Lil’ bun loves her some chicken nuggets but let’s be honest, as good as those fellas are, they aren’t exactly the healthiest munchie of them all.And as with all the not so healthy foods she loves, I decided to make a better for you rendition of the nuggets by baking them instead of deep frying them.
Typically nuggets would get dredged in flour, then dipped in either a whisked egg or milk mixture and then rolled in the coating of choice for crunch.
Instead of using a traditional egg or milk mixture to act as a “glue” for the crust, I decided to use honey mustard dressing instead because I figured that it would work similarly since it’s pretty thick in consistency. It’s also lil’ bun’s favorite sauce of all time so it made perfect sense to use it in this case.
Then I decided to coat the pieces of chicken in crushed cheese puffs. Bread crumbs or crushed corn flakes would work just as well but I decided to go with cheese puffs because Lil’ bun loves her cheese.
Coating the chicken
At first I thought that these would be simple to make because all you really have to do is cut the chicken, roll it in flour, dip it in the binding agent and then roll it in the coating. And I was right it was easy…but it was also really messy to work with.
The coating kept sticking onto my finger tips from me touching the binding agent. It was as if I was breading my fingers instead of the actual chicken! Then….the epiphany hit. The answer to all my problems. CHOPSTICKS.
Yup, I went on into my kitchen grabbed a pair of chopsticks and started using them to maneuver the chicken from one layer of coating to the next. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this earlier because it would of made things so much easier!
If you don’t have a pair of chopsticks handy at home, try using two forks instead. It might be a little strange at first but it’ll get easier and it sure beats having to deal with the mess!
Cheesy baked chicken tenders recipe
Ingredients
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 cups cheese puffs
1/3 cup flour
3/4 cup honey mustard dressing
Method
- Crush the cheese puffs in a resealable bag or blend them in a food processor until it resembles fine crumbs. Place the crumbs into a large shallow bowl
- Cut the chicken breast into cubes or strips. Set aside.
- Place the flour and honey mustard in two separate medium shallow bowls.
- Lightly coat a piece of the chicken in flour and then roll it in the honey mustard sauce. Then roll the piece of chicken in the cheese puff crumbs. Repeat with the rest of the slices.
- Place chicken on a lined baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes if making cubes or 45 minutes if making strips. The chicken should be fully cooked when cut into the middle.