Baked Spiced Chicken Fingers
This meal is quick, easy, low-maintenance, and most of the ingredients can be kept in the pantry all the time, so you always have something to make for dinner. Pair with steamed broccoli and garlic mashed potatoes for an all American feast.
This meal is quick, easy, low-maintenance, and most of the ingredients can be kept in the pantry all the time, so you always have something to make for dinner. Pair with steamed broccoli and garlic mashed potatoes for an all American feast.
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 2 parts bisquick mix
- 1 part bread crumbs may use any brand, any flavor
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder (up to 2)
- 1 teaspoon paprika smoked or regular
- 2 tablespoons dried italian herb blend make your own using basil, oregano, thyme
- 1 tablespoon salt kosher or table salt
- 1/4 teaspoon anise (opt.)
- sugar to taste; for two cups of mix, i use about 1/4 cup of sugar
- 1 pound chicken breast to coat more chicken, make more mix!
- canola oil enough to coat chicken pieces
- Carbohydrate 7.19809250056846 g
- Cholesterol 43.3377777777778 mg
- Fat 1.44368638906319 g
- Fiber 1.35369167000523 g
- Protein 18.1118277779053 g
- Saturated Fat 0.366717527808489 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (84g)
- Sodium 76.8205555660595 mg
- Sugar 5.84440083056324 g
- Trans Fat 0.29205850002886 g
- Calories 115 calories
Step-by-step
- Start by slicing the chicken to the desired size (about 2 to 3 inch strips, 1/2 inch thick). Make sure the pieces are all about the same size so that the cooking time will be equal.
- Cover one baking sheet with aluminum foil, and place a cooling rack on top of the baking sheet. You will be placing your chicken pieces on this once they've been coated in the bisquick mix. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Drizzle just enough canola/vegetable oil to coat the sliced chicken, making sure that every piece is evenly coated.
- In a separate bowl, mix bisquick, bread crumbs, and seasonings until well blended. Now you're ready to begin coating the chicken in the mixture. Taking about 5 pieces of chicken at a time, place the chicken in the bread crumb/bisquick mixture and toss lightly with a fork until well coated. Lay the chicken strips on the cooling rack. If you like your chicken to be a bit crunchier, place the strips further apart; for softer breading, don't leave as much space. Once you've coated all the chicken and placed it on the cookie sheet/cooling rack, place chicken in oven and set the timer for 25 minutes.
- When the timer goes off, take the chicken out, and use a thermometer to make sure the internal temperature is between 150-160 degrees. You only need to test a few pieces as long as your pieces are about the same size.
- All that's left is to eat and enjoy!
Swapping out regular bread crumbs for panko changes the final crunch of these strips, transforming a fine, dense coating into an airy, shattering crust. Biscuit baking mix provides the chemical leavening agents that puff slightly under heat, reacting with the starch and protein matrix of the breading to hold onto moisture. When slicing the meat, uniform dimensions around two to three inches long and one-half inch thick ensure that thermal energy penetrates every piece at the same rate, preventing smaller portions from drying out while larger ones finish cooking. Placing an elevated wire rack over a foil-lined baking sheet allows heated air to circulate underneath the poultry simultaneously, eliminating the need to flip the pieces midway through the process. Extracting the tray at twenty-five minutes lets an instant-read thermometer verify that the internal temperature rests between 150 and 160 degrees Fahrenheit before resting commences. Spices like smoked paprika and chili powder react with surface fats during dry-heat transfer, driving Maillard reactions that deepen both color and savory depth without requiring deep frying.
