Crispy Baked Coconut Chicken

Recently, I made it my mission to go through the freezer and clean that thing OUT!  It had gotten to the point that I had NO idea what was in there…so I pulled everything out and threw away anything iffy and got it all pretty in there.  It also became apparent that I buy WAY too much stuff.  SO, I thought I would make Hubby happy and actually USE what I have in there.  There’s actually some satisfaction in pulling stuff out of there and making more room!  I don’t know about you, but I sure do buy a lot of chicken!?

Do any of you ever get sick of chicken?  Yah, me, too but it’s really one of our go-to healthy protein options so what can we do?  So I made it my next mission to find some creative ways to use this little bird and this one was a keeper!  I adapted it from the Kraft website.

You all know my love for crispy goodness and this little recipe hit the spot perfectly.  This time, I combined coconut with panko and flour for a coating that came out exactly that:  crispy…Oh, and delicious…and the best part:  guilt-free!

Ingredients:

1lb boneless skinless chicken breast, sliced into strips

½ cup egg whites or egg substitute

½ cup all-purpose flour

¾ cup Panko breadcrumbs

¾ cup unsweetened flaked coconut

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp ground pepper

1 tsp garlic powder

½ tsp crushed red pepper

Preparation:

·         Preheat oven to 400 degrees

·         Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with non-stick spray

·         You will need 3 bowls/containers for dipping.

·         In the first one, place the eggs and the chicken strips.

·         In the second one, place the flour, salt and pepper and mix together.

·         Lastly, place the Panko, coconut, garlic powder and red pepper, and mix.

·         Remove each strip from the eggs and place them into the flour to coat, and then into the Panko and coconut to coat, finishing by placing them on the baking sheet.

·         Once you have coated all of the chicken, place the baking sheet into the oven and bake for about 15-20 minutes until browned and crispy.  You can turn the chicken over halfway during cooking time if you really want it to be crispy all over.

·         Remove from oven and serve with your favorite dipping sauce. 

I LOVE sweet chili sauce, which you can find in the International aisle of your grocery store, and it was the perfect dipping sauce to serve alongside!

Crispy and delicious and oh, so coconutty!  YUM!

Nutrition:

Serves 4

Calories 337 / Carbs 29g / Fat 11g / Protein 30g / Fiber 2g / Sodium 736mg