Crispy, juicy, spicy finger-lickin’-chicken. This recipe is all kinds of good. The chicken is at once crispy and covered in a juicy glaze. It’s a little like eating fried chicken, but not fried, so also not like fried chicken. More like the best crispy baked chicken you will ever taste. Big call, but I’m backing myself on this one. I really like it, if you couldn’t tell.

I’ve made this a few times now. Always when friends are coming over. My brother loved it and alternately dipped it in a yoghurt and cucumber sauce (literally yoghurt and cubed cucumber) and chipotle mayo. He seems to feel the same way about my chipotle mayo as I do, although I don’t think it’s a genetic thing because I haven’t met anyone who hates that recipe yet. I swear non-relatives have tried it too. Speaking of non relatives, my friend Elyse took the gorgeous photos in this post. Please check out her gorgeous website. She is also an excellent taste tester, between taking photos last Saturday, we sat in the sun on the front verandah  with Ray Charles (her whippet) and ate chicken. Ray wasn’t happy that we weren’t sharing but he has more cute hoodies than I do so Ray Charles can suck it up. Kidding, he’s the cutest, he can do as he pleases.

This recipe is super easy, you can marinate the day before or as little as half an hour before, it will still taste good. It’s great with just a salad on the side or as part of a larger feast. A grain salad like this carrot one would be great or a chopped salad with some sticky slow roasted sweet potato on the side. That last combo would make sore a sticky, delicious feast.

The flavours in the marinade make for a warm heat, that kind of hums nicely in the background. Spicy enough to be yum, but not so much that you can’t keep eating it/taste all the other flavours.

You can use potato or cornflour, it helps thicken the chicken coating. If your gluten free don’t use malt vinegar stick with apple cider vinegar.

If you’re not into chopping chicken through the bone yourself, ask your butcher to do it. However it’s pretty easy. I’m by no means a knife skills champion and I have taught myself to do it with ease. You just need a sharp knife and a little understanding of where the joints are. It’s also cheaper than buying chicken pieces, you could also do that though! I usually cut the wings and marylands off at the joints first, then cut the drumsticks from the thighs. Next,  I separate the breasts from the rib cage and backbone(you can make stock from this) and chop each breast in half on the bone (thirds if the’re huge but if you’re buying a nice ethical free range chicken (or what you can afford) they hopefully won’t be HUGE). Cooking it on the bone gives lots more flavour, so try not to ditch the bones.

Ingredients

1.3 kg chicken, cut into 8-10 pieces on the bone

3 Tablespoons potato flour or cornflour

Marinade

2 Tbs Malt vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)

1 Tbs olive oil

1 Tbs dried chilli flakes

2 tsp paprika (hot)

1 tsp rapadura sugar

2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tsp turmeric

Directions

Combine chicken pieces with marinade ingredients and toss to combine. Set aside to marinate for as little as half an hour or as long as overnight.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Combine potato flour with the marinated chicken. Toss to combine then spread in a single well spaced layer on the baking tray. Bake in preheated oven for 40-45 minutes. If showing no signs f crisping at the 35 minute mark crank the heat on your oven up a little!

Enjoy delicious chicken.

HH. x