I’ve had this weird hankering for fried chicken lately. Now, if you knew me personally, you’d think that I’d gone mad (no) or that I was pregnant (big no). It’s just not something that I really eat, or crave on the regular. I’ve been too diet conscious all my life to ever let myself indulge, but sometimes the heart wants what it wants, and for that reason, I decided to come up with an alternative that will give me the crunch and satisfaction without the guilt that usually comes from that type of indulgence. So I came up with this recipe for plantain crusted chicken breast, baked, not fried, and the heart, both figuratively and literally, ended up pretty satisfied with it. And I’m pretty picky, if I say so myself.

When I first told my mom about this recipe, she thought that it sounded pretty gross and…sticky. I couldn’t figure out what she was getting at when I realized that she thought I used fresh plantains! No, no. Chips here, meaning the whole thing has a nice crunch to it. Just like the Colonel.

Warning: try not to just eat the entire bag of plantain chips yourself before finishing the chicken. Trust me, it’s a challenge.

The gist of it I stole from my previous recipe for plantain-crusted red snapper with roasted tomatillo salsa. Also, delish and worth making. It’s got the traditional flour-egg base coating and rather than breadcrumbs has plantain chips crushed in the food processor. Not too fine, I wanted texture here, but certainly made into small enough bits to make it stick.

Note: Don’t forget to season all the coatings. Layers of flavor, here. Always.

At the end of it all, the chicken is baked and done, perfect for a sandwich, dippers or a salad (might I suggest the yardbird salad?). And perfect for any given day Sunday, or any day for that matter, guilt-free.

Plantain crusted chicken breast

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Plantain crusted chicken breast is made crispy by coating thin chicken cutlets in seasonings and crushed plantain chips and baked until golden.

By: Chrissy

Ingredients

1 pound thin chicken breast cutlets
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups salted plantain chips, thoroughly crushed (food processor works well)
2 eggs
1 tsp Tabasco or other hot sauce
1 tsp Mexican oregano
1 tsp black pepper

Directions

Step 1 Preheat the oven to 400F. Place a wire rack on top of a foil-lined cookie sheet. Set aside.
Step 2 Combine the flour, salt and pepper in a shallow dish. In a second shallow dish, lightly beat the eggs and Tabasco together. Place the plantain chips in a third shallow dish. Working with cutlet at a time, dredge in flour, shaking off excess then coat with the egg mixture, allowing excess to drip off. Coat all sides of the fillet with plantains, pressing gently so that the crumbs adhere. Place on a prepared wire rack. Repeat with remaining chicken.
Step 3 Bake at 400F for 15 minutes. Flip each cutlet and bake for a remaining ten minutes, until all the chicken is cooked through. This timing works for cutlets that were approximately 1″ thick.
Step 4 Serve on salads, in sandwiches and with your favorite spicy mustard.