Garlic, egg, parmesan and parsley make the crunchy coat on Delia Smith’s parmesan chicken, eight joints baked in butter and olive oil at 180°C. The chicken soaks in the garlic and egg for a good 4 hours beforehand, and it feeds 4, hot from the oven or cold on a picnic.
Her first version sits in the barbecue and outdoor food chapter of the Summer Collection (1993), with a 1.75kg bird and 3 medium eggs. The Delia Collection: Chicken (2003) trimmed it to a 1.6kg chicken and 2 large eggs, and the card follows that later version.
She wrote it as picnic food, because small joints travel well and need no knives and forks once you get there. Once they’re cold, she wraps each piece in foil to carry.
Out of the oven the crumbs are golden and crunchy, with the garlic and egg underneath keeping the meat moist and the parmesan giving it a salty edge.
Delia Smith’s Oven-baked Chicken with Garlic and Parmesan
Chicken joints soaked in crushed garlic and egg, rolled in parmesan and parsley crumbs and baked in butter and oil until crisp.
4
servings20
minutes45
minutes830
kcalIngredients
- For the chicken:
1 chicken of 1.6kg (3lb 8oz), jointed into 8 pieces, or 8 thigh and leg portions
4 large cloves garlic
2 large eggs
sea salt and freshly milled black pepper
- For the coating:
50g (2oz) fresh breadcrumbs
40g (1½oz) Parmesan, grated
2 heaped tablespoons finely chopped parsley
50g (2oz) butter
4 tablespoons olive oil
Directions
- Marinate: Lay the joints in a shallow dish in one layer. Crush the garlic to a purée with 1 heaped teaspoon of sea salt in a pestle and mortar, whisk it into the eggs with some pepper and pour it over. Cover and chill for at least 4 hours, turning the pieces halfway.
- Heat the oven: Heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan), gas mark 4, with the butter and oil in a shallow roasting tin big enough to hold the chicken in one layer.
- Crumbs: Mix the breadcrumbs, Parmesan, parsley and a little seasoning on a plate, and spread some kitchen paper out nearby.
- Coat: Press each piece into the crumbs one at a time, patting the coating on all over without wiping off the garlic and egg, and set it on the paper.
- Bake: Lift the hot tin out, add the chicken and baste it, then bake on a high shelf for 20 minutes. Turn the pieces and give them 20 minutes more.
- Finish: Pour off the excess fat and bake for a final 5 minutes, then drain the pieces on more kitchen paper.
- Serve: Eat it hot, or let it cool and wrap each piece in foil for a picnic.
Notes
- The joints sit in raw egg for hours, so in warm weather keep them in the fridge rather than just a cool corner of the kitchen, which is my own rule.
- At the end of the baking, check the biggest thigh by the bone. There should be no pink at all, and 75°C on a probe is my own extra check.
FAQs
Can you freeze parmesan chicken?
Yes, cooked. Her books don’t mention freezing it, so the advice here is mine. Once the pieces are completely cold, wrap them one by one as she does for a picnic and freeze them for up to a month.
Thaw them overnight in the fridge. They’re good cold, or reheat them on a tray at 180°C for about 20 minutes until piping hot, though the crumbs won’t be quite as crisp.
Should I serve it hot or cold?
Either. The 2003 book treats it as picnic food, cooled and wrapped in foil, while her earlier note in the Summer Collection recommends it hot at home too, with slices of lightly sautéed banana as a garnish.
Which chicken pieces work best?
Thighs and drumsticks, which is what she suggests if you don’t joint a whole bird. Halved breasts on the bone work as well, my own swap, but check the thickest piece after the full 45 minutes.
For a whole platter of drumsticks with a sticky glaze instead, her bbq chicken coats 18 of them in an apricot sauce.
How do I make it for a party?
She already has. Her summer buffet party for 18 in the Summer Collection serves it as a main course beside salmon steaks, a savoury fetta cheesecake and her pesto rice salad recipe, made three times over.
For that many people I’d double the card and bake it in two tins, swapping the shelves halfway, which is my own advice.
What’s her version without parmesan?
Her Complete Cookery Course has a cousin, Fried Mustard-and-Herb-Coated Chicken, written to liven up packs of drumsticks and thighs.
The skins come off, and the joints are dipped in Dijon and English mustard with egg yolks and cream, then rolled in herby crumbs. After 3 to 4 hours in the fridge they’re fried for about 20 minutes, and she rates them as picnic food too.
