Finger-licking good and all time kids favourite. For most (grown-up) kids any crumbed chicken is good, but I find the chicken strips to be king. They’re not only a good diner meal, but the strips are an easy snack, even for a lunchbox. I choose to use a breadcrumb with herbs, but you can use a plain crumb or crumb with cheese.

Serves: 4 | Preparation: 10 min | Cooking time: 10 min

Who connected us?!  I had some stale bread that I did not want to trow out, and I decided to use the bread for a breadcrumb. And what better use for a breadcrumb than tender crispy chicken.

Ingredients:

• 400g Chicken Thighs or Breast
• 100g Bread Crumb
• 1 Egg
• 100g All Purpose Flour
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 30g Butter
• 2 tbsp Vegetable, Canola or Rice Bran Oil

Preparation

1. Cut the chicken into 1cm thick strips. For the most juicy results, cut the strips against the grain of the chicken.
2. Salt and pepper your chicken strips.
3. Prepare 3 bowls, with the flour, slightly beaten egg and breadcrumb.
4. Now the crumbing starts. Use tongs or your fingers whichever you think is more fun. You can coat the strips one by one or a few at the time. Firstly you roll the chicken in the flour until they are lightly coated, then you coat the chicken with the egg and your last coat is with the crumbs. Gently press the crumbed chicken to adhere.

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Pan frying you chicken strips

1. Place a (non-stick) frying pan over medium heat and add the butter and oil.
2. To test if the butter and oil mixture is hot enough to start frying, place a wooden chopstick into the pan. If little bubbles form around the chopstick, you are ready to go.
3. Gently place the chicken strips in the pan. Use tongs and work away from you, to prevent accidental splashing of hot oil coming your way.
4. Cook the chicken strips for about 3 minutes on each side. They should be ready fairly quick when you did cut them correctly.
5. Place the chicken strips on a wired rack or paper towel to drain some of the residual oil.
6. Ready to serve, don’t be too quick, you might burn your lips.

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Notes:

• Breast or thigh; I prefer to use chicken thighs, they are juicier and more flavoursome, but chicken breast are absolutely yummy too.
• Pan fry or oven; Yes, you can get a good result when you bake the chicken strips in the oven. They will need to go in the oven on 180c for about 50 minutes. For the most crispy result, frying is still best. Serve with loads of veggies and you will feel a lot better. After all this recipe is in the comfort food category.
• Crumb with cheese; You can add some cheese to you crumb. Use a hard cheese, not the pizza type of stretchy cheese, and you will have to grate it finely or your frying process will be a bit harder.
• Panko crumb; You might have heard of this light flaky crumb. It gives lighter and crunchier results to fried food. I prefer my home made bread crumb from my home made bread, simply to stay away from added preservatives.
• Juicy chicken; How you cut your chicken strips can change the juicyness of your pan fried chicken strips. The best way is to cut the strips against the grain of the chicken. By cutting against the grain you are shortening the fibres, rather than cutting in the same directions and leave the fibres long.