Chicken Poppers.
This week we are back to the normal end of month snack series. Something that I noticed when I looked at my calender to see what I am writing about is that I inadvertently scheduled three chicken recipes for this month. I usually try to write about diverse dinners to keep this interesting but apparently I haven't fully thought through my choice of dinners this month. Since I'm already committed to writing about Chicken Poppers I promise I won't write about chicken again until the last post of next month.
I recently stumbled across the recipe for chicken poppers, these are very similar to the chicken nuggets that we all know from many fast food franchises, the difference is that you are making them yourself and you are making the dipping sauce from scratch. When I made these I was very behind schedule; it was an hour before a get together and I had left no room for error, this recipe had to work the first time or I would be running to the store to pick up a veggie tray. As I pulled the first baking sheet from the oven I tried one; it worked, I'm halfway home. The popper was hot and moist but not greasy, it was a lighter, tasty version of the nuggets most of us grew up on. While the second batch was cooking I mixed together the dipping sauce. I took another popper from the first batch and dipped it in the sauce; it was different from most dips that I have tried but it had a little kick to it and I liked it.
The idea of the sauce is that it's a low fat alternative to heavy, full fat sauces; it's a lighter sour cream based sauce that gets most of it's flavor from salsa and cilantro. I'm normally a honey-mustard person but I found this combination of poppers and dipping sauce a nice change of pace.
Let's jump into today's recipe.
Chicken Poppers
Prep time 12 Min. Cook time 15 Min. Serves 4
Ingredients
3 sprays cooking spray
1 pound chicken breast, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 cup fat-free egg substitute
1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs
1/4 cup cornmeal
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup fat free salsa
1/4 cup fat-free mayonnaise
1 tablespoon cilantro, fresh, minced
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425f. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.
Place egg substitute in a shallow bowl. In another shallow bowl, combine breadcrumbs, cornmeal, garlic salt, salt, paprika and pepper.
Dip chicken in egg substitute and then in breadcrumb mixture; turn to coat. Place chicken on prepared baking sheet; coat with cooking spray. Bake for 5 minutes, flip over and bake until chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes more.
Meanwhile, to make sauce combine salsa, mayonnaise and cilantro in a small bowl; stir well.
Place poppers on a plate and serve sauce in a small bowl on the side.
This recipe yields about 6 nuggets and 2 tablespoons of sauce per serving.
This is a quick and easy snack that requires very little effort. I would imagine that these can be made ahead of time and frozen until you want them or you could make large batches of them and freeze them in smaller batches to be eaten over a period of time. If you try this recipe leave a comment and let me know how they turned out.
Next week- BBQ Pork Sandwiches with Homemade Slaw or Football Fare.
1 comment:
My son would have chicken almost every day if I would let him. So when he asked for "different" chicken poppers, I searched and found this recipe. We tried it tonight and it turned out great! We will be making these again and again.
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