If you want the BEST oven-baked crispy chicken then this recipe is for you! It's just 5 ingredients. Ritz crackers, chicken, sour cream, butter, and spices. You can even make chicken tenders and air fry them for a quick tasty dinner.
Simple Ingredients
- CHICKEN - Any kind will do. I used chicken breast but you can use chicken thighs, chicken legs or even wings.
- SOUR CREAM - This is our binding agent. This is how we'll make crispy breading stick to our chicken without eggs. If you're out of eggs but still craving crispy baked chicken then use sour cream. You will not taste it so it's fine for picky eaters.
- RITZ CRACKERS - Any buttery round crackers will do. Crush the crackers into mostly small pieces but mix a few larger cracker pieces in too.
- SALT & PEPPER - Add salt and pepper or your favorite spice blend to the chicken!
- BUTTER - I've made this dish with butter and without butter. It's out of this world with butter. You can skip the butter if needed but I highly recommend the top drizzled of butter before baking. The butter transforms the dish!!
Butter is the secret!
This chicken will knock your socks of because the butter. When butter browns in the oven your whole kitchen will transform. What you smell while it cooks will prepare you for how much flavor you will taste once dinner is ready.
I melted butter and then used a pastry brush to paint the top of the chicken. Most people just drizzle butter across the top so you can do that if you don't own a brush. But the magic of painting the butter across the top is that every inch of crispy ritz crackers gets kissed with the magical butter taste.
While butter is the secret ingredient to creating such a heavenly flavor too much of it can make the crackers soggy.
The best way to get all of the flavors and keep the glorious crunch is to paint melted butter along the top of each piece of chicken.
I made this recipe once and forgot the butter. I will never make that mistake again.
BUTTER. IS. EVERYTHING.
Bake or Air Fry
Did you know you can easily air fry this baked chicken dish?! Air frying is great when you're making a small batch for 1-2 people.
Baking heavenly chicken is ideal when you're feeding several people and need multiple pieces of chicken for dinner.
Because I typically buy giant packs of chicken breast with huge pieces in them (11 ounces a piece!) I find baking them on a large baking sheet perfect for meal prep.
BAKE TIME - Large pieces of chicken (9-14 oz each) take about 35 minutes in the oven.
Small pieces of chicken (5-8 oz each) can take 25 minutes. Oven at 400 degrees.
AIR FRYER TIME - Large pieces of chicken (9-14 oz each) take about 20 - 28 minutes in the oven.
Small pieces of chicken (5-8 oz each) can take 15-20 minutes. Air fryer at 400 degrees.
Buy and use a meat thermometer!! They're like $10 on amazon and you'll never have dry chicken again. Just cook your chicken until the internal temperature is 165 degrees.
Heavenly Chicken Tenders
You can slice your chicken breast into tenders and have buttery crispy baked chicken tenders. I made GIANT chicken tenders. SO GOOD!
Heavenly Chicken Sandwich
This sandwich was so filling and delicious. This is a great way to enjoy any leftovers. Reheat your chicken and stack it high on a bun with all the toppings. I drizzled mine in honey mustard. Next time I will make a creamy buffalo sauce.
How many crackers do I need to bread chicken?
I know that every time I see a recipe like this I wonder, "How many sleeves of crackers should I crush up?" & "Did I buy enough sour cream?!!".
I used giant chicken breast for this recipe. Each chicken breast used approximately 1 ounce of crackers (the amount that stuck to the coating) and about 1-2 ounces of sour cream. But have extra on hand just in case!
I crushed two sleeves of crackers (about 8oz) and used ¾th of a 16oz tub of sour cream. There were plenty of cracker crumbs that went into the trash so two sleeves were more than enough crackers for 5 giant pieces of chicken.
I'd highly recommend scooping the sour cream into a separate bowl so that you don't contaminate the whole sour cream container with raw chicken. You'll likely have a little sour cream leftover so don't let it go to waste!
Need More Recipes?
- Easy Stewed Potatoes
- The Greatest Ham Gravy
- Yummy Venison Meatloaf
- Sausage Balls with Flour
- Amazing Creamed Peas
Heavenly Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 Pieces Chicken breast, thighs, anything
- Salt & Pepper or favorite spice blend
- 8 oz Sour Cream
- 1.5 Sleeves Ritz Crackers 6 ounces, crushed
- 4 Tbsp Butter melted
Instructions
- Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper or your favorite spice blend.
- Pound chicken so that they're all about the same width on each side.
- With a pastry brush or a spoon, coat both sides of the chicken with sour cream.
- Crush crackers into mostly fine pieces.
- Coat both sides of the chicken in crackers. Push chicken into the crackers to ensure every inch is coated well.
- With a pastry brush (or simply drizzle) add a medium coat of melted butter over the top of each piece of chicken. Don't go skippy since this will create a heavenly flavor but don't go too heavy because it will make the breading soggy.
- Bake chicken at 400 degrees for 25-35 minutes depending on how thick they are. They're done when the internal temperature is 165 degrees. Air fry for 18-28 minutes depending on the size.
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