DIY Breaded Coating Mix Baked Chicken

Breaded, coated, baked chicken is a go-to in our home for a ‘can’t think of what to make for dinner tonight’ moment. This is a ‘copycat’ recipe of Shake & Bake made without the preservatives and levels of salt that many conventional coating products contain – just plain breadcrumbs (regular or gluten free), a bit of cornmeal, arrowroot, spices and some nutritional yeast for the yummy flavour and nutrition it provides.

Meal Prep Alert: Make up the coating mix ahead of time – double or triple the recipe – to have it on hand when you want to make this recipe.

As always, when you make this recipe, I would love to see your creation so please post a photo of your DIY Breaded Coating Mix Baked Chicken goodness and tag my IG account #RenataCollective or leave a comment with your thoughts!

Prep Time: 10 minutes / Cook Time: 30 -45 minutes / Makes: ~1½ cups of the coating mix, enough for 6 boneless skinless chicken thighs and 6 drumsticks

Ingredients

1 Cup Breadcrumbs (traditional wheat or gluten free)
1 Tablespoon Arrowroot Starch
1 Tablespoon Corn Meal
1 teaspoon Onion Powder
½ teaspoon Garlic Powder
½ teaspoon Dried Thyme - either powder or leaves
½ teaspoon Dried Parsley
¼ teaspoon Dried Oregano
¼ teaspoon Chili Powder
1/8 teaspoon Herbamare or Sea Salt
A Few Grinds of Fresh Pepper
1 Tablespoon Nutritional Yeast
6 Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs
6 Chicken Drumsticks
1 or Egg Whites – optional

How It’s Made

Preheat your oven to 375°F.

Line a rimmed cookie sheet with parchment paper or foil.
First, make the coating mix. All all the coating ingredients, except for the nutritional yeast, to a food processor or blend with a hand-held immersion blender (breadcrumbs to black pepper). Whirl to mix all the ingredients together and to break up the breadcrumbs to a finer consistency.
Add the nutritional yeast in and whirl for a few seconds.
Next you will coat the chicken. You will need two shallow bowls – one for what you will use to wet the chicken pieces and one for the coating. There are two ways to wet your chicken – one with water and one with a whipped egg white – both ways work well. I like the egg white as it gives more nutrition to the meal. If using water, you don’t want the chicken too wet so you may need to pat it with a paper towel.
Wet your chicken with water or whipped egg whites. Then move the chicken piece to the bowl with the coating and turn the chicken in the coating to make sure it is well coated. Then move the chicken piece to the prepared baking sheet. Continue with the rest of the pieces.
Bake until the chicken is nicely browned and crispy – at least 30 minutes. Check your chicken for doneness. A meat thermometer must register 165°F. Depending on the size of your chicken pieces, you may need longer to cook it through Check again in 10 minutes.
When done, remove from the oven and serve with your choice of sides – a Greek Salad is a perfect flavour combination with the chicken!

Enjoy!