Done a million times? Yep.
Pedestrian? Sure.
Is that going to stop me? Nope!
Final Four Chicken Fingers
4 ea chicken thighs, boneless, skinless (can substitute breasts but thighs are so much better)
2 sleeves butter crackers (Ritz, Townhouse, Club, etc. A sleeve is one of the cellophane packages inside of the box, I'd guess about 20 crackers in a sleeve.)
2 TB spices (see note in instructions)
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 TB lime or lemon juice
The spices: Use whatever you want. It could be half/half kosher salt and pepper. A mix of salt, pepper, basil and oregano would be good. Here's my favorite poultry rub recipe. It can be a bought mix, tonight I used Weber's new Kick'n Chicken.
Cut the chicken thighs into thirds to make strips. Season with 1 TB of the spices. Set aside.
Grind crackers with the remaining 1 TB of spices into crumbs in a blender (or put them into a ziplock bag and pulverize them with a rolling pin, rubber mallet, hammer, anvil, whatever).
Melt butter and add lime or lemon juice.
Dip each strip one at a time in butter with one hand and put into a plate of the crumb mixture. Use your other hand to coat the piece and place it on a lightly greased cookie sheet. (Using one hand for the butter dip and one for the crusting lets you do this without getting both hands covered in a gooey swampman looking mixture!)

Bake them at 350f for 45 minutes. Flip them 25 minutes into the cooking. Here's what will help them not get soggy, remove them to a cooling rack over a piece of newspaper.

Don't have a cooking rack? Sure you do, pull out the wire rack from your grill or even a toaster oven! (Can you tell I was once a bachelor and didn't have the proper kitchen tools?)
Let them cool for about 5 minutes and then serve with your favorite dipping sauce. I took blue cheese dressing for mine.

GO 'HEELS!
omg omg you made CHICKEN!!! I love youuuuuu!!!!! HAHAHA Seriously though, you should not call your friends out like that AND I kinda really want that now. : D I'll have to of course have it with breasts cause I just do NOT do thighs. :)
ReplyDeleteOh you don't know what you're talking about. The next layover you have in Knoxville, we are making batches of chicken nuggets out of thighs and breasts without letting you know which is which. I bet money you like the thigh meat better.
ReplyDeleteBelieve me, I always THOUGHT I was a white meat guy until I tried the boneless thighs a few years ago. They are way better, juicier, and flavorful!
Reading your blog is getting me fat....and at 50 and single, I can't afford that!
ReplyDeleteOh man, I'll take that heart attack on a plate any day. I'm all about the food porn.
ReplyDeleteChris, thanks for coming over and reading my farro post; of course I hope you went and voted for me over at Savor The Thyme I think it will be obvious why mine was the best!
ReplyDeleteI love that challenge...great idea for me to pull over on my gang of friends, a blind tasting!
Your blog is clever, and I like the sports menus and the names...
Also, I will have to use that paper under the rack with my culinary students! They are all college age, so I am going to ask them tomorrow if they have ever done this...
I love crackers for a "breading". Very nice.
ReplyDelete