Dry Breaded Baked Chicken

hap2go · July 2020

One of the family's favorite meals is breaded chicken cutlets (which are typically pan fried in olive oil) I'm supposed to be reducing my fat intake so instead of pan frying mine, I baked it in the oven instead. Which actually wasnt TOO terrible but the breading was super dry. Any suggestions on how to get the breading a little less dry when oven baking? (I dont have an air fryer)

bmeadows380 · July 2020

try reducing the heat and cooking slower, or perhaps putting in an oven roasting bag? I don't often bread meats so I'm not really sure myself.

MaltedTea · July 2020

Chef I am not but I'd imagine that breading will always be dry/crispy unless you have a sauce or some fat to pair it with 🤷🏿‍♀️

I tend to take another approach with my chicken: wet brining for 24 hours (then gently rinse under running water - to remove excess brine - for 5 min before cooking with your method of choice).

The flesh (including breasts) is then so moist it balances out the crunch from a method like breading.

Onedaywriter · July 2020

Try using a spray-on olive oil. But don’t use much. Just a little goes a long way to moistening and adding a nice crispness. I usually wait until near the end of cooking - five minutes before done- before spraying and am careful to not overdo it (I like the chicken better when I overdo it but...). Obviously this is adding a little fat but adds way less than pan frying.
When the bottle is near empty I just add olive oil to it.

mjbnj0001 · July 2020

Thinner cutlets, so they cook faster without entirely carbonizing your crumbs. I presume you use something like conventional breading technique (flour, egg, crumbs dredging)? The underlying egg, besides being the "glue" also helps the breading.

As @Onedaywriter suggested, a spritz of spray oil can help.

Here's something similar - I baked eggplant parm recently. I cook the eggplant (breaded) to get them crispy, in a sheet pan with wire racks, then stack them into the casserole dish with sauce and cheese, for a final bake, which gets them moist without entirely softening the bread crumbs. These are panko, by the way. I haven't done that with chicken in a few months, so I don't have a handy picture to share.

wilson10102018 · July 2020

Calorie reduction is always easier if you reduce fat because of its very high calorie density. but olive oil has no other adversities. Try coating the cutlets in a little olive oil before breading and then bake them and see how that goes.

acpgee · July 2020

Control the amout of fat used by making oily bread crumbs. I find mixing breadcrumbs with a measued amount of olive oil before breading is easier than trying to spray breaded food with oil. I do this with spanish croquettas for example.

acpgee · July 2020

Some air fried bacalao croquettas and dutch bitterballen (=croquettes made with congealed beef stew) I did using oily bread crumbs.

Maxxitt · July 2020

I find that soaking cutlets in yogurt and then using panko crumbs mixed with a little grated parm, then a light oil spritz from my mister works fairly well - the chicken is moist and I think that helps the crumb part not dry out totally. But it's not the same as a properly fried cutlet.

whmscll · July 2020

I have a recipe that calls for soaking the chicken breasts in 1 or 2% buttermilk plus some seasonings and a dash of hot sauce for a few hours or overnight. Then I spray the breading with nonstick spray before baking. Delicious

AshHeartsJesus · July 2020

Try keto oven fried chicken strips from keto connect and watch your portion. It is sòòoo good. 😎

sgt1372 · July 2020

Corn flake crumbs make an excellent coating for baking chicken, seafood and pork, which creates a nice crispy texture w/o frying.

You can buy it packaged but it's easy to make yourself and much cheaper when you do.

See: https://www.leaf.tv/articles/how-to-make-cornflake-crumbs/

kshama2001 · July 2020

Maxxitt wrote: »

I find that soaking cutlets in yogurt and then using panko crumbs mixed with a little grated parm, then a light oil spritz from my mister works fairly well - the chicken is moist and I think that helps the crumb part not dry out totally. But it's not the same as a properly fried cutlet.

I was going to recommend dredging in yogurt before breading as well. Maybe egg white would work also? Whole egg does for sure.

For chicken THIGHS, I don't need to do this due to the (slightly) higher fat content of thighs. Not sure if that is too high for the OP though.

kshama2001 · July 2020

hap2go wrote: »

One of the family's favorite meals is breaded chicken cutlets (which are typically pan fried in olive oil) I'm supposed to be reducing my fat intake so instead of pan frying mine, I baked it in the oven instead. Which actually wasnt TOO terrible but the breading was super dry. Any suggestions on how to get the breading a little less dry when oven baking? (I dont have an air fryer)

Do you have a meat thermometer? Just want to make sure you aren't overcooking the chicken. I used to overcook chicken to be safe. Now I shoot for breast to be 165 degrees and thighs at least 175 (thighs can go higher without ruining them, especially bone-in/skin-on.)

Dry Breaded Baked Chicken

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