Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Coconut Crusted Baked Chicken Strips {gluten free}























I remember when I was in college I thought grabbing some chicken fingers at Wendy's was a healthier choice than grabbing a cheeseburger, I mean no bread right? Wrong, duh me. I'm not going to lie, I still love a good, crispy chicken nugget but avoid the drive through like crazy nowadays. It's a good thing, a very, very good thing that home made chicken nuggets happen to be one of the very easiest things you can make. Yippee!







Anyone can make these even if you don't like to cook or it's not really your thing. This is one of my "go to" weeknight simple dinners. I'm bored to death with plain baked chicken not to mention the whole humane issue with eating cooped up chickens. Of course eating Organic & cage free chicken gets pricey when feeding a family of 6 so we don't have it very often.




These would be a perfect appetizer at a party!





When we do I make sure it's gonna be tasty and serve it up with lots of fruits and veggies. In this case, an amazingly sweet and creamy mango yogurt dipping sauce! I could have eaten it by the spoonful. Not ashamed.



One of my nutty kids doesn't like coconut (the shame) but the rest of us loved these sweet and crunchy chicken tenders and were more than happy to swipe Jack's chicken nuggets right of his plate. Ya gotta be quick around this joint when it comes to protecting your food and making sure you get the very last chicken nugget from the pan.






6-8 pieces chicken tenderloins (preferably Organic free range)
11/2 cups almond or other nut flour 
1 1/2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
4 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons milk (dairy free if possible)
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon oil for coating pan 

2 ripe mango's + 1/2 cup yogurt = mango dipping sauce

peel mango and slice fruit away from pit. Discard pit, place fruit into blender or food processor. Add yogurt, blend.


Preheat oven to 400F
Arrange 3 deep plates on counter. Add flour to one,  beaten eggs to the second and coconut to the third.
Working one at a time, place chicken tenders into flour and dredge on both sides to coat. Using your other hand, dip coated chicken into egg to coat. Next, lay chicken in coconut and dredge to coat, flip, coat other side.
Place on a lightly oiled pan or one lined with parchment. 
Continue to do this to remaining chicken. 
TIP 
 Only put half of the flour and half of the coconut onto plates as they will become gooey.
Half way through your chicken, quickly rinse off plates if needed and dry.
 Add remaining flour to one plate and remaining coconut to the other. 
Cook at 400F for 4-5 minutes. Using tongs, carefully flip the chicken pieces over. 
Cook an additional 5-6 minutes until golden brown.
Don't over cook chicken as it will become dry and taste like cardboard.





Enjoy!






Do you cook less when the weather gets warmer? 
What is your favorite warm weather dish?








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