Thursday, February 11, 2010

Breading for baked chicken fingers

I know that i just posted about how I typically buy a whole chicken and chop it up myself, and I do!  Today I was in Wegmans and I always walk by the meats to see what has been priced to sell immediately because the sell by date is nearby!  I found a 8lb roaster chicken for $2.11!!  It will be just fine when I defrost it for a future meal.  Remember that when you are shopping for meat, if the sell by date is nearby, the meat will still be fine if you stick it in the freezer and use it at another date.

Getting back on track, i do sometimes purchase chicken tenderloins, which can be cheaper because they can be cut from scraps and such, and yes sometimes i'm lazy too!

Breading things typically calls for flour, egg, breading, and that is fine and dandy, but often a mess and incredibly unhealthy depending on how you do it.  When baking breaded items, it can also be difficult to achieve a good level of crispness too.  This method of making baked chicken fingers only calls for the chicken tenders to be coated in vegetable oil before breading, much easier on the busy cook.

1 lb Chicken tenderloins or chicken breasts cut into strips
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups panko
1/4 cup parmesan cheese (i used the shaker that we have in the house for pasta night, it works)
2 tsp dried oregano, crumbled
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

combine chicken and oil in a bowl and mix around to evenly coat chicken.  Combine remaining ingredients in a large zip lock bag, shake to mix.  Add a few chicken pieces at a time and shake to coat, like shake and bake!  lay out on a cookie sheet.  repeat.

Place in a preheated 400°F oven for 10 minutes, then flip chicken and return to oven for an additional 5-10 minutes or until cooked through.  don't overcook though, there is nothing worse than dry chicken.

serve with your favorite dipping sauce!  I like honey mustard myself made from 2 parts honey, 2 parts dijon mustard and 2 parts vegetable oil.  I found that combo online somewhere and it is awesome!

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