Chicken with a Crunch

This week, I thought I would let you guys in on a secret: the recipe behind my favorite breaded chicken. It's super tasty, easy to make and has the perfect amount of crunch that your dinner guests will request again and again.

My dad even likes this recipe, and he doesn't like chicken much at all. 

I learned to make this dish by watching my Aunt Jean in the kitchen when I was younger, and my grandma and I have made it countless times for family reunions.

I like making it when I have an hour to wait around and relish in the decadent aromas.

The best thing about this recipe is: there is no set recipe. You can adjust the amount of ingredients you need based on the amount of chicken you need to serve.

Here's what you'll need.

Ingredients: 
Chicken breast (I prefer tenders.)
Cornflakes
Potato Chips (I use the original flavor of Lays.)
Vegetable/olive oil
Pan large enough for the amount of chicken you need to bake.

Now, you'll all have to understand that I will go to great lengths to avoid a mess, and even greater lengths to avoid washing dishes. This means that I almost always line my pans with parchment paper (for baking desserts) or aluminum foil (for baking chicken, pork, etc.) Try it out. I guarantee you'll be impressed with the easy clean up.

Here we go! Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line your pan with aluminum foil. It doesn't matter what size pan you use, just make sure it's big enough for the amount of chicken you need to prepare.

Place a few handfuls of Cornflakes in a Ziploc bag and seal it. Crumple the bag between your fingers to pulverize the cereal into tiny pieces. When you have a bag full of crumbs, pour them into a small bowl.

Then, repeat this process with the chips.

After you've added the chip crumbs to the Cornflake crumbs, mix them together.

Pour some of this mixture into the bottom of your pan so the bottoms of the tenders will be properly breaded.

Grab another bowl and pour about a half an inch of oil into the bottom.

Dip breasts in oil, then the crumb mixture.

Take a piece of chicken and dip it into the oil. When it is thoroughly coated, drop it in the bowl with your Cornflake/chip mix. The mix will, for the most part, stick to the chicken.

Arrange neatly in a baking dish.

Nest the chicken pieces into your pan so they will bake evenly, and pour another layer of the Cornflake/chip mix on the very top.
*This picture doesn't have the aforementioned top layer.

Stick it in the oven for 45-60 minutes. Just keep an eye on it and when the top layer is a crisp golden brown, cut into one of the pieces to ensure the inside is no longer pink. Here's some tips for knowing when it's done.

Crispy, crunchy and tasty.

I like to serve mine fresh from the oven with scalloped or roasted potatoes and a vegetable side dish.

Try it out, mix it up and most importantly, enjoy!

My Tips:

When I'm gathering ingredients at the grocery store, I like choosing the chicken tenders over any other cut. They are the easiest to work with and they bake the quickest. Plus, you can fit quite a few tenders in a decent sized pan and each guest can have two or three pieces.

I'm thinking about using Doritos or Cool Ranch Doritos to switch up the flavor next time. I'd also like to add some different kinds of shredded cheese to really kick up the tastiness.

If you don't feel like mixing your own breading ingredients, there is a wonderful product in your cheese aisle at the grocery store called "Kraft Fresh Take" and it is available in flavors including cheddar jack and bacon, Southwest three cheese, roasted garlic and rosemary, and Italian Parmesan.

I've tried the cheddar jack and bacon, and it really is simple to make and definitely enticing.