Doda Yo’s Easy Oven Fried Boneless Chicken Thighs

I’ve mentioned in the past how very blessed we are in our family relationships, not something I ever take for granted tfutfutfu. The year of my FIL’s passing was over, and my BILs and SILs and DH and I decided to spend the Shabbat together, just us, no kids or grandkids. This is a treat for us since it’s an opportunity to simply hang out together and be comfy and shmooze till the proverbial cows come home. Suffice it to say, I wandered around in my slippers all Shabbat, shhh.

My SIL Yocheved and BIL Len hosted us, 6 in total and since she is a very healthy cook, I looked forward to some new ideas and recipes. This is a recipe that I’ve made in various forms with chicken breasts and was never really happy since till the coating crisps up properly, the chicken would always dry out and I stopped preparing them. If I would make shnitzel (rare indeed) I’d fry it, a messy, fattening concoction, but occasionally ya just want some. GImme gimme, ya know?

Anyway, ain’t no frying in my sis in law’s house. So when she served these amazingly shnitzel-y looking objects, I goggled at her and said, what?! Fried???!!! No worries, she replied, oven baked “fried”. I dug in, preparing myself (sorry, Yo) to have to give false compliments and say, yes yes, these dried out thingies are very tasty (OMG) and rebuke myself later for lying to my beloved SIL, and lo and behold! WOW happy dance! they were really awesome. Her trick of subbing the pargiot (skinless, boneless thighs) was brilliant and ha! defeated the drying out issue since the dark meat MUST cook longer and the coating has the time to crisp up. So voila, I present to you without guilt, a truly excellent shnitzel. 😉 your welcome.

Of course, I don’t doubt Yo used low fat mayo, but I didn’t (don’t tell her, please!), however you can if you wish, just mine taste better, for sure…

So take some nice skinless boneless thighs:

Yes, these are kinda ginormous, that’s how they came outa the package. Rinse them off but you don’t need to pat dry since they go into a creamy mixture, just sorta shake off the excess water. Next take out a nice deli kinda mustard and mayo and mix together till smooth.

Take seasoned breadcrumbs and either add seasonings or not as you please. I actually didn’t since the mayo and mustard give a nice pop of flavor on their own and the mildly seasoned breadcrumbs combined do the trick.

Lightly coat your chicken thighs with the mustard mayo combo on both sides and place into breadcrumbs pressing down till coating sticks on both sides.

Do this with all your chicken thighs and place them on a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper but NOT oiled.

Now comes the oil part. Simply spray the tops of the shnitzels with oil spray (don’t go crazy with it, just spray the tops lightly. Put the pan in a preheated 350 F oven and bake for 30 minutes, then (I used two spatulas for ease), carefully turn them over, spray the next side with the oil and continue baking for about 15 minutes till browned on top, like so:

Look at those beauties! They were beyond yum. And guess what? We had leftovers and I reheated them for 20 minutes in the oven till recrisped and they were STILL juicy and moist! How can you go wrong? A big win, and thanks again Yo! You know I love you 😉 .

Doda Yo’s Easy Oven Fried Boneless Chicken Thighs

6-8 nice sized skinless boneless chicken thighs (pargiot), rinsed, excess water shaken off
1/3-1/2 cup mayo
1/3 cup deli mustard
2 cups approximately seasoned breadcrumbs, or unseasoned and season yourself with paprika, garlic and onion powder and some black pepper
Oil spray

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare a rimmed baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper to cover.

Mix together the mayo and mustard till smooth in a deep bowl. In another deep bowl, place breadcrumbs and season if necessary. Coat (I use my latex gloves for this) each pargit or thigh with the mayo mustard mix and dip into breadcrumbs pressing down till coated and do the same on the other side. Place coated thighs on parchment lined baking sheet. Spray tops with oil spray.

Place into hot oven, bake 350 for 30 minutes, turn carefully with two spatulas and oil spray the other side of the shnitzel, bake an additional 15 minutes or till browned and crispy. Serve to the delight of one and all. A slice of lemon on the side is nice.