Buttermilk Baked Chicken

This recipe is one of my family’s absolute favorites!  What’s not to love???  This is comfort food at its best…Crispy baked chicken, creamy mashed potatoes, and awesome rich homemade gravy. 

Buttermilk Baked Chicken

INGREDIENTS:

·         1       (3-4 lb) cut up chicken

·         2       cups buttermilk, divided

·         2-3    tablespoons of hot sauce, like Franks

·         Cooking Spray

·         ¼      cup butter or margarine

·         1 ½   cups of Kentucky Kernel Flour***

·         1       (10 ¾ ounce) can cream of mushroom soup, I use Campbell’s

***If you cannot find Kentucky Kernel Flour you can substitute 1 ½ cups of flour, 1 tablespoon of chicken seasoning, and ½ - 1 teaspoon of ground black pepper.

INSTRUCTIONS:

·         Place chicken in a gallon zip top plastic bag.  Combine 1 cup of buttermilk and hot sauce; pour over chicken, remove as much air from bag as possible and close bag tightly.  Place bag in refrigerator and marinate at least 2 hours or up to overnight, turning bag occasionally making sure chicken is coated by buttermilk mixture.

·         Heat oven to 425 degrees.  Lightly coat a 13 x 9 inch glass baking dish with cooking spray, place butter in baking dish, place dish in oven until butter is melted.

·         Meanwhile place Kentucky Kernel Flour in a clean gallon size zip top bag.  Remove chicken from buttermilk mixture, letting excess liquid drip off.  Place chicken 1 – 2 pieces at a time in zip top bag with flour and shake to coat.  Place chicken skin side down in prepared baking dish.  Discard left over buttermilk mixture.

·         Bake chicken for 25 minutes, Turn chicken and bake 10 minutes more.

·         Stir together remaining cup of buttermilk and cream of mushroom soup; remove chicken from oven, and add cream of soup mixture.  Bake 10 minutes more or until gravy is hot and bubbling.  Shield chicken with aluminum foil to prevent excess browning if necessary.  Remove chicken from baking dish, and being very careful, stir gravy well scraping up all the little bits and pieces from the bottom of the pan.  Drizzle gravy over chicken and mashed potatoes.

HINTS:

·         I usually use two can of cream of mushroom soup and 2 cups of buttermilk.  My hubby LOVES this gravy and he doesn’t usually care for gravy, and would never eat cream of mushroom soup.

·         If you would like to cut some fat and calories you can omit the butter, coat the baking pan with extra cooking spray and then coat the chicken with cooking spray as well.  I use low-fat buttermilk, and you can substitute low-fat cream of mushroom soup.

·         If your family does not like gravy on their chicken you can bake it for 15-20 minutes after turning, remove it from the pan to a plate and keep warm.  Then add the soup mixture to the baking pan and return it to the oven and bake until hot and bubbly.