Herb Baked Chicken Recipe
This tasty baked chicken is coated in soft breadcrumbs and fresh herbs, then baked in the oven.You can make this baked chicken recipe with a whole cut up chicken, or you could use all thighs or all drumsticks or whatever. The nice thing about using all the same part is that they'll cook evenly. Drumsticks are great if you happen to be cooking for kids.
As for the herbs, don't stress if you can't find all of the ones listed below. You can use pretty much any fresh herbs, although I'd try to stick with soft, leafy herbs as opposed to something like rosemary. You want about ¾ cup of herbs (after chopping) total.
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Marinating Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 large fryer chicken, cut into 8 pieces (or 8 chicken pieces of your choice)
- 2 cups soft breadcrumbs (see note below)
- 4 oz. (1 stick) butter, melted
- 3 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
- 3 Tbsp. chopped fresh tarragon
- 3 Tbsp. chopped fresh marjoram
- 3 Tbsp. chopped fresh chives
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tsp Kosher salt
- ¾ tsp ground black pepper
Preparation:
- In a shallow dish, combine the melted butter, the garlic, half the salt and half the pepper, and 1 tablespoon of each of the herbs.
- Pat the chicken dry with paper towels, then add the chicken to the herb and butter mixture and swish the pieces around until they're thoroughly coated.
- Cover the dish and let the chicken marinate in the fridge for at least 45 minutes.
- In a large bowl, combine the breadcrumbs and the remaining herbs and seasonings and set aside. Cover so that the breadcrumbs don't go stale.
- When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375°F and take the chicken out of the fridge and let it stand at room temperature for 15 minutes so that the butter will soften.
- Working one piece at a time, dredge each piece of chicken in the breadcrumb mixture and then transfer it to a large baking dish. You can butter the dish first so the chicken doesn't stick. Make sure your baking dish is big enough so that you don't have to cram the chicken in too tightly. Discard any remaining breadcrumbs.
- Bake for about an hour or until the juices run clear and the chicken is nicely browned and cooked all the way through.
NOTE: For the breadcrumbs, I like to get a loaf of French bread, cut off chunks and pulse them in the food processor until I have 2 cups of breadcrumbs. Any crusty bread will work fine as long as it isn't dark rye or pumpernickel or something like that. Sourdough would be excellent. The key is that you want fresh, soft breadcrumbs, not the dry packaged kind.
