Whole30 Day 16: Ollie’s Cracklin’ Chicken

You’re past the halfway point of your January Whole30, so pat yourself on the back, grab your splatter guard, and let’s celebrate by making Ollie’s Cracklin’ Chicken!

If you’ve never heard of Cracklin’ Chicken before, you’ve been missing out, my friend. As I wrote in my latest cookbook, Ready or Not!:

My famous Cracklin’ Chicken is the ultimate go-to dish for lazy but discriminating eaters like me. As anyone who’s tried Cracklin’ Chicken will tell you, these crispy- on-the-outside, tender-and-juicy- on-the-inside chicken thighs are tastier (and better for you) than any other fried chicken you’ve ever stuck inside your face-hole.

Even my super-picky younger son, Ollie, loves this dish—so much that he nagged me incessantly to rename it after him. After you taste Ollie’s Cracklin’ Chicken, I think it’ll become one of your favorite Whole30 recipes, too.

Before you go gallivanting off to the kitchen to fry up a batch, though, I have some tips for you:

• Skin-on chicken thighs are a must for this recipe. If you use breasts, the chicken will turn out dry. And don’t even think about going skinless—after all, Ollie’s Cracklin’ Chicken is all about the crispy, cracklin’ skin! (It’s right there in the name!)

• Yes, you can season Ollie’s Cracklin’ Chicken with plain old kosher salt or whatever Whole30-friendly salt blend you have on hand. But if you want to make this dish the way it was intended, use my Magic Mushroom Powder. You can buy it online at The Spice Lab!

• Speaking of the butcher counter, here’s a little secret: You can ask your friendly neighborhood Whole Foods Market butcher to de-bone the skin-on chicken thighs for you right in the store! How great is that?

• Lastly: Use a splatter guard when frying up Ollie’s Cracklin’ Chicken, or the front of your stove and kitchen floor will be a grease-slicked mess by the time you’re done cooking. Alternatively, if it’s not freezing outside, you can also cook Ollie’s Cracklin’ Chicken in a cast iron skillet on your backyard grill to keep the mess outside. Yes, this recipe is worth the clean-up, but why make extra work for yourself, am I right?

Now, go celebrate the fact that you’re more than halfway done with your Whole30 with a big platter of Ollie’s Cracklin’ Chicken!

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s brand-new Whole30 recipe!

A note to my Nomsters: This is one of a series of daily blog posts I’m writing in the month of January 2018 to help those doing a Whole30 to kick off the New Year. Not sure what the Whole30 is, or want info on how to get started? Read my Whole30 prep post—and then come back to Nom Nom Paleo every single day for recipes to inspire, delight, and sustain you on your Whole30!

And remember: Throughout January 2018, I’m partnering with Whole Foods Market nationwide! In all Whole Foods Market stores, you’ll find my personally curated Nom Nom Paleo Picks on the shelves, a rotating menu of ready-to-eat Nom Nom Paleo dishes in the hot bar, and even my famous Magic Mushroom Powder available for sale!

Looking for more recipe ideas? Head on over to my Recipe Index. You’ll also find exclusive recipes on my iPhone and iPad app, and in my cookbooks, Nom Nom Paleo: Food for Humans (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2013) and Ready or Not! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2017)!