I cooked some fried chicken breasts last week that would rival Chick-fil-A. It was crunchy, juicy, and delicious and it all started with split chicken breasts, skin-on, bone-in.
Those neatly trimmed, pre-packaged chicken breast loins are expensive, and they can be fairly tasteless. A far better buy – and a better cut, I think – is a package of two split chicken breasts with skin-on and bone-in. I often cook these as they are but decided to fillet them for this recipe. The breasts are usually thick and I was able to get three decent size filets out of each side. I used my fillet knife to remove the skin and the meat from the rib cage, then separated them. For good measure, I pounded each of the filets with a mallet and got to work.
You need three bowls – one with a well beaten egg, another with Panko crumbs and another with a cup of House Autry Chicken Breading, plus salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
Rinse and pat the filets dry with a paper towel, then roll them in the breading mixture, dunk them in the egg mixture and finish off with a good coating of Panko crumbs on each side. Put the filets in a skillet of hot vegetable oil and cook for 4 or 5 minutes on each side – till golden brown. They are delicious and even better the next day when heated and put on a hamburger roll with some Chick-fil-A Sauce.
Next time, try making your own chicken loins from the split breasts. It’s a little more trouble but a lot better tasting.
Panko Chicken
Package of split chicken breasts, skin-on, bone-in
½ C vegetable oil
1 beaten egg
1 C Panko crumbs
1 C House Autry Chicken Breading
S & P to taste
1 t garlic powder
