We love Chick-Fil-A, but there isn't one yet in the Chicago-land area. Crazy, I know. The closest one is about an hour drive north to Wisconsin (and, yes, we have made the drive just for the chicken!). I needed to find a "go-to" chicken tenders recipe, fast. This is it!
The source where I found this recipe calls these yummy little tenders Crispy Baked Chicken Strips, but I wanted to name them Cornflake Chicken Strips because that's what I was calling them all week with Ben. The best thing about these is that you can prepare a lot of them at once (they're so simple!) and freeze them for later. I also love the rich golden color of these. For some reason, it gave them a fresher look to me. I'm all about the appearance (even though my photos of these aren't great).
This recipe (along with Mama G's Crab Cakes) gave me another chance to use my new mini 4-cup food processor I got for Christmas. I love the little thing! It's so cute sitting on my counter top.
As for the chicken...wow. The cornflake breading added a sweet and crunchy flavor. As I was dipping the chicken in the ingredients bowls, I thought how fun this will be to make with our kids someday and getting their fingers messy with the buttery goodness. But, then I remembered that kids should probably stay away from touching raw chicken. Oops. At least they can have fun dipping them in BBQ sauce, ketchup or mustard after they're cooked. That's someday when we even have kids! It's fun to think about. 🙂
We were going to make a roadtrip to Chick-Fil-A today, but a snowstorm came to town. So, we got these out of the freezer and had this chicken instead! Yummy!
Cornflake Chicken Strips
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch strips
¼ cup flour
8 tablespoons (½ cup) butter, melted
2 cups finely crushed corn flakes cereal
Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 400˚F. Place an oven-safe cooling rack in a baking sheet.
Place the flour and butter in separate small bowls. Add the crushed cereal to a medium-sized bowl or pie plate. Dip the chicken pieces in the flour, then the butter, then the cereal. Place the coated chicken strips on the rack in the baking sheet.
Bake 20 - 25 minutes, until chicken is no longer pink. Serve with your favorite sauce.
To freeze these, spread them on a wax paper lined baking sheet after coating and before baking. Place the pan in the freezer and flash freeze for half an hour, until mostly firm. Transfer the strips to freezer bags labeled with the date and cooking instructions. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 400˚F and bake for 25 minutes on the baking sheet with the cooling rack. No need to defrost first.
Source: Adapted from The Way the Cookie Crumbles
