If you look for a recipe online for breaded chicken, you’ll find hundreds. I usually don’t like to add to the mix when there are so many great options to choose from already…but I can’t find a recipe that reflects exactly how I do it.
How do I do it? Well, I mix real culinary science with the mom-instinct to simplify and not use every dish in the kitchen. Like always.
The culinary science part is allowing the chicken to sit after breading it for an hour, but longer is ok, too. This allows the moisture of the chicken to be fully absorbed by the breadcrumbs and adhere much better…no more coating breaking off and floating away in the oil while frying. The bonus to this step is that is requires no extra work on your part. Just prepare the chicken before you need it and let it do it’s thing, alone in the fridge, while you do your thing. Or, things, because since when is a to-do list one item long?
The save-your-dishes part is that I only do egg and breadcrumbs. I don’t coat in flour first. This is partly because it saves time and another bowl, and partly because I have a kiddo who can’t eat flour. I can’t tell the difference in the final product at all.
(“But wait,” you may be asking. “Don’t breadcrumbs have flour and gluten?” They do, but I make my own breadcrumbs using sourdough bread. My son, who breaks out in hives if he even touches raw flour, can eat sourdough products just fine, because of the way the fermentation process affects the digestibility of the food. This isn’t the case for people with Celiac disease, but it can be true if the reaction is a sensitivity. Cool, right??)
Breaded Chicken
Ingredients-
- 4 Chicken breasts
- Breadcrumbs
- 2 eggs
- Avocado oil
- Salt and pepper
Directions-
- Cut your chicken breasts by slicing in half through the center of the chicken, so you have breasts that are half the original thickness (this will help them to cook through without getting burned).
- Lay the halved breasts out on a large baking sheet or cutting board and salt and pepper both sides.
- In a dish large enough to hold a piece of chicken, vigorously whisk together two eggs.
- Pour some breadcrumbs into another, similar dish.
- Dip the breast pieces individually in the egg, and then into the breadcrumbs. Coat the chicken all over with the breadcrumbs. I find it best to use one hand for dipping in egg, and the other hand for dipping in breadcrumbs.
- Once covered in breadcrumbs, place the chicken in a baking dish to set. The chicken pieces can be stacked in the baking dish.
- Coat all the chicken pieces.
- Place the baking dish in the refrigerator and let it sit for at least one hour.
- Preheat a deep skillet on medium-low.. Add enough oil to fill the bottom of the pan about ½ inch and allow the oil to heat through (it will be shimmery). Turn the heat up to medium.
- Fry the chicken pieces in the hot oil, about 5-10 minutes per side, depending on the thickness. If the chicken is browning too quickly, you can adjust the temperature to a lower setting. The final internal temperature of the chicken should be 165º F. Fry in batches so as not to overcrowd the pan.
- Set the chicken on a cooling rack (I like to place one on a baking sheet to catch the drips) while you cook the remaining chicken.
- Serve immediately.
Notes-
- I love to bread extra chicken to keep in the freezer for an easy meal in the future! Simply follow the directions up to the frying step. Instead, once the breaded chicken has sat and set for about an hour, lay in a single layer on a parchment lined baking sheet and place in the freezer until solid Store in a sealed plastic bag until needed. You can cook them from frozen, either by frying or baking. I have noticed that, when frozen, they result in quite a bit of popping oil when frying, so I like to keep the pan on medium-low when I add the chicken. Once it has cooked for a bit, I turn the pan up to finish cooking it. You can also bake in a 425° F oven for 20 minutes, flip, and bake for another 10 (or until golden brown and an internal temperature of 165º F).
Our favorite ways to eat breaded chicken are….all the ways. On a salad. With a salad. With some veggies and fruit. With some roasted potatoes. The other day, I had a pile of leftover pancakes in the fridge and I thought, you know, breaded chicken is fried, so it’s basically fried chicken. And you eat pancakes the same way you eat waffles. Chicken and waffles is a thing, right? Why not chicken and pancakes? The results were nothing short of stunning. Am I saying you HAVE to go make this chicken right away and serve it with pancakes, butter, and syrup? No. Should you? Absolutely.