Whenever I ask my kids what they want for dinner they ALWAYS say chicken fingers. Or as they call them, “Crispy, Crunchy Chicken Fingers.”
This recipe is adapted from my girl Ree Drummond – The Pioneer Woman. I absolutely love her recipes and I have to give her some props for this one.
These chicken fingers have such a crispy coating! They have that crunch you want when you bite into them. They are not a quick weeknight dinner, although we do have them during the week for dinner if I have time. You might want to save this recipe for a weekend the first time that you make them.
Let’s cook!
First things first, prep your chicken. Trim the fat off each breast and cut it in half horizontally to make 2 thinner chicken breasts. Then cut each breast into strips.
Place the strips in a zip-top bag.
The next step is to add 1 cup of buttermilk to the chicken and place the bag in the fridge for 1 hour minimum to about 24 hours maximum. If I do this in the morning before I leave for work, it will be all set for dinner time.
I personally never have buttermilk in my house so I just make my own. I add 1 tablespoon of vinegar to 1 cup of milk and stir. And there you have it, buttermilk!
After you chill your chicken, prepare your coating. In a dish, mix flour and seasoned salt.
In comes the buttermilk again. For this step, you need 1/2 cup of buttermilk. If you don’t have buttermilk, here is how to make it again. For this, use 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 tablespoon of vinegar.
Now slowly pour the buttermilk (about 1/3 at a time) into the flour mixture and mix with a fork. Repeat until you mix all the buttermilk into the flour. You should have a mixture that resembles coarse crumbs. This is a crucial step because this is what gives the chicken its crunch!
Now you are ready to add the coating to the chicken. Remove the chicken from the fridge and add 2-3 strips at a time to the dish with the coating.
Move the chicken around in the dish to cover them completely with coating and squeeze each piece in your hand to make it stick to the chicken.
Once you coat each strip, place it on a plate and continue until all the chicken is coated.
As you continue to coat the chicken heat canola oil in a medium size pan on medium-high heat. To check if the oil is ready, put a small piece of your coating in there. If it sizzles you are all good.
Place chicken in the oil and fry on one side until golden brown and then turn over to the other side and cook until golden brown.
When they are done, place them on a dish lined with a paper towel. Repeat until all the chicken is cooked.
Resist the urge to take a bite right there and then because they are super hot and will burn off all the taste buds in your mouth! Let them cool down for about 5 minutes. I pair these deliciously crunchy beauties with some mashed potatoes and call it a day.
| Servings |
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- 3 chicken breasts cut into strips
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 1/2 tsp seasoned salt
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
- canola oil
Ingredients
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- Prep chicken, slice each breast in 1/2 horizontally and then cut into strips.
- Place chicken in a zip top bag with cup of buttermilk. Place in fridge.
- Prepare coating mixture by mixing flour and seasoned salt. Slowly stir in 1/2 cup buttermilk and stir continuously with a fork until it resembles coarse crumbs.
- Remove chicken strips from the fridge and put 3 strips into the coating mixture at a time.
- Heat canola oil in a medium pan on medium-high heat.
- Stir each strip around with your hand until completely coated and squeeze each one in your hand to make sure it really sticks.
- Fry chicken in oil until golden brown on one side. Flip to other side and cook until golden brown.
- Place cooked chicken on a dish lined with paper towels and repeat until all of the chicken is cooked.
- Enjoy!
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