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By Sarah Condley

Columnist

My husband, Brad, and I love chicken, and any time I see a recipe using our favorite meat, I read it and if it sounds like something we’d enjoy, I tear it out of the magazine, write it down on a piece of paper, take a picture of it with my phone or print it off the Internet. One of my favorite ways to eat chicken is fried. Growing up, both of my grandmothers and one of my grandfathers made the best fried chicken ever. Over the years I’ve tried to fry chicken on top of the stove, but it never comes out right, so I’ve given up.

When I saw a recipe for (Baked) Chicken Fingers at tablefortwoblog.com, I sent the recipe to our computer’s printer. The picture looked somewhat like fried chicken fingers and I thought it wouldn’t be like granny’s but maybe it would be somewhat like fried chicken. I stuck the recipe in my folder of chicken recipes to make in the future and then forgot all about it.

One day, while going through that chicken recipe folder, I discovered the (Baked) Chicken Fingers recipe again and decided to try it. There was no time like the present since we would have some chicken that evening for supper.

All of the ingredients called for in the recipe were on hand in our pantry so I didn’t have to worry about making a mad dash to the grocery.

After preheating the oven and lining a baking sheet with non-stick foil, I cut the boneless, skinless chicken breasts into strips. I didn’t end up with ten strips, but I knew a pound of chicken breast would be enough for our meal. Since I wasn’t going to prepare as much chicken as the recipe called for, I cut the rest of the recipe ingredients in half.

I mixed the panko and the seasonings in a bowl and then cracked and scrambled two eggs in another bowl. I dipped each piece of chicken individually into the egg and then rolled the raw chicken in the panko-seasoned crumbs. I did have to gently press the panko to get it to stick to the chicken and then put the pieces on the sheet pan.

The chicken went into the oven and baked for 20 minutes. Before turning the broiler on, I cut into one of the chicken strips to ensure it was done. The chicken looked done to me so I turned the oven to broil and continued cooking it for five minutes. When the timer sounded the chicken was a nice brown color and we were ready to sit down at the table and eat.

Brad blessed the food and then we filled our plates.

The chicken was tender and the breading made a nice crunch when you bit into it. It wasn’t as good as either of my granny’s fried chicken, but this recipe didn’t disappoint either. Brad and I agreed that this recipe falls into the “Nailed It” category. The only thing I’ll do differently the next time I prepare it is to add a little more of each seasoning to the panko. If you try this recipe, you can add any seasonings you want to the panko to make this recipe your own.

(Baked) Chicken Fingers

Ingredients

• 10 boneless, skinless chicken tenderloins, sliced into strips

• 2 cups panko breadcrumbs

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1 teaspoon onion powder

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon pepper

• 3 eggs

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Line two large baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.  Set aside.

• In a shallow dish, combine panko, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper.  Mix well to get it all incorporated.

• In another shallow dish, beat the 3 e3ggs together.

• Take the chicken strips and dip them in the egg mixture then cover the chicken strips with the panko mixture.  Gently press the panko mixture on the chicken to make sure it’s well coated.

• Lay the strips next to each other on the baking sheets and repeat until all the chicken strips have been coated.

• Bake for 20 minutes then turn on the broiler and broil them for another 5 minutes to get the outside even more crispy and a light brown color.

• Serve immediately with honey mustard or BBQ sauce or ketchup.