Oven-Fried Buttermilk Chicken Recipe
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Ideal for a picnic, this crispy cornflake-coated chicken needs no utensils to be enjoyed. Marinating it overnight in rich buttermilk and a heaping dose of hot sauce makes for moist, flavorful, tender chicken with a kick of spice.
What to buy: Kellogg’s Corn Flake Crumbs are the perfect size for coating chicken. If you can’t find them, you can use 5 cups of cornflake cereal and process it in the food processor until finely ground, or place it in a plastic bag and crush the flakes with a rolling pin.
Game plan: If you cook the chicken just before leaving on your picnic, transport it warm, uncovered, in a basket lined with paper towels and foil. If you make it a day ahead, let it cool, then refrigerate it overnight. Pack the cold chicken in a plastic container lined with parchment paper.
The chicken needs to marinate overnight, so start this recipe a day in advance.
This dish was featured as part of our Picnic Recipes photo gallery.
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 4 medium garlic cloves, peeled and lightly crushed
- 3 tablespoons hot sauce, such as Tabasco
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus more as needed
- 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper, plus more as needed
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 4 bone-in chicken thighs, skin removed
- 4 bone-in chicken drumsticks, skin removed
- 1 1/4 cups Kellogg’s Corn Flake Crumbs or 5 cups finely ground cornflake cereal
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/2 stick), melted
- Combine the buttermilk, garlic, hot sauce, measured salt and pepper, paprika, and cayenne in a large bowl and stir until evenly combined. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and transfer it to a 13-by-9-inch baking dish. Pour the buttermilk mixture over the chicken, cover, and refrigerate 12 hours, turning once.
- Heat the oven to 400°F and arrange a rack in the middle. Fit a wire rack inside a baking sheet and set it aside.
- Place the Corn Flake Crumbs in a shallow dish and season generously with salt and pepper. Remove a piece of chicken from the buttermilk marinade, letting the excess drip off, and place it in the Corn Flake Crumbs, turning to coat completely and pressing the crumbs onto the chicken to adhere. Set the chicken aside on a cutting board and repeat with the remaining pieces. Drizzle the melted butter evenly over the chicken pieces and transfer them to the rack on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake until golden and crispy and a thermometer inserted into the chicken (but not touching the bone) registers 165°F, about 35 minutes.
Beverage pairing: Agrapart & Fils Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru, France. Champagne is a great match for fried chicken, oven or otherwise, for three reasons. One, the bubbles just seem to go wonderfully with the texture of the batter. Two, the lemony flavor complements the chicken. And three, there’s the pleasure of the high-low: Champagne for chicken, not caviar.
mdb0610: use lactose free milk and vinegar, not sure off hand the ratio, look up ingredient substitutions for buttermilk and you should get the ratio of milk product and vinegar.
I would substitute with flavorless oil (e.g. sunflower) and a good squeeze or two of lemon or lime. If you taste the marinade, it should be lightly acidic. It will definitely not be the same because the lactose acids are gentler and the buttermilk gives the chicken a very nice basic milky flavor but I bet it will be good anyway.
For dietary reasons I cant use buttermilk. Is ther a non-dairy substitute for the marinade?
This recipe is delicious. I took it to a pot luck and everyone wanted the recipe. Judy
Hey, this chicken turned out great! Not too spicy but still could taste said spices. This is now one of my go to chicken recipes.
I'm going to try this recipe but will used Panko crumbs and drizzle with olive oil before putting in oven. Worth a try.
Fantastic! I actually made the oven 425 degrees for the first 20 minutes then lowered it down to 400. Had to cook for one hour!
The children loved it, I added all the spices as per the recipe and it was not hot at all. Can't wait to try it with chicken cutlets...no more frying!! yea
I'm from Alabama & we love our fried chicken!! So I can't wait to try this recipe, since my husband & I are trying to eat healthier! I grew up with a bottle of Tobasco sauce in the middle of the kitchen table so I know it's going to taste great!! I may omit the butter too, but the idea of spraying with olive oil sounds perfect!
Thanks for all the suggestions on changes! That's what makes a winning meal is being creative for your own special tastes & family! I love it!!
ssharp and bistro66 thanks for your comments.
I made the chicken today for supper. Loved it - it was nice and moist and juicy. My wife really loved it too. I did not have any trouble with the bottom being soggy.
I did leave out the cayenne and hot sauce as every time I have used cayenne in anything I have not liked the tingling sensation on the lips. Instead, for taste I added Herbes de Provence to the cornflakes. Also, because someone reported having trouble with the cornflakes sticking (I used drumsticks only), I dried the chicken, then rolled it in flour and egg before the cornflakes. I also did not use the butter.
This recipe is a definite keeper. Thank you for posting it, Kate.
I also baked it for an hour, not 1/2 hour. It was not overly spicy, souschef, my son loved it and he doesn't have a high spice tolerance.
I didn't use 3 TBS of tabasco (r u serious???) but Sriacha sauce and only 2 tbs, and I marinated for 6 hrs. not 12 and it was delicious. I also ground my own corn flake crumbs so it would be very fine. Everyone loved it, it was yummy (oh, I also omitted the butter and left the skin on).
This is a very good recipe and had it for dinner tonight plus the champagne (sparkling in Australia as we are not allowed to call it Champagne unless it is french although ours are excellent drops). Don't really cook many crumbed dishes but this was very tasty and will have it again and again. Cheers.
souschef - I used to make a similar recipe that was flavorful, but not spicy. Instead of marinating, I used herbed/spiced mayo, then dipped in cornflake crumbs. For the mayo, I just added garlic and thyme. Paprika would be fantastic too.
Oh, and I crush by hand (rolling pin) instead because I like some bigger flakes here and there.
I am going to try this recipe since it's basically the same but without the fatty, creamy, beautifully bad for you mayo.
You had me right up until the "skinless" part. Cooked, crispy chicken skin, especially that coated with breading of some sort, is the best part of the chicken!
I made this last night and thought it was really good! I marinated it for 24 hours and used chicken breast instead of the chicken it called for. I also added some paprika to the cornflake mix, along with salt and pepper. I didn't flip it and it wasn't soggy. To save some calories, I didn't drizzle butter all over it either.
I made this last night, but I spiced it way up. In addition to what the recipe calls for, I also added California chili powder. And worchestershire sauce to the marinade, but I think I added too much of that since it made the chicken taste a little sour (but not spoiled tasting). I also added all the spices to the cornflakes. Plus I ended up marinading for 48 hours because I didn't have time to cook it the day before. This is a good recipe, with some spice tweaking.
Also, I have a convection oven, and had no problems with soggy undersides.
I made this for the 4th today and everyone loved it - from my 2 year old to my in-laws. It seems like too much salt but it's not at all.
I made this a couple of days ago and I have determined that the recipe is pretty mild in terms of flavouring the chicken; even after about 2 days of marinating. That said, the texture of the finished product is fantastic; it's very moist and juicy.
I would definitely make it again, but probably put in more spices since I am a bit of an addict to hot food.
This recipe wasn't bad, considering chicken is baked instead of fried. As suggested by Diana, I flipped the chicken to crisp up the other side. This did help to dry out the soggy side but some of my coating came off when I did the flipping.
Also, instead of drizzling butter on the chicken, I lightly sprayed it with olive oil for a more even coating.
Super Yummie! Everyone loved it! I had some problems coating the drumsticks with the corn flake crumbs...but the chicken thighs were fine. Crispy all around and didn't have the problem with the soggy bottom.
Looks like an interesting recipe, but I detest spicy-hot food as I can't digest it. I was thinking of trying it, but omitting the heat, and instead using herbs like cilantro and tarragon. Comments?
35 minutes baking time does not seem long enough.
I was reluctant to add salt to the corn flake crumbs, and recommend that you not be! The sweetness from the corn flakes needs that offset, m'thinks.
Otherwise, I thought the recipe turned out okay, with results like digkv's above. Crispy on top, moist inside. I thought all the peppers and tabasco would have given it more a kick than I got, but the buttermilk probably neutralized them a bit. I might make it again sometime.
you could flip the chicken halfway through to crisp up the other side, maybe?
This tasted ok but I don't think I marinaded long enough. I did what you said and placed a rack on a baking sheet but the bottom of the chicken still ended up being soggy and not fully crisped. Did I do something wrong? The top came out to be nice and crispy though which was lovely.