Flake and Bake Chicken

Flake and Bake Chicken

When I worked as an AmeriCorps Promise Fellow (highly recommended for those who are interested in becoming teachers), I helped out an after school program. Every Tuesday and Thursday, I went with the kids to cooking class put on the University of Minnesota to help educate kids on basic cooking skills and nutrition. 

It was awesome! They recommended a website with healthy recipes (found below): 

https://cookingmatters.org/recipes

The homemade granola is awesome, too! 

I've tweaked the Flake and Bake Chicken recipe into my own, and today I have done the adult thing in not only making my own chicken strips from scratch, but also making extra to put in the freezer the next time I'm running short on time. 

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

• 2 pounds boneless chicken pieces
• 3 cups cornflakes cereal  or  2 sleeves of salted crackers (like Ritz)
• ⅓ cup flour
• 2 large eggs
• ¼ cup nonfat milk
• Non-stick cooking spray
• Your favorite seasoning

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Remove skin, if any, from chicken pieces. If working with large chicken breasts, cut in half lengthwise for faster cooking time. Trim any excess fat.
3. In a medium bowl, crush cornflakes/crackers.
4. Place flour in a second medium bowl.
5. In a third medium bowl, add eggs and milk. Beat with a fork.
6. Dip each chicken piece into flour, then egg mixture, then cornflakes. Each piece should be fully coated with flakes.
7. Coat baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray. Place chicken pieces on sheet, evenly spaced. Spray pieces lightly with cooking spray and sprinkle with your favorite seasoning. (I used Cajun and some Lawry's seasoned salt)
8. Bake for 20–25 minutes, removing half way through cook time to flip each piece, lightly spray with cooking spray, and season. The internal temperature should be 165°F.

For visual people, like myself, here are some pictures: 

If you choose to make your breading out of crackers, put your crackers in a large bag (be sure to squeeze out as much air as possible). Roll over the bag with a rolling pin until your crumbs are about the size shown. 

Here's the best set up for your "Flake and Bake" station. You can cut your chicken into strips or into small nugget size. The first container is flour, the second container is your egg mix, the last container is full of cracker crumbs. After dunking your chicken in each container, set them on your pan. 

To add flavor to your chicken, lightly spray your chicken and sprinkle with your seasoned salt/favorite seasoning. Half way through baking, flip the strips over, spray and sprinkle with seasoning again. 

Update: I made a second batch with nugget size chicken pieces, put them in a large freezer bag and froze them. I heated them up in the microwave for lunch on a day, and they tasted fine!