How to make crispy chicken strips?

[Bueller 0]

Hey! I've tried a few different recipes & ways of cooking chicken strips & the breading/coating always falls completely off. Any tips?

[laura_juggles 521]

I've found that the chicken needs to be *dry* to start. Then give it a toss in some starch...I feel like potato starch may work well here, but arrowroot or one of the other compliant starches could do (hopefully someone else will chime in here! lol). Then into beaten egg, then into seasoned almond meal. It's still occasionally iffy, but usually works. Part of the issue is that in normal chicken tenders, the egg and flour will mush together and make a sort of batter. Almond or coconut meal won't/can't do that. And then we're not deep frying on top of that so it's tough. 

[Bueller 0]

Okay I'll try that! Maybe it's just not possible haha but all these recipes I see make it look like whatever they're doing, is sticking

[Shani_SWP 22]

Like @laura_juggles said, start with dry chicken. I've found that cassava flour works best as a flour replacement, so dry chicken, then dredge in cassava flour with salt and pepper (shake all the excess off so it doesn't clump), then egg wash, then almond flour. Kind of push the almond flour into the chicken to make it stick. Cook right away and try not to move it much once you've started cooking (either shallow pan fry or air fryer) because it's super delicate. It's been a hit and miss with me as well.

[Jihanna 370]

@Shani_SWP I actually was going to suggest cassava, since it's the flour that seems to mimic wheat flour most effectively in most of the ways I've ever tried it... but I haven't ever tried the frying, so wasn't positive about suggesting it!

So I'll second Shani's suggestion above, but rather than finishing it in almond flour, I'd personally opt for coconut flour (because I'm one of those people who tends to get whacked about by nuts, even just almond flour).

Good luck with the frying, @Bueller

[Shani_SWP 22]

Coconut flour tends to seize when it merely sits next to something moist, and it fries weird once it's clumpy. Also, do not use tapioca starch, even though it comes from the cassava plant root thingy, it does not act the same way and you'll end up with one giant tender, rather than separate ones. Yeah, I might have done that with thighs.

[kirbz 578]

I just wanted to share an AMAZING recipe I tried this weekend! Whole30 Chicken Nuggets: https://40aprons.com/whole30-chicken-nuggets-chick-fil-a/. 

The sauce is incredible, and while I had to be super careful when turning the nuggets, the breading stayed on just fine and was crispy and delicious!