PW’s Crispy Yogurt Chicken
I had some chicken in the freezer that needed to get used up. I’m submitting this for Deep Freeze II. It’s a great blogging event that encourages everyone to look into your freezer and make a meal out of what you find. Most of the ingredients for this meal came from my freezer. I keep garlic, chopped basil and chopped cilantro in the freezer. These are all in the form of store-bought ice-cube-like trays that I found at Trader Joes. They’re a life saver in a pinch and taste just like the real thing. The garlic is so much more fragrant than the jarred stuff (Hubby refuses to use the jarred garlic).
When I mixed up the yogurt mixture it smelled so good I wanted to eat a big dollop on a cracker. I bumped up the garlic as usual. The leftover yogurt would have been perfect for dipping our black-bean sweet-potato fritters into. Unfortunatly, I forgot to set some aside before I started dredging the chicken in the yogurt. Grr. I was so mad!
The chicken I had was boneless skinless breasts. So I cut them into cutlet sizes and went from there. These didn’t turn out that crispy (especially compared to what PW got). I guess you need the skin for that? I’ll definitely make these again with some skin-on chicken. Please excuse the quality of the photo. This was a late dinner for us and all the natural light was gone…
Crispy Yogurt Chicken – from the Pioneer Woman
Chicken legs
2 cups Plain, unflavored yogurt
2-3 garlic cloves
parsley – I used cilantro
juice of 1 lemon
salt
butter
~2 cups Panko bread crumbs
(I rewrote the instructions here, see the PW site for original instructions)
Pour 2 cups yogurt into a bowl. Add the minced garlic and parsley. Mix well. Add the lemon juice and mix to combine.
Rinse and pat the chicken dry. Sprinkle with kosher salt.
In another bowl, place the bread crumbs. Stir in some salt.
Butter a baking dish. With a pair of tongs place the chicken into the yogurt one piece at a time. Turn over to coat thoroughly. Then roll the chicken in the bread crumbs. Cover with crumbs and place in baking dish.
Finally, place a slice of butter over the large part of each chicken piece. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for ~1 hour. Take the foil off for the last 15 minutes. When chicken is golden, remove and enjoy.
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
I love making a bunch of different recipes and having them come together in one awesome meal! This looks so delicious, especially with the heat we’ve been having!
Next time I come over, I insist we either have these delicious looking Gyros or go to the Turkish restaurant you talked about.
Wow, I love that addiction to the stove! Your chicken gyros look super flavorful and like the perfect hot day lunch!
Sues
I love that every aspect of this meal is homemade… yum! What is the name of the Turkish restaurant? I need to check it out :).
I just made something similar and they were great! LOVE the sauce! Thanks!
Can’t wait for you to post the recipe – I am putting it on my menu for next week. 😀
I used to make tzatziki sauce too -until my grocery store started selling it for .99 cents for a 16 ounce container – so cheap!
Hope you have a great weekend!
I love me a traditional, good, lamb gyro- but these look delicious! I might have to break out of my comfort zone 🙂
I love me a traditional, good, lamb gyro- but these look delicious! I might have to break out of my comfort zone 🙂
We definitely have to try these…yum!
Those look delicious, I will have to try those!
Can the pita bread dough be made in advance and kept in the fridge overnight? I want to make these tomorrow for dinner but will not have time for the 90 minute and then 20 minute rise times. Any advice would be great. Thanks!
welcome to the bandwagon! love Elly’s recipe!
Manne – sounds like a plan
Lauren – It’s called Brookline Family Restaurant and it’s on Washington St in Brookline Village. Definitely check it out if you’re in the area.
Sheena – I’m not sure about freezing the pita bread dough. I’m sure it would be fine as other bread doughs can be frozen and used later. Let me know how it goes if you try it!