Coconut Oven-Fried Chicken
Coconut Oven-Fried Chicken is an easy and healthy version of fried chicken. Get your frozen chicken out in the morning, spend 30 minutes prepping in the afternoon, and pop the pan in the oven. This meal is a hit with our whole family and is one of our regulars!
This meal hits all our special diet categories. Coconut Oven-Fried Chicken is gluten-free, dairy-free, low carb, and lectin-free. It’s also easy to modify if you want to tweak it, but maybe not so much if you despise coconut.
Coconut Oven-Fried Chicken
2 – 2 1/2 lbs Chicken, sliced in strips
1/3 c. Coconut oil, melted
1 1/2 c. Coconut, shredded (unsweetened)
3/4 c. Sorghum flour (or almond – see notes below)
2 1/2 tsp Seasoning salt
About the Ingredients
Use either frozen or fresh chicken, just make sure it’s defrosted so you can slice it easily. Make the strips however big and long you like chicken strips. I do about 1/2 – 1 inch wide strips, as long as the chicken breast is.
The sorghum flour can easily be changed for another. Almond flour won’t give as crispy of chicken but it fits the low-carb/keto bill. Oat flour doesn’t work as well, but quinoa, rice, and millet flours would be fine. I have found sorghum to be my go-to frying flour, it acts well and crisps up nicely.
If you are Lectin-Free: If on phase 1-2 use almond flour. Sorghum flour is fine on phase 3.
I like using coconut oil for flavor here, but you could substitute another oil like avocado if desired.
The Process
Slice the chicken into strips of desired size. Place these in a bowl large enough to hold them all.
Melt the coconut oil, and drizzle it all over the chicken. With your fingers or a fork, flip the chicken a bit to coat all the pieces in oil.
Mix the dry ingredients (coconut, flour, and salt) together in a wide bowl or plate.
Take a chicken strip, and keeping as much oil on it as you can dredge it in the dry ingredients. I like to cover up the strip in the coconut mixture, then press it down into the bowl/plate to really get lots of the dry mix on it.
Transfer the meat to a 9×13 pan. Do this for all remaining chicken. You’ll likely need to make the chicken pieces touching each other, depending on your amount of chicken. Try to lay the pieces in such a way as to maximize air flow and make them touch as little as possible.
Place your oven rack on one of the upper settings (though not the very top – not right under the heating element). Put the pan in the oven without preheating it first. This initial heating up period helps the chicken crisp up a bit, and acts a bit like a broil.
Turn on the oven to 375. Once the oven is up to temperature, bake about 40 minutes. Alternatively, pre-heat the oven first and bake 45-50 minutes. If desired, broil for 3 minutes at the end to further crisp up the coconut.
These make great leftovers the following day and work well packed in lunches.
More Suggestions
Serve with a dipping sauce if desired, but they are flavorful and yummy on their own too. Add a vegetable like cabbage wedges or sauteed kale, and maybe ranch style beans.
Coconut Oven-Fried Chicken
Print Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 – 2 1/2 lbs Chicken, sliced in strips
- 1/3 c. Coconut oil, melted
- 1 1/2 c. Coconut, shredded (unsweetened)
- 3/4 c. Sorghum flour or almond – see notes below
- 2 1/2 tsp Seasoning salt
Instructions
- Slice the chicken into strips of desired size. Place these in a bowl large enough to hold them all.
- Melt the coconut oil, and drizzle it all over the chicken. With your fingers or a fork, flip the chicken a bit to coat all the pieces in oil.
- Mix the dry ingredients (coconut, flour, and salt) together in a wide bowl or plate.
- Take a chicken strip, and keeping as much oil on it as you can dredge it in the dry ingredients. I like to cover up the strip in the coconut mixture, then press it down into the bowl/plate to really get lots of the dry mix on it.
- Transfer the meat to a 9×13 pan. Do this for all remaining chicken. You’ll likely need to make the chicken pieces touching each other, depending on your amount of chicken. Try to lay the pieces in such a way as to maximize air flow and make them touch as little as possible.
- Place your oven rack on one of the upper settings (though not the very top – not right under the heating element). Put the pan in the oven without preheating it first. This initial heating up period helps the chicken crisp up a bit, and acts a bit like a broil.
- Turn on the oven to 375. Once the oven is up to temperature, bake about 40 minutes. Alternatively, pre-heat the oven first and bake 45-50 minutes. If desired, broil for 3 minutes at the end to further crisp up the coconut.