Italian Baked Chicken

You won’t have any leftovers with this delicious baked chicken with a crunchy herbed breadcrumbs coating. 

Let’s talk about chicken today.

It’s cold out and I bet you want something hot for dinner tonight. Something hot that is still easy to make on a weeknight and easy on the pocket.

Hey, Christmas is coming and we all have to save some money right?

Some months back, I came across this heavenly Italian Baked Chicken recipe from Samantha over at Five Heart Home. She has a lovely blog and you should definitely check it out if you haven’t already.

This recipe is absolutely amazing. Truly. You have to trust me here.

As with the recipe I shared previously for Baked Salmon with Spicy Coriander Sauce, once again, your blender and oven will do most of the work for you! I used chicken thighs as they are extremely cheap and I happen to love them. I also baked them with the skin on for a bit of sinful indulgence. You can always remove the skin if you prefer.

For the breadcrumbs, I had made them previously and had a batch frozen in the freezer. It was as easy as defrosting some for this dish. I have included the recipe for the herbed breadcrumbs here but to be honest, I used approximates and I just used a mixture of fresh herbs that I had on hand. Feel free to add or subtract as you choose. I recommend making a big batch and freezing up the leftovers as I guarantee you will be making this dish again.

Recipe for Italian Baked Chicken

Adapted from Five Heart Home

Prep Time: 10 minutes / Cooking Time 50 minutes

Ingredients

680gm Chicken (approximately 2 Drumsticks and 2 Thighs)

40ml Olive Oil

¼ tsp Salt

Black Pepper

¼ tsp Garlic Powder

100gm Herbed Breadcrumbs (recipe follows)

Method

1. Season the chicken with some salt. Next, line a roasting tray or roasting dish with aluminium foil. Pre-heat oven to 190°C.

2. Place the Olive Oil, Salt, Black Pepper and Garlic Powder into a bowl. Whisk it gently to dissolve the Salt and Garlic Powder.

3. Place the Herbed Breadcrumbs into another shallow roasting dish or tray.

4. First, dip the chicken (one piece at a time) into the Olive Oil mixture, and then roll it in the Herbed Breadcrumbs. Place on your prepared roasting tray or dish and bake for 40 minutes.

5. After 40 minutes, turn the chicken and bake for a further 10 minutes or until it is evenly browned.

Recipe for Herbed Breadcrumbs

5 slices stale bread

1 Tbsp Oregano

1 Tbsp Sage

1 Tbsp Thyme

1 Tbsp Basil

1 tsp Salt

Black Pepper

Method

Tear bread into chunks and place in the bowl of your food processor. Add herbs and seasoning. Blend until you get coarse breadcrumbs.

*Note: I used fresh herbs here, if you are using dried herbs, the flavour tends to be stronger so I would suggest reducing the quantities.