Hey!
Today we're going to be making Crispy Chicken Fingers.
They are perfectly tender and juicy on the inside, and golden on the outside.
The best part is they can be baked or fried,
plus they're so easy to make that even our marketing manager Dallan's going to show you how easily you can make them at home.
Fingers crossed he doesn't screw this up.
Now this recipe can be baked or fried, and so to start we're going to talk about our chicken.
You're going to need 2 pounds of chicken, of either chicken breasts or chicken tenders,
and then you're going to cut your chicken into 1/2 inch strips,
and if you're using chicken tenders, there's a chance you won't even have to cut them.
And Chef Caytlin told me I can trim off any undesirable spots.
Oh so far so good, haven't cut my finger yet.
Once you're done cutting your chicken,
wash your hands and set it aside because we're gonna get started on our dunking stations.
For the dunking stations you need 3 shallow dishes, and Chef Caytlin said these pie dishes will be perfect.
In the first dunk station we need 1/2 cup of flour.
In the second station you're gonna add in 2 tablespoons of milk,
1 large egg,
and then you are gonna beat it together with the smallest whisk you can find.
And in the third station we're gonna add in 1 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of plain bread crumbs.
Then we're gonna spice this up with 1 teaspoon of salt,
1/2 teaspoon of garlic,
1/2 teaspoon of paprika,
and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper,
and then use a normal size whisk to mix this all together.
So we're using this combination of flour, bread crumbs, and spices,
because it's gonna make the chicken super crispy and bring out a ton of flavor.
And when it comes to dunking the chicken, Caytlin just showed me a really cool trick.
We are gonna have a clean hand that only touches the dry ingredients, and we're gonna have a wet hand that touches the raw chicken and the egg.
So to start grab some chicken with your tongs, put it in the flour dish,
and use your dry hand to cover that with flour.
Use your dry hand to put that chicken into the egg mixture, and then use your wet hand to get that nice and covered with that egg.
Then use your wet hand to put that chicken in the bread crumb coating, and then use your dry hand to cover that up with that coating.
Then use your dry hand to put that chicken on a greased baking sheet.
Uh, the dry hand/wet hand is a little complicated for me.
Honestly I can't remember which one's which, so don't feel like you have to do that.
Using a pair of tongs is also a great option.
Honestly I'm really happy with myself.
This only took me like 5 minutes to do.
Now that these are all breaded I'm going to show you how to fry and bake them,
starting with frying.
In a medium sized pot you're going to fill it up with about 2 inches of cooking oil,
and then you're going to heat it up over medium-high heat to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
And Caytlin just told me you want to make sure you're using a large enough pot,
and you want it to be no more than half full.
Then carefully place your chicken into the pot,
making sure not to overcrowd it because that will drop your oil temperature.
They're going to cook for about 2-3 minutes, and make sure to flip them halfway through.
You're looking for a nice golden crust with an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
Once it's reached that, put it on a paper towel lined plate.
Now frying these chicken fingers is really that easy,
but if you do want to bake them this is how:
To start you're going to want to preheat an oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Then going back to your greased baking sheet,
if you're baking it you're going to want to spread out your chicken so there's at least a 1/2 inch between each one.
Then we are going to drizzle on 1/2 cup of butter on these chicken fingers to make sure they get nice and crisp in the oven,
But Caytlin just let me know that you actually want the butter on the chicken,
so feel free to use a basting brush to make sure every side is covered with that butter.
It is really important that you get that fat all over the flour,
or you're just going to get flour chicken, and that kind of sounds gross.
Then once those are nice and coated you're going to pop them in the oven for 20 minutes,
or until they reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
These chicken fingers turned out perfect, and they were so easy to make.
Thank you Caytlin for the recipe.
Thanks for watching.
You can find the full written recipe in the description below.
and if you want other easy restaurant quality recipes you can make at home,
go to www.thestayhomechef.com.
We'll see you later.