By Renee Martinez
Marinating the chicken overnight in buttermilk and hot sauce makes this oven-fried chicken tender, moist, and flavorful. The hot sauce adds enough heat to give it a little something extra, but not too much that kids wouldn’t love it. The crushed corn flakes coat gives it a delicious crunch – you can either put the corn flakes in a plastic zip-lock bag and crush with a rolling pin, or run it through a food processor until it becomes coarse crumbs.
This is a great picnic treat too. Cook the chicken right before you leave and carry it warm, uncovered, in a container (a basket is great) lined with foil and paper napkins.
For a no-fuss weeknight meal: Marinate the chicken the night before and prepare the coating. When you get home, just pull the chicken out, coat, and fry in the oven. Serve with coleslaw and biscuits!
Serves 4
4 large garlic cloves, peeled and lightly crushed
3 tablespoons hot sauce (Tabasco works great)
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 skinless chicken thights
4 skinless chicken drumsticks
1-1/4 cups cornflakes, crushed into crumbs
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
Rinse the chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Place the chicken in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish, and pour the buttermilk mixture over it. Turn the chicken with a pair of tongs until pieces are nicely-coated. Cover and refrigerate for 12 hours, turning once halfway through.
When you are ready to cook, heat the oven to 400 degrees and arrange the rack in the middle. Put a metal baking/cooling rack on top of a baking sheet and set aside.
Season the crushed cornflakes with salt and pepper to your taste. Remove a piece of chicken, let the excess marinade drip off, and press it into the cornflakes until it is coated. Repeat with the remaining pieces, and place them on the rack-lined baking sheet. Drizzle the melted butter over the chicken pieces.
Bake until golden and crispy, or when it reaches the internal temperature of 160 degrees, about 35 minutes.
About the Author: Renee Martinez consults and speaks professionally on social media marketing, integrated marketing communications, public relations and branding. She is the president of Ruby Marketing Communications (www.rubymarcom.com), a boutique marketing communications company that specializes in providing branding, social media strategy and integration, and creative services. Her blog (www.lisac95.sg-host.com), provides resources on everything marketing and social media for her active audience.
Renee has contributed as a featured monthly columnist in the monthly jewelry industry publication, JCK on matters related to internet marketing as well as in InStore Magazine as a featured blogger where she writes about developing effective marketing strategies for the jewelry industry using social media. She is the founder of: Social Media Biz Summit (www.socialmediabizsummit.com), the first large-scale SM conference to come to Buffalo, NY; #jewelrychat, a weekly twitter chat for the jewelry industry and www.RaisingBoysWorld.com. Renee teaches social marketing courses at Canisius College in Buffalo, NY for the business school as well as offers small group social media marketing training and educational seminars for businesses in Western New York and beyond.
Renee has dabbled in internet marketing arena since the early 90′s and is not ashamed to call herself a “marketing geek”. From chatting in AOL, “sharing” music on Napster, and teaching HTML classes before it was considered “cool” to developing comprehensive social media strategies, effective public relations campaigns and managing online communities (most recently Chevy Girls Buffalo).
She enjoys being able to help people find their voice online and to create buzz about their product or service that will give them the results they desire. Renee can be found on Twitter (@reneemmartinez) and Facebook (http:/www.facebook.com/RubyMarCom).
