Oven-fried Chicken with Garlic Mashed Red Potatoes and Green Beans

This is one of my favorite comfort foods and it’s an easy recipe that I’ve been making for years and everyone seems to love.

Select your preferred chicken pieces, e.g., I used one whole chicken (~8 pieces), cut up. Remove the skin from the chicken pieces to reduce fat content. A really easy way to do this is to pull it off by grasping the skin with a paper towel… it’s a simple tip that works great.

In a large zip-lock bag, break about one and a quarter sleeves of saltine crackers into crumbs; don’t pummel them into dust, just into perhaps ~1/4 inch crumbs. Add spices according to your taste: e.g., ~2 tsp thyme, ~1/2 tsp oregano, black pepper, and ~2 tsp paprika. I like to use smoked paprika, but you can use any… even a spicy paprika (or a pinch of cayenne too) if you like it hot.

Dip the chicken pieces one by one in a wash (beat one egg in milk), and place each in the bag, coating them as best you can. Place the chicken pieces in a greased baking dish, leaving space between the pieces. Sprinkle remaining cracker crumbs over the chicken pieces and drizzle with melted butter (~1/2-3/4 stick). Alternatively, you can drizzle with a couple Tbsp of vegetable oil or olive oil.

Bake at 370°F for ~1 hour.