Oprah Winfrey's Un-Fried Chicken

Un-Fried Chicken

The secret to the success of this recipe is to make sure that both the chicken and the yogurt are very cold (hence soaking the chicken in ice water). The preliminary soaking will help the breading adhere and produce a crisp coating much like that of fried chicken. If you’re serving the chicken on a platter rather than on individual dinner plates, it looks smashing on a bed of flowering kale.

Light vegetable oil cooking spray
6 chicken drumsticks, skin removed
3 whole chicken breasts, halved and skin removed
3½ cups ice water
1 cup plain nonfat yogurt

For the Breading:
1 cup dried Italian bread crumbs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. Old Bay seasoning
½ tsp. garlic powder
½ tsp. Creole seasoning
⅛ tsp. freshly ground black pepper Dash cayenne pepper
½ tsp. dried thyme
½ tsp. dried basil
½ tsp. dried oregano

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Coat a baking sheet with 3 sprays of the vegetable oil.
2. Put the chicken in a large bowl with the ice water. Put the yogurt into a medium bowl. Set both bowls aside.
3. Toss all the breading ingredients into a large, tightly sealing plastic bag. Seal and shake well to mix.
4. Remove 2 pieces of chicken from the ice water. Roll each piece in the yogurt. Put the chicken into the plastic bag, reseal, and shake to coat thoroughly.
5. Transfer the breaded chicken to the prepared baking sheet. Repeat the process until all 12 pieces are breaded.
6. Spray the chicken lightly with the vegetable oil.
7. Place the baking sheet on the bottom shelf of the oven and bake for 1 hour, turning the pieces every 20 minutes to allow even browning.
8. Serve hot or at room temperature.