March 19, 2015

Super Crispy Chicken Bites (Gluten-Free)

The SEA SALT Appetizers, Recipes chicken nuggets, Coconut oil, cornstarch, crispy chicken recipe, gluten free, Recipe, rice flour 0 Comments

I don’t eat gluten free and I still cook my chicken this way. It’s because of the 2 secret ingredients that make these babies super crunchy.

1) Rice flour.  I use rice flour when I make batters for fried fish because it is a little lighter that regular flour, and has a nice crunch when it’s cooked. Bonus, it doesn’t have any gluten.

2) Cornstarch. Often used for coating meat before it is fried (especially in Asian cooking) because it absorbs a lot of moisture on the surface of the meat. Bonus, again no gluten.

I don’t coat my chicken in any egg wash before going into the flour, which makes for a cleaner cooking process (no goopy hands), and a light crisp coating on the outside of the chicken which holds up nicely even in a sauce or stirfry.

Oh yeah, of course I cook the chicken in coconut oil. It can withstand high heat when frying, and I love that subtle nutty taste. I don’t use a lot, just enough to coat the bottom of the pan and give these super crunchy chicken bites something to sizzle in.

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Ingredients:

• 4-6 thin sliced chicken breast, cut into 1-2 inch pieces, and dried with a paper towel.
• 1/2 cup rice flour
• 1/3 cup cornstarch
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground black or white pepper
• 3-6 Tbsp coconut oil (or enough to coat the bottom of your pan for each batch you might need to do)

Directions:

1. Coat chicken pieces in flour/spice mixture and set aside.
2. In a large pan over medium high heat, add coconut oil.
3. Let oil come to temp and test a piece of chicken. If it sizzles when it touches the oil then it’s ready to go.
4. Gently shake chicken pieces to remove any excess flour and place in pan carefully. Add enough so that there’s still a little room between chicken pieces, and only in a single layer. You might have to do 2-3 batches if you have a small pan. Make sure you clean out any  burnt pieces in the bottom of the pan in between.
5. When chicken is almost all white, and doesn’t stick to the pan turn chicken over and cook it on the other side for about 2-3 minutes more, or until done. You will only turn the chicken once.  (Pieces should have a golden crust, break in half easily and not be pink in the middle).
6. Remove chicken from skillet and place on paper towels to rest.

Yum