spraying with oil will help, and I would also suggest placing the chicken onto a rack over a sheet pan so that liquid could drip away and not sit in contact with the breading, especially with thighs and anything with the skin on.

I would also make sure that you follow the breading suggestions of thin coat flou, followed by egg, followed by bread crumbs. This causes the breading the adhere much better to the surface of the chicken.

Also as another suggestion, one of the recipes on this site is for baked onion rings where the breading is made from potato chips and saltines (if I remember correctly). This is similar to a recipe I've seen in Cook's Country a few times, and it always turns out excellent and super crispy. I haven't tried this on baked chicken (I fry my chicken, arteries be darned* ), but it seems like it could work out very well.

*: Correctly fried chicken isn't actually much worse for you than baked as the goal is to actually soak up as little oil as possible.

[DrBiggles]

[youngcook]

Almost impossible,Crystal. You will be baking the wings, not frying 'em. You can only get crispy chicken when you fry it!

[DrBiggles]

[youngcook]

I have tried it before biggles. It is not good. When you bake wings, you get hard , but not crunchy (more like rock-hard),chicken.

[DrBiggles]

[sklc]

Please make sure you dry meat with a paper towel before attempting to bread it! Also, ensure that the meat is defrosted...

Leave nothing to chance, so I'm not sure whether you had followed the basic principal of patting the wings dry...

[Taamar]

If you insist on baking your chicken, use Panko instead of regular bread crumbs.

[DrBiggles]