Little Chompers – Celeb recipes tested

Introducing Little Chompers! A new series where we test out celebrity recipes – are they busy mum friendly, and most importantly, will your children actually eat it?

First up is my favourite, Tom Kerridge, and we are testing out his version of KFC – Lighter Southern Fried Chicken. It promises a lot, juicy chicken thighs with a crispy coating that’s just as tasty as your favourite fried fast food chicken. The concept behind the chef’s new book and series is that you can lose weight for good by reducing your daily calories, but that doesn’t mean that you need to compromise on flavour.

The Recipe

The recipe is a two step affair, with an overnight marinade and then preparing and oven baking the chicken (plus preparing any sides). The marinade is really easy, it’s buttermilk with a variety of flavourings added. You do need to make sure that your kitchen cupboards are fairly well stocked though, there were a couple of things I didn’t have already (onion powder and garlic salt). You mix the flavourings into the buttermilk, pour over the chicken and then stick in the fridge overnight.

The next day you can make the crispy coating, which is just plain flour with more different flavourings added in. It does get a bit messy with the chicken dipping, so try to only use one hand for handling the chicken and then you’ve got the other free for sprinkling on more flour. When you have coated your chicken, lay it on greaseproof paper on a baking tray. You will definitely need the greaseproof paper as it does get very messy in the oven!

You then spray the chicken with spray oil and stick in the oven at it’s highest temperature for 20-30 minutes. In the original recipe, the accompaniment is potato salad made with low fat yoghurt and mayonaise. The total calories for three chicken thighs plus a portion of potato salad is only 509kcal.

When I made the chicken, it was for a lunch so I skipped the potato salad and just had green salad on the side. My husband cheated a bit and had his chicken in a baguette, for a full on KFC experience! My two year old daughter had hers with skinny chips, but she’s allowed!

The Verdict

Both my husband and I really enjoyed the taste of the chicken, it did live up to the description and would definitely be something we made again (especially now we have all the extra flavourings in the cupboard!). My daughter was less convinced, she preferred the chicken without the crispy coating (as the coating fell off when I cut it into pieces) but happily ate it up. My son also enjoyed the coating-less chicken cold for his tea after school (as did my daughter who ate even more of it). I would cook the marinaded chicken for the children again.

Thumbs up to the recipe for ease and thumbs up from the grown ups for taste.