crispy baked chicken strips

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My sister does once-a-month-cooking, so once each month (or a little longer), she and her husband spend a good portion of the weekend stocking their freezer with easily-reheatable food. I don’t think I’m cut out for this. For one thing, when she was planning her last cooking fest, I advised her to split up the cooking over several nights, and then it wouldn’t take up so much of her weekend. Which pretty much defeats the purpose, because if you’re going to cook every night, you might as well just be making dinner.

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Also, I have a tendency to hoard food in my freezer. I get it in my head that I can’t possibly use the lasagna or potstickers or chili in my freezer, because then what if I have some sort of dinner emergency one night and need something super easy? Not that this has ever been an issue.  Still, whenever I make a meal that takes well to freezing, I make extra and put some in the freezer. These chicken strips are perfect for storing in the freezer.

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Also, they’re delicious. The coating, made from cornflakes, is crunchy and a little sweet, and the chicken is moist and seasoned from its brine. The strips, after being dipped in flour, butter, and cornflake crumbs, are baked, so there’s no frying mess to deal with and hopefully they’re a little less fattening (except for the whole dipped in butter thing, of course).

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They’re so good, in fact, that even the extras that were stored in the freezer didn’t last too long. They were right in front, so every time I opened the freezer, I was reminded of how good these are. I couldn’t resist them long.

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One year ago: Fish Tacos – we’ve had this for dinner twice in the last two weeks

Crispy Baked Chicken Strips

Serves 4

To freeze these, spread them on a baking sheet (without the rack) after coating and before baking. Place the pan in the freezer and chill for about half an hour, until mostly firm. Transfer the strips to freezer bags. When ready to cook, defrost them and continue with step 4 of the recipe.

¼ cup table salt
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch strips
¼ cup flour
6 tablespoons butter, melted
2 cups finely crushed corn flakes cereal

1. Dissolve the salt in 1 quart cold water. Add the chicken, cover, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Remove the cutlets from the brine and pat dry.

2. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 400F. Place an oven-safe baking rack in a baking sheet.

3. Place the flour and butter in separate small bowls. Add the crushed cereal to a medium-sized bowl. Dip the chicken pieces in the flour, then the butter, then the cereal. Place the coated chicken strips on the baking rack in the baking sheet.

4. Bake 15-20 minutes, until chicken is no longer pink. Serve.

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Comments

  1. They look absolutely delicious! I LOOOVE the golden color the cornflakes gave the chicken. It TOTALLY looks fried! i love it!

  2. These look delicious! They look so perfectly golden and crisp.

  3. Yum – we used to buy the frozen chicken strips from Target – these sound like a MUCH better thing to have in the freezer!

  4. I love OAMC too – but, I’m like you. I always think I should not use the meals in case of “emergency”

    Defeats the purposet.

    These chicken strips look FABULOUS!!

    Great photos!

  5. I am going to make these for my niece! I know she will love them!

  6. Those look great! I was just thinking about making chicken strips with corn flakes … I must do this!

  7. omg -those look super tasty…my kids would love those. Time to go buy some corn flakes…..

    Thanks for sharing!

    Tani

  8. joelen says:

    MacDonald’s got nothing on these! Looks fabulous as usual! 🙂

  9. Ooh yes! I don’t mind the butter at all! I’ll have mine with honey mustard and barbecue sauce! 🙂

  10. Manggy – Me too! That’s exactly what’s shown in the first picture!

  11. These look tasty! I’m going to have to try this out.

  12. These look great! I need to try these and the fish tacos!

  13. These look delicious! A perfectly golden crust.

  14. Never thought about putting chicken strips in a brine! I’ll have to try that next time. I’ll have to pull this page up next time I’m making some!

  15. They look great thanks for sharing……

  16. i’m craving chicken so bad and these look soooo fabulous!

  17. limeandlemon says:

    sounds and looks delicious … love the photos .. Laila .. http://limeandlemon.wordpress.com/

  18. These look beautiful! (And I don’t think I have ever described chicken as beautiful before! haha)

  19. these look delicious! Can’t wait to try them for myself!

  20. Just wondering — what’s the purpose of the brine? To make the chicken a tad salty, as well as make it easier for the flour to bind to? (Or is there something I’ve missed?)

  21. Trin – Brining meat seasons it slightly, but mostly it helps keep meat moist, especially those than tend toward dry-ness, like chicken breasts and pork. Since these chicken strips are so small, it’s easy to overcook them. Brining them first gives you a wider window for the baking step before they’re too dry.

  22. Rebecca says:

    I’ve just cooked these for my fussy kids and their friend and they are actually eating them… and asking for more!! Thanks!

  23. Linda says:

    These were AWESOME – very picky teenager loves them

  24. does it matter if it frost cornflakes or not i want to try these asap

  25. Just made these for my 2 year old who up to this point has refused to eat any chicken I make no matter how I cook it, and she ate a whole piece!! Thanks!!

  26. what degree is the oven? all I see is 00F.

  27. Elizabeth says:

    These were really tasty, thank you!!

  28. how do i rrheat cooked then frozen tenders

  29. Chris says:

    Do you freeze them after baking or before? Cheers

  30. Chris – I freeze them before baking.

Trackbacks

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  5. […] Crispy Baked Chicken Strips – Operation Dinner Table!  I halved the recipe and made for the Misses, who really liked them.  They turned out crispy and the coating stays on very nicely (even though my corn flakes were coarsely crushed, not finely crushed, thanks to the Misses not-quite-perfected-crushing skills!). […]