Paleo Fried Chicken is the gluten-free answer to crispy oven fried chicken! Made with an almond flour and almond meal base for the perfect texture!
There is nothing like some crispy fried chicken. AM I RIGHT?
If you love fried chicken but are looking for a grain-free, gluten-free, Whole30, Keto, Low-Carb, or Paleo option, I have got you covered! Yup, you heard that right, this recipe is Paleo and Whole30 compliant, and it couldn’t be more delicious.
This oven fried chicken is coated in a crispy grain-free mixture (almond flour and almond meal mixed with spices!) and baked in the oven until it reaches that peak crispy perfection. It is not anything like the boring oven-fried chicken you may have had in the past!
What Is The Difference Between Fried Chicken and Oven-Fried Chicken?
There is one big difference between regular fried chicken and oven-fried chicken. Regular fried chicken is usually deep-fried in a vat of oil. You typically need to use a deep fryer or get a large pot of oil and a heat resistant strainer.
That’s where the difference of oven-fried chicken comes in handy. Oven-fried chicken opts out of the deep fry method, and instead, you cook the chicken in the oven, using a LOT less oil, making it way less messy and wasteful (no thanks to dumping cups of oil after deep-frying).
When done right, oven-fried chicken can taste just as good as regular fried chicken, especially when you have a recipe as good as this one!
How To Make Paleo Fried Chicken
After playing around with different ratios of almond meal, almond flour, and spices, I finally nailed this paleo fried chicken recipe, and man, it is GOOD.
- Place an oven rack in the upper third position. Preheat oven to 350F and prepare a baking sheet by lining it with tin foil and placing the cooking rack on top. Use the olive oil sprayer to generously coat the cooking rack. Mix the almond meal and almond flour in a bowl. Use a fork to sift through and break up any clumps.
- Add spices to flour mixture and use a fork to mix thoroughly.
- In a separate bowl (flat enough to dip each piece of chicken in) beat the eggs with the almond milk.
- Grab a small baking sheet or plate, use a spoon to spread some of the almond flour on the bottom of the tray. You are going to use this to coat the chicken instead of dipping in the almond flour. You are doing this for two main reasons – almond flour tends to absorb moisture and get crumbly which you desperately want to avoid so you can get a good crumb and because you only need about 3/4 of the almond mixture and we don’t want to contaminate it all with raw chicken. You should have your small tray or plate, skinless, bone-in chicken, almond flour mixture with spices, beaten eggs, and olive oil mister set to the side.
5. Dip a piece of chicken in the egg until well coated.
6. Place on the tray and use the spoon to dump some more of the flour mixture on top of the chicken. Pat the flour mixture onto the chicken until all sides are coated and place on the cooking rack.
7. Repeat until all of the chicken is evenly coated and on the cooking rack. Make sure to leave space around each piece of chicken. Finally, use the olive oil sprayer to give each piece of chicken a nice coating (it should shine or appear misted).
8. Discard the beaten egg and any of the flour mixture that raw chicken came into contact with. Save any of the flour mixture that is reserved (and did NOT come into contact with raw chicken).
Recipe Tips:
- I very rarely tell you to buy stuff just to make a dish but if you are serious about oven-fried chicken, you need an elevated baking tray (they are called cooling racks) so the bottom can get crispy instead of soggy.
- If you want to avoid non-stick cooking sprays, get an olive oil mister. The spray of olive oil before going into the oven is crucial for crispy-success!
- I used a combination of almond meal (ground raw almonds with their skins on) and blanched almond flour (finely ground blanched and skinless almonds). You can make your own almond meal if you have raw almonds and a food processor. Trader Joe’s also sells it pretty cheap ($3.99 / lb). As for the blanched almond flour, I just buy that! I have tried this recipe with just almond meal and with just almond flour as well as other combinations and it didn’t have the crunch.
- You can make this with all legs, thighs, breasts or any combo of the above. But if you go with a whole chicken, make sure to ask the butcher to remove the skin and cut it into 8 pieces (2 breasts, 2 thighs, 2 legs, and 2 wings). This is a major time saver!
More Gluten-Free Chicken Recipes:
Did you make this recipe? Please give it a star rating below!
Paleo Fried Chicken is the gluten-free answer to crispy oven fried chicken! Made with an almond flour and almond meal base for the perfect texture!
- 4 to 5 pound whole chicken cut up into 8 pieces, skin removed
- 1.5 cups almond meal
- 3/4 cup blanched almond flour
- 1.5 Tablespoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1.5 teaspoons paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 large eggs beaten
- 1/8 cup plain unsweetened non-dairy milk
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Place an oven rack in the upper third position (second one from the top). Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with tin foil and placing the cooking rack on top. Use the olive oil sprayer to generously coat the cooking rack.
-
Mix the almond meal and almond flour in a bowl. Use a fork to sift through and break up any clumps.
Add salt, pepper, cayenne, paprika, oregano and garlic powder to flour and use fork to mix thoroughly.
-
In a separate bowl (flat enough to dip each piece of chicken in) beat the eggs with the almond milk.
-
Grab a small baking sheet or plate. You are going to use this to coat the chicken instead of dipping in the almond flour.
You are doing this for two main reasons - almond flour tends to absorb moisture and get crumbly which you desperately want to avoid so you can get a good crumb and because you only need about 3/4 of the almond mixture and we don't want to contaminate it all with raw chicken. You should have your small tray or plate, skinless, bone-in chicken, almond flour mixture with spices, beaten eggs and olive oil mister set to the side.
-
Use a spoon to spread some of the almond flour on the bottom of the tray.
-
Dip a piece of chicken in the egg until well coated.
-
Place on tray and use the spoon to dump some of the flour mixture on top of the chicken. Pat the flour mixture onto the chicken until all sides are coated and place on the cooking rack.
-
Repeat until all of the chicken is evenly coated and on the cooking rack. Make sure to leave space around each piece of chicken. Finally, use the olive oil sprayer to give each piece of chicken a nice coating (it should shine or appear misted).
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Bake for 1 hour, 10 min. Remove from oven and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes. Enjoy!
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NOTE that I had about 1/4 cup flour mixture leftover on the tray that was contaminated by the raw chicken so I threw it away. Same thing for the egg - trash it.
If you were careful and used a spoon to scoop the flour mixture from the mixing bowl and have any leftover (I had 1 cup), store in an airtight glass jar and save for the next batch!
- I very rarely tell you to buy stuff just to make a dish but if you are serious about oven-fried chicken, you need an elevated baking tray (they are called cooling racks) so the bottom can get crispy instead of soggy.
- If you want to avoid non-stick cooking sprays, get an olive oil mister. The spray of olive oil before going into the oven is crucial for crispy-success!
- I used a combination of almond meal (ground raw almonds with their skins on) and blanched almond flour (finely ground blanched and skinless almonds). You can make your own almond meal if you have raw almonds and a food processor. Trader Joe's also sells it pretty cheap ($3.99 / lb). As for the blanched almond flour, I just buy that! I have tried this recipe with just almond meal and with just almond flour as well as other combinations and it didn't have the crunch.
- You can make this with all legs, thighs, breasts or any combo of the above. But if you go with a whole chicken, make sure to ask the butcher to remove the skin and cut it into 8 pieces (2 breasts, 2 thighs, 2 legs, and 2 wings). This is a major time saver!
- Please NOTE that the nutrition info contains EVERY single ingredient in full - meaning that it accounts for all of the breading and oil even though not all of it is used in the recipe as well as the chicken skin.Â
Did you make this recipe? Tag @EverydayMaven on Instagram with the hashtag #EveryDayMaven and please give a star rating below.
UPDATE NOTES: This Paleo Fried Chicken recipe was originally published in May 2013 and was updated in September 2020 with step-by-step instruction photos and more helpful recipe information.
Jeremie says
Yes it is the Red Mill blend. It still tasted great, but next time I will try to find the Almond meal to add. I guess if I had the Almond meal and the olive mister the chicken would’ve came out crispier. Overall I thought it was great and my wife loved it. We normally don’t eat fried chicken and this was our 2nd day of Paleo so this recipe blew our minds. Every bite I felt like I was eating real fried chicken! Cant wait to try more of your recipes.
EverydayMaven says
If you live near a Trader Joe’s, they sell almond meal for $4.99 / lb. If not, you can make it yourself with some raw almonds in the food processor! Just don’t process so long it becomes almond butter. Glad you loved the chicken and have a great weekend! 🙂
Cynthia Edmondson-Whetstone says
Yes it is Bob’ Mill Almond Meal/Flour
EverydayMaven says
Cynthia – that is almond flour. I hate that it says “meal” b/c it’s not. Almond Meal has the skins on. I love BRM but I wish they would change the product name b/c it is very confusing! I hope it came out good 🙂
Jackie says
Our Whole Foods (Ann Arbor) sells almond flour in bulk, which I discovered when they didn’t have the BRM that I was looking for.
Jeremie says
Unfortunately I don’t have an olive mister on hand. I sprinkled some olive oil lightly on the chicken. Crossing my fingers and hoping to get some crispness. Smells amazing can’t wait for it to finish. Is there a difference in measurement if I’m using the almond meal flour blend?
EverydayMaven says
Hi Jeremie – how did it come out? What is almond meal flour blend? Are you talking about Bob’s Red Mill that says “Almond Meal / Flour”?
gloworm says
www. hi Mav your oven -fried- chicken sounds like “The One! and Thank You for doing the points plus. I have all of the equiptment , because I’ve been trying to fine the right recipt. I’m doing the chicken this week end!! I ordered my cooking racks from Amazon so i’m ready!! Like you said “. You must have the racks!!
EverydayMaven says
Enjoy it Gloria – hope you love it as much as we do!
Cynthia Edmondson-Whetstone says
Can you use almond Meal/Flour for this recipe? We are new to paleo and being from Georgia, we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE good fried chicken. What self respecting southerner wouldn’t? My question is because I see different amounts of almond meal and almond flour but I found a blend of almond meal/flour.
EverydayMaven says
Hi Cynthia,
Is it by any chance Bob’s Red Mill Brand Almond Flour/Meal?
Teri says
FINALLY! A gluten free ‘fried’ chicken that tastes amazing! I love the crunch and the flavors have the perfect level of heat. I made it twice – once ‘as is’ and one time I didn’t have almond flour so I subbed non-GMO corn flake crumbs. I know, I know, not Paleo, but I’m primarily GF and sometimes you just gotta make substitutions instead of running to the store!
EverydayMaven says
Hi Teri! So glad to hear it worked out for you and you all loved it!! No judgement from me. I am not 100% Paleo or anything else for that matter (most people aren’t!) and everyone’s body is different. My thing is make the best choices you can and buy the best quality ingredients! 🙂
Jan Marie says
Yes, it was the coconut oil spray from Trader Joe’s. It went really well with the coating!
Jan Marie says
My husband and I made this tonight and I’ve got to say it is some of the best “fried” chicken I’ve ever had. The only substitution we made was using coconut oil spray (only oil spray we had on hand). It was perfect and it felt good to eat it! I feel great right now too. We have set aside the extra coating for our next batch because we will be definitely making this again. Thank you for this healthy and tasty recipe.
EverydayMaven says
Hi Jan Marie! Is it that coconut oil spray from Trader Joe’s by any chance? So glad you guys loved it!! 🙂
Sara says
Just made this last night – this is delicious! Definitely will be making this again.
EverydayMaven says
Thanks for letting me know Sara – so glad you like it 🙂