Fooled: I Never Unlocked the Magic of Crispy Skin

Fooled: I Never Unlocked the Magic of Crispy Skin

Jun 17, 2023

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I was looking forward to cooking chicken on a skillet that had a different flavor profile than what I had made last month. Previously, I was pleasantly surprised by the lightly crispy skin. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the case this time.

Below are some links to more details, including photos:

My Story
Inspiring Recipe
- First Try
- Second Try
Continuous Improvement
Lesson for Dumber Self
Next Step for You

My Story

After making the Dongbei-style braised chicken thighs last time, my younger son had suggested serving chicken with crispy skin, which I interpreted as him wanting chicken with crispier skin. Since I had some chicken drumsticks to cook, I explored the internet for a recipe for this challenge.

Inspiring Recipe

After my search, I found Crispy Cast Iron Chicken from the blog, Health Starts in the Kitchen, to be promising.

First Try

For my first attempt, I was able to gather the same base ingredients from my kitchen that were listed on the recipe.

Ingredients to Use

Since I started with 3.21 pounds of chicken drumsticks, I thought I’d begin with making 1/3 of the amount called for in the spicy version of the Homemade Seasoned Salt recipe. What I used from the cabinet was as follows:

1 tablespoon of organic granulated garlic (instead of garlic powder)
1 tablespoon of organic chopped onions (instead of onion powder)
1 tablespoon of regular sea salt (instead of Celtic sea salt)
2/3 teaspoon of organic paprika
2/3 teaspoon of finely ground non-organic black pepper (instead of the organic version)
1/3 teaspoon of organic crushed red pepper

Black pepper, chopped onion, sea salt, avocado oil, paprika, granulated garlic, chicken, and crushed red pepper

Steps to Prepare

For the majority of the steps in the recipes, I followed them as written. The biggest difference was that I mixed the seasoning in a bag and just threw the chicken in to coat since I didn’t have any empty shakers.

Regarding the main recipe, below are additional details to what I did:

Step 1 – I chilled the drumsticks for about 4 hours because I started the process right after lunch.
Step 4 – To brown a batch of chicken, I set the timer for 2 minutes for each of the 4 sides.
Step 5 – As for baking, I used a foil-lined baking pan since I had more meat than would fit in my skillet. After 40 minutes in the oven, I took the pan out even though the drumsticks weren’t crispy yet as I didn’t want to overcook them.
Step 6 – Before transferring the chicken pieces to the serving plate, I rested them for about 10 minutes.

Homemade seasoned salt in a clear plastic bag — Homemade seasoned salt

Plastic bag of chicken drumsticks coated in homemade seasoned salt — Chicken drumsticks coated in homemade seasoned salt

Browning chicken drumsticks in a skillet — Browning chicken drumsticks

Browned chicken drumsticks in a foil-lined baking pan

Baked chicken drumsticks from the oven in a foil-lined baking pan — Baked chicken drumsticks from the oven

Time to Eat

I was curious to find out how the dried chopped onions would make the dish taste because I had never cooked with this spice before.

Baked chicken drumsticks on a white plate — Baked chicken drumsticks

Recipe Rating

Below were the results of the recipe after the first try:

# of Ingredients	Effort	$ / Serving	Try Again?
8

The chicken drumsticks were tender, but as noted before, the skin was not crispy. Also, I was afraid that the salt content was too much, but it turned out okay. Lastly, the dried chopped onion bits and pepper flakes really shone through, reminding me partially of potato chips flavored with sour cream and onions!