Healthy HomeHere is a recipe for allergen-free, gluten-free fried chicken! Bread the chicken with rice flour and cook in palm shortening for a real food version of the classic.
I think I’ve told you before: I don’t fry food. It’s not that I don’t enjoy fried foods or think they are a big “no-no.” It’s simply that I’ve been been able to fry–namely, I’ve never been able to fry chicken.
So I figured out how to bake a delicious “almost”-fried chicken dish. And my hubby, whose favorite food happens to be fried chicken, loved it just as much.
But then–our little girl was diagnosed with gluten intolerance. And I honestly still haven’t braved baking gluten free bread. No gluten free bread equals no gluten free bread crumbs.
And my “almost”-fried chicken bit the dust.
I had to get out of my “baking” zone and learn how to fry some chicken–and some gluten-free, dairy-free friend chicken at that–so the WHOLE family could eat it!
My discovery was that frying chicken isn’t so bad after all. You see, I had only attempted it once or twice before, and the memories of the smoke-filled kitchen and having to open all the doors and windows to air out the house in the dead of winter–well, it had given me a mental block when it came to frying.
But my rice flour fried chicken recipe below is now even easier than my “almost”-fried chicken tenders. Imagine that!
Rice Flour Fried Chicken
Ingredients
- 1-2 cups brown rice flour
- several dashes paprika (less than 1 tsp. per cup unless you like your fried chicken really spicy!)
- dash of salt
- dash of pepper
- 1 cup of rice milk
- palm shortening or other oil for frying (plenty to fill a large, deep skillet)
- chicken pieces (I usually use legs or cut breasts into strips, which cook really quickly.)
Instructions
- Rinse chicken and pat dry. Set aside.
- Combine brown rice flour, paprika, salt and pepper in one bowl and pour milk into another bowl.
- Drench chicken pieces in milk.
- Coat chicken in the flour mixture; set aside.
- Melt several heaping tablespoons of palm shortening in large skillet on medium heat.
- Fry chicken on medium heat for about 15 minutes on each side. (Less time for boneless chicken!) Then, turn the burner off and let chicken sit in the skillet an additional 15 minutes. (Be sure to check to make sure the chicken is completely cooked through before serving! Thicker pieces will obviously take longer.)
Notes
- Don't turn heat too high. The chicken will quickly burn if the skillet/oil/chicken gets too hot. (Believe me! I know!)
- Use PLENTY of oil. If the oil looks like it is getting too low, I will keep adding more oil. You can't have too much oil when frying. ? (At least you can't in my limited experience!)
- Add this recipe to your Plan to Eat recipe book here.
Christie
Is there a reason that there are no amounts in the ingredient list??
Erin
I’m sorry, Christie! This post was supposed to be a draft and got published! I’ve updated it! 🙂
Christie
No problem!! Thanks for updating it!! 🙂
Erin
Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Stacy @Stacy Makes Cents
Yay!!! You conquered your fear! 🙂 Fry baby, fry!
Erin
Woo hoo! And it’s super yummy to boot!
Amee
Looks yummy Erin and as for baking you will get there. I bake all the time now and I find my gf baked goods are most of the time better than what I made before taking my family gf. Try almond and coconut flour in cakes and cookies. Sweet sorghum is another great flour I use a lot for baking breads. 🙂 Amee
Erin
Thanks for the encouragement, Amee! I need to check out those pumpkin brownies on your post today! Sounds delicious!! 🙂
Rachel Ramey
Woohoo! Thank you! I’m with you; I haven’t tackled GF bread yet, so no crumbs. Can’t wait to try this!
Erin
Hope you enjoy it! Reduce the cook time for smaller pieces of chicken or tenders/boneless!
Erin
Glad I’m not the only one. 🙂
Krista
It’s very straightforward to find out any topic on web as compared to textbooks, as I found this article
at this web site.
Anne @ Authentic Simplicity
Paula at Whole Intentions has an AWESOME GF bread recipe that is even easier than regular bread. You’ll love it! And great recipe for fried chicken btw, I will have to try it.
Erin
Oh exciting!! I need to go check it out on her site!! Thanks, Anne!
The Prudent Homemaker
Do you grind your own rice flour? If you buy a wheat grinder that grinds rice, you can make your own flours (soy, corn, rice, etc.) You can buy those ingredients in bulk to save even more.
Josh Malone
Never heard of using rice flour for frying. My wife has started making me use coconut oil which I am actually starting to prefer at it is so much lighter and it seems to let you taste the food a lot more. Might have to check out palm oil though.
Pamela
An idea for dieters: I made this yesterday but I didn’t use Palm Oil, I used Coconut Cooking Spray. It’s like PAM but made with Coconut Oil and Soybean Oil and has 0 calories. I also didn’t have rice milk on hand (I usually do) so I just used water instead to moisten the chicken. For spices I used Smoked Paprika, Sea Salt (table), Pepper and Garlic Salt. I only made two chicken breasts and didn’t cut them up but I should have. It just takes longer to cook when they’re big pieces. It took almost 1/4 cup of the Brown Rice Flour to coat those two pieces. It was extremely tasty and had a good crunch.
Greg
One very big problem with this reciepy, PALM SHORTENING, the ever increasing size of palm plantations in Indoneasia is responsible for killing and making critically endagoured the Orangotan, a beautifull animal and one of our very close relations, please people don’t be part of this problem by using any palm oil products, there are plenty of healthy alternatives !
Trinity
This is how I fry my chicken, but I also add a little cayenne to the flour before frying. And salt of course! Now I’m hungry for fried chicken, it’s my favorite dinner!
Erin
That sounds delicious!
Justaguest
What did you use for rice milk? All I can find is ‘rice drink’ products and they are all fortified with a bunch of other ingredients.
Diane
Why would you let the chicken continue to sit in the oil after frying? Wouldn’t that
make the end product greasy?
Barb
Why couldn’t you use the “almost” fried chicken method, only substitute the rice flour?
Erin
I’m not sure I understand your question. Can you clarify? Thanks!