Crispy Healthy Oven Fried Chicken

Y'all, y'all, thank y'all, thank y'all for being here

It's such a great honor for me to introduce y'all to an old friend of mine

This is Chef Jeff Henderson, and he's got a wonderful story to share with all of us

His life's journey has been very, very interesting. Chef Jeff is going to share with us a recipe for his healthy oven-fried chicken

Crispy oven-fried chicken. So put me to work, baby. I'm all yours

That's what I'm talking about. I like that, huh? All right. All right, Paula, we have some organic chicken here, right? Okay

And my goal here is to make a healthier version. You know, folks love fried chicken

Yes, we do. I love fried chicken. So I created a healthier version of oven fried chicken

where it looks like fried chicken. You have the crunch and texture like fried chicken

but almost tastes like fried chicken. Not all the way, almost, you know

You know, that's all right. This is great during the week. So this is only during the week

oven fried chicken version, okay? So, Paula, we're going to start off right here by seasoning up the chicken with salt and pepper

Let me bring some over here to you. The goal here, we're going to take all-purpose flour right here

Paula, I'm going to go ahead and I'm like, Paula, I'm not measuring nothing. I'm just going to put it right on up in here, okay

Some things don't have to be measured. Oh, yeah, okay. So we've got about two cups of all-purpose flour

Now, Paula, what I do, I use the same seasonings that you would season fried chicken with. Okay

So I have a little bit of onion powder. Okay. I got a little bit of garlic powder

Okay. Now we're going to add a little heat, a little cayenne pepper. Okay. So we get a little kick going on right here

Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Uh-oh. Now, I have just turned that chicken over

All right, now I'm going to come right here behind you, Paula. I'm going to help you out just a little bit

I just wanted to wash my hands before I dip chicken fingers back in my salt cellar

Here we go. Here we go. All right, good. Now, I'm going to take pepper here

Take a little salt here as well. Beautiful. Now, I'm just going to whisk it up

Now, you can't taste flour to see if the flavor's there. You kind of know by eyesight, right

That's right. That comes from frying chicken experience, don't it? Yes, okay

Okay. Now, I like to see my black pepper in my father

So does my husband. Yeah, I got to see that pepper up in there, okay

Now, what we're going to do, we can start off by putting pieces of the chicken in here

We're going to dust them up a little bit. Now, I'm going to come over here and put some egg. This is like the good food glue here

Okay, so... All right? And then back in the... Oh, I see you got potato chips down there. Yes

You want me to be crushing these for you. And I left them in the bag for you. Uh-oh. Look at that

Is this what you want done? That's what I want you done, sweetheart. Okay, I'm going to let the air out of this. Okay

We'll get those out of there. And then I have a whisk here for you, Paula. I'm going to go ahead and start dusting our chicken in here

So we got an eight-way cut of chicken. We got two legs, two thighs, two breasts, and two wings here

This bag's got to poop. Uh-oh. Look at that. All right, well, Paula's cracking me up here

Okay. I go ahead and whisk up our eggs a little bit Alright are we using this almost looks like Jeff we using one of those baked potatoes Yes it a healthier baked barbecue

so we'll get that barbecue flavor in there. Ooh, yum! Yes, yes, now I'm gonna season up

That'll bring something new to you. That's right. I'm gonna add a little pepper, a little salt here as well. Uh-huh

Little bit of onion powder and garlic powder. How fine do you like this, Jeff? I think we're good right there, Paula, what do you think? Okay

Yeah, because we'll give us a nice little fried chicken look. Okay. Now I'm going to go here

You can put those chips right in that bowl, Paula. Okay. And along with the parsley

I see some parsley here. We're going to add a little bit of parsley in there as well. Okay. Look at that

Woo! All right, now I'm going in with the chicken. That's fresh parsley, y'all

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Look at that. So we go up. That's our little egg batter. I'm going to pass them right here to you as we go

Put these pieces up in here. We're not going to play around. You want to kind of pat it into it, Jim

Yeah, pack them on there a little bit. Oh, yeah. Then we'll put it right here on that speed cart there

There you go, Paula. Another piece for you. What'd you call that? A speed cart

That's a little sheet pan. A little restaurant term there, huh? I've never heard it called the speed pan

Yeah. I like that. I'm putting this on our speed pan. All right

I'm going to give you two more in there as well, too. All right

We got this chicken here rolling. When I first met you, I don't recall you going a lighter route

Well, Paula, when we first met, I had a little stomach on me, right

Then I started getting towards 250 pounds, and near 50, and I said, you know what

I got to change how I eat. If you don't get it off now. Yes, I got to change how I eat

And the whole concept of my show, Paula, you know, I have a new show called Flip My Food

Flip My Food. Flip My Food. So I'm a food flipper now. Okay. All right, I'm a food flipper

Paula, come down here and get some water down on your hands. We'll hook you up here

There you go. You look great. So I take comfort food that we all love to eat

whether it's fried chicken, gumbo, chicken and dumplings, and put a little healthier spin on it

You and my son would get along great because he does that with my food

Does he? Yeah. Does he piss you off sometimes? Sometimes. Bobby has convinced me that it's a very good habit

to get into five days a week. Yes. cut things when you can and then on the weekend enjoy

There it is. Yeah. So I cut fat and boost flavor wherever I can

This looks fabulous. All right, now we're going to go into the oven. All right

I almost wanted to go into the fryer with that. We got the chicken in

It's going to bake for about maybe 35 to 45 minutes, fork tender on 375 degrees

Okay, so you're going to cook it a little bit hotter. Yes. All right, so what do you put in your fried chicken, Paula

Well, we season our fried chicken with our house seasoning. Okay. Which is salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder

the same things that you use. Then we bathe him in hot sauce and eggs

Hot sauce and eggs. Along with a little water, and we just let him swim around in that for a little while

Maybe fun afternoon. All right, well, we're going to move on. And then we flour it and deep fry it

Deep fry it. Do you deep all the way down, or do you fry half at one time

How do you like to do it? No, we fry it all the way down. I going to give that just a little spray just in case OK You got to No but I have found out Jeff that if we fry it halfway and like we having a party at the house Yes

And I don't want it to take so long. If they'll bring from the restaurant... Yes

...like half fried and then we finish it off frying, it's just as good

And they don't have to wait as long. No. And it still holds up a pretty nice crispiness as well

Yes, because that way, instead of having to pile a bunch in the pan, and you can, you know, just bring it the correct doneness

Okay. I'm a wing guy. What's your favorite piece of chicken? I adore wings

Yes, yes, yes. I adore them. It's my favorite, favorite piece. Okay, okay

And then I like the leg, and I like a piece that you don't see much anymore

and that's the back. The chicken back. Yeah. Not a whole lot of meat on there, though

I know it, but you know what's in that back, Jen? Uh-oh, uh-oh. There's a little plug of meat called an oyster

Mmm. I didn't know that. In that back... Oh, yeah, honey. It's two plugs right there

Michael and I'll arm wrestle for the oyster of the chicken. Paula, I need a little bit of this

Okay. I'm a pro at that. Okay, so we got the sauteed kale

And you put some olive oil. I put olive oil, got fresh garlic. And I saw you chopping garlic

I've been running my mouth. That's okay. Okay, so olive oil, fresh garlic

And we got kale weed. A tablespoon of butter. All right. Come on, Paula, baby

I knew she was going to do this to me. Was that too much? Oh, it's just enough. It's good

I may add a little bit more a little later. Let me put Paula to work again over here, okay, Paula

Yeah, you better. All right, cut me some tomatoes right here. We're going to add a little bit of tomatoes in here as well

Another trick Bobby showed me that he's learned along the way. Yes

Bobby, you know, travels and does shows all over, and he came home one time

He said, Mama, let me show you the neatest little trick. Here we go

That a chef that he was cooking with showed him. Look at that

Look at this. Are you ready for it? Oh, look at here

Look at here. You know how neat is that? Okay. And you just put them in the part, y'all

so they won't roll off like that. And then you put, just like you were going to seal the lid

Here, you do that. Okay, here we go. Y'all want to see Chef Jeff do it? Here we go

I needed that. All right. So we'll add a few more tomatoes here

We're looking good. It's starting to really cook down Paula. Taste a little piece. I want to add a little heat to it

so I got some of the Paula Deen hot sauce. That's delicious. Get a nice little drizzle right here

Why is it already a little hot? Already tasted a little bit. Black pepper. Oh, okay

Got the salt. We have the fresh garlic. And the goal here, instead of cooking down

stewing the greens here... Yes, like southerners are known to do. Yes, but I want to keep a little bit of that vitamin intake

in there as well, and the beautiful green color. All right, here we're going to put our beautiful..

Y'all, this is beautiful. There's some garlic up there. Mm, we ain't going to waste nothing

Beautiful. Yes. All right, here we go. There we go. Oh, my, my, my, my, my

Look at that. Where can we catch this show? You go to the website flipmyfood and you get all the local listings and all the recipes Mm Mm

Let me take that barbecue. You shut the hell up. That's not a lot

Mm. I did it. This might be

the best oven-fried chicken I've ever tasted. It's the hottest world. You breaking it down, huh, Mama? Mm-hmm

That's all that should be left. Y'all are not gonna believe it

Wait, I just got to make sure it's good. Oh, yum! Isn't it out of this world

It blew me away. It's potato chips. It's a great idea. You can taste a little bit of the barbecue

You know, I was telling y'all a little while ago that Jeff's life journey has been so interesting

and inspirational. Tell everybody. Many years ago, I made some poor choices in my life

and I went on an adult timeout for a few years. But it was during that period..

He went to college. Went to college. I did actually go to college, because I grew up there

I read my first book. I learned to cook. I discovered food. Earned my GED

I straightened my life out. And how old were you, chef? I was 23

23. Yeah, 23 years old, yeah. Oh, yeah, and I met a gentleman by the name of Friendly Womack

who taught me how to fry chicken. And I got really good at it, and I worked in the bakery

I made biscuits and upside-down cakes and different things like that. And I said, you know, I want to be a chef one day

Got out and went to Beverly Hills, and a famous chef gave me a job washing dishes

and I worked my way all the way up to the Bellagio in Las Vegas, Ridge Carlton

And now I'm the host of Flip My Food with Chef Jeff, and I'm traveling the country

That's just wonderful. Thank you. Thank you. Isn't that a wonderful example for us

You know, if you get up on the right side of the dirt, you've got another day to make things right

Yes, yes. And that's what you did. Yes. I have just agreed with Steve Harvey

to help his boys from the Steve Harvey Ranch. Jeff told me that he would be happy to come

and help mentor these boys. Yes. And let's try to strike something in them

Wake them up. Maybe that they are not getting it home. You know, America is a country of second chances

And I believe everybody deserves a second chance in life. Absolutely. And so many people and organizations gave me an opportunity

You know, I don't know what I would have done, Jeff, if there hadn't been a few people reaching out and taking my hand

Yes. I think it's our obligation to help our brothers and sisters out there

Yes. Thank you, Jeff. These two recipes are wonderful. And remember, there's more Chef Jeff's recipes right here on the network. Woo

Thank you. you