Moms Fried Baked Chicken And Milk Gravy Recipe

How to make it

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• Combine flour and seasonings in a plastic bag.
• Place a couple pieces of chicken in the bag; seal bag shut and shake to coat chicken with flour. Continue this process until all chicken pieces are coated.
• Heat enough oil in the bottom of a frying pan to cover the bottom and maybe 1/8” in the bottom – you do not need the chicken to be floating in oil for this.
• Fry chicken until first side is nicely browned; flip pieces and fry on other side until browned. You do not want to cook the chicken until done at this time – it will finish baking in the oven, so you just are going for a nice brown color. It is best to NOT use a non-stick pan for frying chicken, if you want all the “crusties” that stick to the bottom of the pan that make the gravy so flavorful!
• When chicken pieces are browned enough, place the pieces in the Dutch oven, putting the larger pieces such as the breasts, on the bottom, and the smaller pieces on top, being careful not to “overcrowd” the pan – you don’t want solid layers of chicken…each piece should be able to “breath” a bit.
• Deglaze the frying pan by adding ½ cup chicken stock to the pan and using a spatula to scrape up all the browned pieces of chicken and seasonings that are in the bottom of the pan; pour this deglazed stock mixture down the side of the Dutch oven – don’t pour it over the tops of the chicken, making it soggy. The liquid is to act more as a steaming broth for the chicken as it bakes, keeping it moist and tender.
• Cover the chicken loosely with a piece of foil pressed down on top of it.
• Place the cover on the Dutch oven.
• Bake at 300 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour, depending on how large your chicken pieces are, and how much chicken is in the Dutch oven…the more crowded the chicken, the longer you will need to bake it.
• At the end of the 45 to 60 minutes, check the pieces to see if the meat is falling off the bone yet.
• If not, bake another 10 minutes and check it again. When the chicken meat is falling away from the bone, increase oven heat to 325, remove foil and lid, and bake for 10 minutes.
• Remove chicken to platter, and make milk gravy.
• Milk Gravy:
• Place the Dutch oven over a burner on medium-low to medium heat and add 1 cup of saved water from the potatoes that were boiled for the mashed potatoes.
• Stir in 2 cups whole milk.
• Seasoning depends on how much flavor is in the broth in the Dutch oven, so you will need to taste it with the potato water and milk added, and then season with salt and pepper and chicken base to your taste (chicken base is much saltier than bouillon, so you will want to use it sparingly).
• Depending on how much broth you had in the Dutch oven after baking, thicken the gravy with an appropriate amount of flour and butter (or you can use flour and water if you prefer – we just like the richness of the butter).
• Mix about 6 tablespoons of flour with 4 tablespoons butter or water; stir it into the milk gravy and stir to thicken – you want to bring the gravy to a gentle boil to complete the thickening. If it does not thicken enough to your liking, mix up a couple more tablespoons of flour with some butter or water and add that to the gravy again; bring to a gentle boil and see if the gravy is thick enough yet (it should be). If the gravy becomes too thick, thin it with a bit of chicken stock or, if you have no stock, then use some water mixed with just a bit of chicken base to thin it with.
• Serve over the chicken and mashed potatoes…lick your plate…