This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Fried Italian Chicken Breast in the Oven with Hazelnuts

We are health conscious and making better nutritional choices, one step at a time. Fried chicken in the oven.

Fried (not) Italian Chicken in the Oven with Hazelnuts A guilt free fried chicken and very tasty.  Everyone loves fried chicken once in a while, but with our health conscious society and adopting "healthy options" in our daily nutrition, this recipe is not just delicious, but very satisfying and guilt free.

I learned this recipe many years ago when I was just starting to play in the kitchen in my 20's.  I had several friends from Greece and from the middle east at the time and I learned from them, to use yogurt in savory cooking.  At that time, I had no idea that yogurt could be used for cooking other than for a breakfast item.  I did not grow up eating yogurt at all; as a matter of fact, the first time I ever tried yogurt was in my 20's with my friends and it was not a store purchased yogurt in a container, it was the real thing, made at home by my friends whom had learned these skills from their mothers & grandmothers.    It was beyond delicious!  They served it with fruit at the bottom of the bowl or honey and then yogurt on top.  Nothing else, that was it and it was delicious.  I learned how to make yogurt from my dear friends and then I learned to incorporate it into my savory and sweets.  Have you ever tried a brownie made with yogurt?  It's delicious and very healthy!

Spending time in the kitchen and recreating recipes is one of my passions; it's actually, every chef's passion.  You recreate a dish that is to your liking with your favorite herbs, spices and ingredients.  This recipe is written with Italian spices and with hazelnuts, but you can change it to be a Moroccan fried chicken with Moroccan spices and add walnuts or almonds, an Indian fried chicken with Indian spices, a Greek fried chicken with oregano and served with yogurt Tzatziki sauce or a Mexican fried chicken and serve it with salsa and beans or even better, a Jamaican/Caribbean fried chicken and topping it with a mango salsa!  I've tried all these at home through the years and it is quite delicious, but it is also fun to feed my family different meals by changing the spices and the side dishes.  Create what you like by changing the spices in this recipe and enjoy a different way to eat a healthier and tastier meal without the guilt.  

Ingredients:

  • 4   Organic chicken breasts, boneless & skin removed
  • 1    cup Greek yogurt
  • ¼  cup hazelnuts, chopped
  • 2   cups Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
  • 1    teaspoon dried thyme
  • ½  teaspoon dried sage
  • ½  teaspoon dried rosemary
  • ½  teaspoon dried basil
  • ¼  teaspoon red peppers (optional)
  • ½  teaspoon salt
  • Vegetable cooking oil spray
  • Lunch paper bag (see chef notes)

Directions:

Find out what's happening in Woodinvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

  1.  Preheat oven to 400*degrees
  2. Chicken & Yogurt:

º If you purchased chicken with bone and skin on, remove bone and skin.

º Pound the chicken to an even thickness, so that it cooks evenly. (see chef notes)

Find out what's happening in Woodinvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

º Keep chicken very cold, preferably in ice water in the refrigerator, until ready to prepare with the breading.  This will help the Panko breading to adhere to the chicken breast better. (see chef notes)

º Place yogurt in a glass bowl (large enough to fit chicken breast for coating).

º Keep Yogurt in the refrigerator until ready to use.  It is best to use when it is very cold.

       3.  Breading:

º In a lunch paper bag, mix together the following:

º Hazelnuts, Panko, thyme, sage, rosemary, basil, red peppers (optional), salt and shake until combined.

        4.   Final Preparation:

º In a sheet pan, lightly spray with vegetable cooking spray.

º Prepare your work space by placing the items in order of assembly: Chicken, yogurt, paper bag with breading and herbs and then the prepared sheet pan.

º Remove chicken breast from ice water, place in yogurt and coat all sides, then place the chicken breast in the paper bag and shake lightly until chicken breast is thoroughly coated.  Repeat.

º After all the breasts are coated and placed on sheet pan, spray the top of the chicken breast with the vegetable oil spray (lightly coat).

º Place sheet pan in the oven and bake the breasts for 30 minutes.  Be sure to turn the breast after 15 minutes to evenly brown both sides.

Chef Tips:

  1.  Panko breadcrumbs can be found in any grocery store.  If you do not like Panko, you can use homemade breadcrumbs with your favorite bread.  If you use an Italian breadcrumb, please reduce the amount of thyme, sage, rosemary and basil used as the store purchased Italian breadcrumbs already have some of these spices in them.
  2. Pounding the chicken breasts will even out the thickness of the breasts, which will help to cook your chicken breasts evenly. 

-         **When working on a surface with chicken, you must cleanse everything thoroughly to prevent cross contamination of salmonella.

-         There are several different methods used to pound chicken evenly, you can go to youtube.com and find a video on how to pound chicken breasts (great resources).  I prefer placing the chicken on a board covered with a clean lunch paper bag or wax paper (rather than using plastic) and cover the chicken with another paper bag and pound in the direction from middle to out with a stroke, rather than pounding it straight down. 

-         Chicken breasts have very little connective tissues and very little fat, so the cooking time takes less time in a dry heat method (in this case, it is a dry heat method as in baked) and if over cooked, it can dry quickly.  If you pound it evenly, you should have better results with less drying as the breast will be even in thickness.

  1.  Lunch paper bag?  Really?  Yes, I have been using lunch paper bags instead of plastic much like my grandmother used to use when creating a shake and bake mix.  I’ve noticed since I have been using the paper bags that it is far more “cost effective” and “green” (better for disposal and environment).  It’s just a personal preference.
  2.  I have made this recipe a few times and the few times that I did not keep the chicken and yogurt cold, the chicken breasts did not turn out as crispy as when I have kept them very cold.  I learned this method years ago from a friend, and it really works.  You can have a crispy fried (not fried) chicken, without the guilt.

Buon Appetito!

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Woodinville