Cornflake-Crusted Chicken Tenders

Chicken has always been a staple in my family--to the point where, growing up, my relatives would joke that I was adopted because I wasn't as fond of it as I am now (all in good fun--no worries!). Since then, most of my recipes have involved chicken--mostly in casseroles or baked with some sort of accompanying sauce--because it is healthy and tasty.

But, my friend Sarah has been posting this recipe in various forms on Facebook (chicken, chicken parmesan) and explaining how popular it is in her house--and admittedly, you miss a good crispy, fried chicken amid all the healthy chicken recipes--so I finally gave it a try yesterday. And it was every bit as tasty as she promised (and considerably healthier than actual fried chicken)! 

Here are the ingredients as listed by the recipe (I only used about 1/6th of this for my husband and me):

• 7 cups Kellogg's Corn Flakes® cereal (crushed to 1 3/4 cups)
• 1 egg
• 1 cup fat-free milk
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 3 pounds chicken pieces, (without or with skin) rinsed and dried (I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts)
• 3 tablespoons margarine or butter, melted

First, crush the corn flakes. I placed mine in a large ziplock bag, removed the air and sealed the bag, and then used a rolling pin to crush the flakes in the bag. Place crushed corn flakes in a shallow dish.

Next, prepare your batter: beat egg and milk together in a medium-sized bowl. Add flour, salt, and pepper and whisk together until smooth. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a microwave, and get out your chicken. I chose to make chicken tenders, so I cut my chicken breasts into 3 pieces each, but a whole chicken breast works just as well.

Spray a baking dish with cooking spray and preheat your oven to 350 degrees. To prepare your chicken, first dip the chicken pieces into the batter, then roll in the crushed cornflakes. Make sure that the chicken is evenly-covered, then place in the baking dish. Drizzle the melted butter over the top of the breaded chicken pieces.

If you are following the recipe, bake uncovered for approximately one hour; if you are making 6 chicken tenders (like I did for my husband and me), 35 minutes will do the trick! Just be sure the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165 degrees before eating. Enjoy!