We interrupt your regularly scheduled Monday evening to bring you this important update.
YOU GUYS THIS IS THE BEST CHICKEN I’VE EVER MADE
SO I thought I’d record the “recipe” for posterity, and also so I can make it again next week.
Crispy Coconut Chicken Tenders
Ingredients:
- 8 Chicken Tenders
- 1/3 c Tapioca Starch
- 2 Eggs
- 1 c Shredded and/or flaked coconut (smaller pieces are better)
- Trader Joe’s onion salt
- Sea Salt
- Coconut Oil for frying
Directions:
I mean, there’s not much to it really…
- Preheat oven to 350, just in case. Or cook some vegetables in there while you’re frying
- Get 3 wide, shallow dishes.
- In the first dish, dump the tapioca starch. Keep the bag out in case you need more
- In the 2nd dish, beat your eggs really well
- In the 3rd dish, mix the coconut with enough onion salt and salt so that a pinch of it tastes good, not too salty, and there’s an even spread of onion bits. Next time I’ll measure.
- Heat about coconut oil in cast iron pan. You want it about 1/2″ deep. To test oil temperature, dip a piece of coconut in egg, and drop in the pan. If it sizzles nicely and floats, you’re good to go.
- Take one chicken finger, and roll it in the tapioca starch. Pick it up and shake off the excess.
- Quickly roll the chicken finger through the egg wash, try not to “wash” all of the starch off
- Roll the chicken in the coconut, pressing the coconut into the batter. I like to scoop from the bottom and press into the top to make sure enough small bits and salt/seasoning get distributed.
- Place directly into the hot oil.
- Repeat with 3 or 4 more chicken tenders. You want to cook in batches, so that your pan isn’t crowded. You want no tenders touching each other or the sides of the pan.
- Once you see a nice caramel brown on the edges, flip the tenders over. Cook until totally browned. If your tenders are bigger, you may need to flip onto the other edges
- Once they’re totally browned, take some kitchen scissors and cut into the thickest piece of the thickest tender to see if it’s cooked through. If it is, place on paper towel to soak excess oil. If it’s not, throw on a baking rack in the oven. Baking rack will help keep the bottom from getting soggy. If you don’t have one, just throw it on a cookie sheet, it’s all good.
- Repeat until all of your chicken is cooked! If you have lots of batches, you can also keep it warm in a cooler oven, usually around 200 degrees.
I served this with asparagus and a homemade spicy mayo (homemade mayo, tapatio, onion salt). Nom. Nom. Nom.
Ok, that’s all I had to add :D