Having grown up eating boneless chicken breasts on almost a nightly basis, neither I nor Taylor had too much experience with bone-in chicken dinners. But after watching Food Inc. and learning more about the ramifications of wanting only boneless, white chicken breasts, I watched some videos on YouTube about how to cut up (or pare) a whole chicken and entered a whole new world of cooking.
But still, the price I was paying for whole, natural, local chickens wasn’t saving any money, and was taking up more time than I had for preparing meals. Then one day while I was at Earth Fare (a wonderful natural grocery chain) I picked up some packs of whole chicken legs.
The price was right–just $1.45 per pound, and with a little luck and practice, I’ve come up with a super easy, gluten-free Oven-Fried Chicken Recipe that has yet to be met with anything less than rave reviews. So here’s my recipe that is sure to please even the pickiest, non-chicken-on-the-bone eating customers:
Serves 2 People
- 2 whole chicken legs
- 2 cans of peas (strained of liquid) or 1 (thawed) bag of frozen peas or veggies of choice
- *1/2 cup of gluten-free flour of choice*
- EarthBalance vegan butter spread
- salt or seasoning of choice
*I have used many different gluten-free flour options, so feel free to experiment, but a surprising favorite (and lower carb option) is garfava flour. Or you can grind down raw nuts, like pecans (add a little flour to prevent it from sticking). And a huge crowd-pleaser is to take your favorite gluten-free cereal, like Crispix Rice Cereal and mash it up in a zip lock.
Preaheat oven to 425 degrees.
Dump flour into a paper grocery bag with a bit of salt or seasoning blend like Tony Chachere’s. Pare chicken legs at joint, separating drumsticks from thighs, you will have 4 pieces. Piece by piece, place chicken in the bag with flour, fold down top of bag, hold tightly and shake to coat.
Add a very small pat of EarthBalance spread placed on top of each chicken piece. Place pieces into a baking pan with raised edges. Bake for 10 minutes on top shelf under the broiler.
Remove from oven and add peas or veggies in around the chicken. Add a few more small pats of Earth Balance. Bake for 35 minutes or until chicken is fully cooked. For extra crispiness, try broiling for 1 extra minute.
