Colonel would be jealous of oven-friend chicken

As a kid, I loved my mom's fried chicken, especially the crisp, flavor-packed skin. Mom's recipe was simple: add flour, salt and pepper to a paper bag, drop in chicken pieces and shake until coated and then skillet-fry in a half-inch hot oil.

When I became the LeanWizard, fried foods flew the coop. At those times when I was faced with fried chicken, I'd peel off the greasy, breaded skin on a deep-fried chicken breast and eat just the meat.

Lean? You bet.

Tasty? Not so much.

Crunchy? Nada.

I missed fried chicken, most definitely. Deprivation drove me into my kitchen to create a leaner oven-fried version. I stripped my chicken pieces of their skin, since a majority of a chicken's fat resides there. I rolled them in seasoned breadcrumbs and baked them. They didn't come close to their deep-fried cousins, turning out dry with little flavor.

For a while I accepted that it just wasn't possible to duplicate fried chicken in my oven. Then, I spotted a magazine article about marinating chicken in yogurt or buttermilk and that got me thinking that maybe I could get my oven-frying technique back on track.

An overnight soak proved the value of buttermilk and yogurt. Yes, the chicken turned out more flavorful and the buttermilk tenderized my chicken, but the tang of the yogurt didn't strike the right chord with me. Better, but not good enough.

I also found it very hard to keep a chicken breast moist --a minute or two too long in the oven and out comes dry chicken. I decided that all future oven-frying experiments would begin with dark meat legs and thighs.

Creating the flavor, crunch and color that chicken skin usually delivers was still a problem. I thought corn flakes could do that, and they didn't perform as anticipated and ended being too sweet. Drat.

Chicken coated with freshly made bread crumbs made my chicken look fluffy, and didn't add much crunch, flavor or color. On a whim, I picked up a bag of plain bagel chips at my supermarket and give them a good grind in my food processor. Finally, I had the crunch I was looking with a fairly decent flavor, but not the golden color.

I decided I was being a little too stingy about using no fat or oil, so I encrusted my chicken with ground-up bagel chips and then lightly sprayed the crust with vegetable oil. My chicken exited the oven with a decent golden color and a nicely crisp crunch.

I also raised my oven's temperature to 400 so the coating could brown more, and be the right color at the same time the chicken was done. An even hotter oven temperature shortened the baking time, but over-browned my coating. Tossing a little dried thyme into my food processor when processing the bagel chips added just the right flavor note.

Finally, into my oven they went and after they were done a single taste told me I'd created a baked chicken that came as close to frying, as I'd probably ever get. It had a great, crunchy exterior and a tender, tasty and moist interior. Look out Colonel; my oven-fried chicken's almost as good as your deep-fried and with far fewer calories.

Extra-Crunchy Oven-Fried Chicken

4 chicken thighs, skin removed and any visible fat trimmed

4 chicken drumsticks, skin removed

1 quart fat-free or low-fat buttermilk

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon table salt

½ teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper

5½ ounces (3-4 cups) plain baked bagel chips

1½ teaspoons dried thyme

Vegetable oil cooking spray

Rinse chicken pieces under cold water and pat dry with paper towels; set aside.

Add buttermilk, mustard, salt and pepper to a 1-gallon resealable plastic bag. Seal bag well; shake bag until ingredients combine. Open bag, add chicken pieces, press out as much air as possible, reseal and then massage chicken inside bag to coat completely. Marinating chicken can stay on the kitchen counter for 30-45 minutes, or may be refrigerated overnight.

Place oven rack in upper-middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking pan large enough to hold an oven-safe wire rack with foil. Place rack in pan. Set aside.

With the steel blade in place, add bagel chips and thyme to a food processor and process, pulsing, to a sand-and-pebble texture. Transfer crumbs to a shallow dish.

In assembly line fashion: using one hand remove the chicken a piece at a time from the bag and let excess buttermilk drip off and then place in crumbs. With the other hand, coat each piece with crumbs, pressing crumbs in, turning to coat, gently shake off excess and place on wire rack. Continue until all pieces are coated.

Lightly spray both sides of chicken with oil. Bake until chicken coating browns and juices run clear, about 30 minutes for drumsticks, and 35 minutes for thighs. Serve immediately.

Serves four.

Nutrition values per serving: 383 calories (27.6 percent from fat), 11.7 g fat (2.7 g saturated), 21.5 g carbohydrates, 0.8 g fiber, 44.5 g protein, 163 mg cholesterol, 673 mg sodium.

SaltSense: Omitting the added salt reduces sodium per serving to 557 mg.