Far and away one of the most viewed post on this site is the recipe for oven fried chicken. It seems to make the rounds from time to time on Pinterest, which surprises me because the pictures really aren’t good at all (early days of this site right there). I also feel bad about the fact that this post is so popular sometimes because it feels a little bit misleading. While it is “oven fried chicken” it is not “100% baked in the oven” because you do fry it the regular way first and then finish it in the oven. This is, of course, still healthier than completely frying the chicken in the oven because it doesn’t have as much time to soak up oil. But to be honest, sometimes I feel a little guilty about this unintentional deception.
This post, this oven fried okra, IS completely 100% done in the oven though, which is so exciting to me. Fried okra is one of my favorite vegetables and always has been ever since I had my first bite of it at Picadilly with my grandmother when I was still small enough to stand up in the restaurant booth. We went to a little restaurant here in Huntsville last week for lunch, one of those classic hole-in-the-wall down-home Southern cooking places, and my order was completely predictable: fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, and fried okra. (Because yes, in the South macaroni and cheese and fried okra are on the vegetable list.)
But frying okra can be so much trouble. It’s delicious, but you have to stand over it as it fries and do it in batches and if you have other things you need to make it can be kind of a hassle. Oven fried okra requires no babysitting though; it only needs slicing and breading and then a quick roast in the oven. And I promise it comes out just as good. And I do not make promises about fried okra lightly.
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Oh I love love love okra! I’ve never thought of preparing it this way. I can’t wait to try it!