Paleo Fried Chicken

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.

1. 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.
2. Add spices to flour mixture and use a fork to mix thoroughly.
3. In a separate bowl (flat enough to dip each piece of chicken in) beat the eggs with the almond milk.
4. 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:

Paleo Chicken Pot Pie

Baked Lemon Chicken Breasts

Whole30 Paprika Chicken

Buffalo Chicken Salad

Did you make this recipe? Please give it a star rating below!

Paleo Fried Chicken

Prep Time: 15 mins

Cook Time: 1 hr 10 mins

Total Time: 1 hr 25 mins

 

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!

Course: Mains

Cuisine: American

Keyword: almond flour breaded chicken, crispy baked chicken, gluten free fried chicken recipe, how to make oven fried chicken, keto fried chicken, paleo fried chicken

Servings: 8 servings

Calories: 433 kcal

Author: Alyssa Brantley

5 from 38 votes

Print

Ingredients

• 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

Instructions

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. In a separate bowl (flat enough to dip each piece of chicken in) beat the eggs with the almond milk.

4. 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.

5. Use a spoon to spread some of the almond flour on the bottom of the tray.

6. Dip a piece of chicken in the egg until well coated.

7. 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.

8. 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).

9. Bake for 1 hour, 10 min. Remove from oven and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes. Enjoy!

10. 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!

NOTES:

• 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. 

Nutrition Facts

Paleo Fried Chicken

Amount Per Serving (1 piece)

Calories 433 Calories from Fat 297

% Daily Value*

Fat 33g51%

Saturated Fat 6g38%

Cholesterol 128mg43%

Sodium 1408mg61%

Potassium 232mg7%

Carbohydrates 7g2%

Fiber 4g17%

Sugar 1g1%

Protein 29g58%

Vitamin A 457IU9%

Vitamin C 2mg2%

Calcium 92mg9%

Iron 3mg17%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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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.