Thursday, January 31, 2008

Savory Baked "Fried" Chicken

I haven't been inspired to cook a complex meal lately as I have been doing the Single Parent thing all week. This recipe came to us from my son's friend, Ben. This is Ben's meal to make for his family. My kids love to make this as well. Whether you have children or not, here is a very tasty, easy chicken dish that can be prepared in a flash requiring very few ingients. Hey, Rachael, watch out! Here's our Thirty Minute Meal! And yes, you will say YUM-O!

What you'll need:

1 package of pre-cut chicken strips
1 bottle of a good Ranch dressing (We use a low fat version with excellent results)
1 package of *Panko breadcrumbs
salt, pepper and garlic powder

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Pour the dressing into a large bowl and place chicken strips -- allow them to sit and marinate for a good 5 minutes or so

Pour the Panko bread crumbs into a shallow bowl of plate

Dredge each strip of chicken in to the breadcrumbs so that each slice is well coated

Place each strip of chicken onto a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil, if you wish, to save cleaning

sprinkle salt, pepper and garlic powder on the chicken

Bake for 15 minutes, rotate pieces so that both sides get crispy, bake another 15 minutes and serve!

*Panko is a Japanese style breadcrumb. They differ from the Italian version in that they are much coarser and the texture in the end, is lends itself very well to this dish, yielding a much crunchier bite. If you can find the seasoned Panko breadcrumbs I do prefer those, but if not, or if you can not find Panko bread crumbs, the Itailan style will do. Progresso and Ian's both make a Pank style breadcrumb.

1 comment:

Margaret said...

I make this recipe, too, except I marinate the chicken in the ranch overnight so it's good and "ranchy". I also crush a sleeve of Ritz crackers to mix w/the Panko crumbs and drizzle butter on top of everything before baking. One of my favorite recipes!