I don't know when I discovered this recipe, but it's been a few years. The following is my version of a few that I've found on the web. Before you start, let me tell you... it's the perfect mixture of sweet, crunch, savory, and spicy. Without further delay, I present Spicy Baked Captain Crunch Chicken Fingers!
First, you need 2 1/2 - 3 C of that good 'ole, cut-up-the-roof-of-your-mouth cereal: Captain Crunch.
To that, add in about 1 1/2 C of Corn Flakes to that and crush it up. You could use a food processor, if you're fancy like that. I use a bag. So there!
In a bowl, mix together 1 C flour, 1 tsp onion powder, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp of black pepper and some crushed red pepper (depending on your heat tolerance...remember that the sweetness will help cut the heat too).
While you're preparing your ingredients, go ahead and preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Also, find one of your baking sheets. I don't really know if you're supposed to put a cooling rack in the oven, but thefatlete and I have been baking on ours for over a year now. No harm here! Plus, it really helps make your baked delights stay crunchy.
In another small bowl, mix one egg and about 1 C of milk.
So now you have your flour dredge, your egg dredge, and your cereal dredge. Now, wait a dredge minute! I want to warn you that you might want to go back up and, instead of mixing the spices with the flour, mix them with the cereal. I think I did this last time and I liked it better. It's up to you though. It'll taste good no matter what!
So...I forgot to take a picture when I was dredging the chicken. Or maybe I didn't forget; maybe my hands were covered with eggy mush. Yeah, that was it. Anyway, I used about 1 lb. of organic chicken tenders. Yes, I used organic chicken AND Captain Crunch. Maybe I'm a contradiction...but at least I'm trying! Dip the chicken in the flour, then the egg, then the cereal mixture. Lay it on your baking sheet.
Bake them in the 325 degree oven for about 15-25 min. Pull them out and prepare to meet the juiciest, crispiest, sweetest, spiciest, most wonderful baked chicken finger. If your tenders aren't super crispy on the bottom...don't fret, you won't notice that much once the tops start to cut up your mouth.
This is a relatively healthy meal since you can control the amount of cereal, flour, egg, etc. I think Hungry Girl even has her own take on the recipe. I made mine with green peas and a recipe for microwave potato chips! What?! Yes, you heard me. Microwave! I found it on Pinterest....go figure.
Happy Eating!
