Daily Favorites: Cheesy Cornflake Chicken

Some loyal viewers, and whether or not they're viewers hasn't been decided, have been wondering where's the cheese? Hearing you loud and clear! This dish has two types of cheese, which almost has to be better than one.

I first made this dish back when assembling my holiday meals cookbook. I hadn't made it since. It's not hard or anything, it's just you get into habits and I haven't been in the habit of shopping for specific recipes. Instead of chicken breast, I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs. The only healthy change I made was instead of using butter as the base of the wet batter, I used almond milk. 

When I've previously used chicken thighs, I've used bone-in, skin-on and they turn out great. I start the skin side down in cast-iron and then finish in the oven. So I was used to that shape, small but thick thighs. But boneless, they really spread out, which worked out nicely for this as I was able to get a ton of surface area for the coating.

So the wet station was a pie plate with a layer of almond milk, with garlic powder, salt and pepper stirred in.

The dry station was a cup and a half of crushed corn flakes, half a cup of grated cheddar, fourth of a cup of grated parm, garlic and pepper. 

Dip in each piece in the wet then dry using the wet hand, dry hand technique. Then place on a wire rack. I baked at 400 (but actually 390 because my oven runs hot) for 33 minutes. 

It came out great, crunchy on the outside, moist on the inside. 

I made it with the boys and they had a lot of fun crushing the cornflakes and making it. My youngest said the first bite was great. Then he rage quit dinner after the second bite. He said the interior chicken was too chewy. It wasn't tough though. I think he just didn't like the moist, juicy chicken. The chicken that he's used to at Chick-fil-a is firmer on the inside. My oldest didn't like it either. Again, probably a texture thing. 

So this is a solid technique/recipe, but it might be a while before I go through the trouble of a wet and dry dredging station just for a solo dinner.