Southern baked chicken breast

This is a great alternative to those gorgeous but gross fried chicken shops or those ‘reformed‘ frozen supermarket tasteless dry ones.

These are juicy, full of flavour, fun, messy and ohhhhh so satisfying. Annnnnnnd way better for you than the above!

Soaking your chicken makes it super juicy and you will wonder why you never did this before. Plan ahead if you can and let it soak for a day in the fridge, it will be well worth it.

This will become a regular favourite and rightly so. You could make this into a burger too.. grab a bun, some salad and whatever sauce you love most... job done! Enjoy..

Ingredients

• 4 chicken breasts

• 1/2 pint of milk

• 1ltr of cold water

• 3 bay leaves

• 2-3 large handfuls of panko breadcrumbs

• Olive oil

• 1 tablespoon of oregano

• 1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning

• Flaked salt

• Fresh cracked black pepper

• 150g plain flour

• 1 tablespoon of paprika

• 1 teaspoon of Cajun seasoning

• 1/2 teaspoon of onion granules

• 1/2 teaspoon of mustard powder

• 1/2 teaspoon of garlic granules

• 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper

• 2 eggs beaten

Cut your chicken into whatever shape you want... strips, chunks or steaks. If you want to keep them big, slice them in half lengthways so they aren’t so fat.

In a big bowl add your milk, water and bay. Put all your chicken in so it’s totally covered. Cover with film and put in the fridge for a minimum of 2hrs but the longer the better. If you can plan this a day in advance then that would be perfect!

Preheat your oven to 180degrees fan

Now you need 3 shallow bowls and a baking tray.

In the first bowl put your flour, paprika, Cajun, onion and garlic granules, cayenne, mustard powder and a pinch of salt and pepper. Mix it all together well.

In the second bowl put your beaten eggs.

In the third bowl put you panko, oregano, Italian seasoning, plenty of pepper and a good pinch of salt. Mix it all together then add a good 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil and mix it all up again until the oil has all been sucked up by the panko.

Grab a chicken piece, roll it around in the flour until totally covered, then into the eggs for the same treatment, drip off the excess egg, then put it into the panko mix. Roll it around and pat the panko into the chicken so it’s totally covered and stuck well then put it straight onto the baking tray.

Once they are all done, put into the oven for about 30mins until golden brown and the chicken is cooked through. Check after 20mins and flip it needed