Healthy chicken fingers

Sometimes I feel like Ryan and I are just two giant kids. 

We don't eat anything that's particularly fancy or out of the ordinary.  Neither of us eat seafood.  We like chicken, beef, potatoes, pizza, ketchup (me), ranch dressing (him), and chocolate.

A lot of those items aren't particularly healthy, so when I stumbled upon a recipe for crispy baked chicken fingers, I couldn't wait to try them.

Crunchy Chicken Fingers

Recipe courtesy of How Sweet It Is

 Ingredients:

• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken tenders  (I used two chicken breasts, butterflied, and cut into strips)
• 2 cups low-fat buttermilk  (I used powdered buttermilk)
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 3 cups panko bread crumbs
• 1 cup corn flake crumbs
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper

Note:  This amount of breading is enough for probably 3 lbs of chicken.  I will either half or third this the next time I make it.

Directions:

1. Soak chicken tenders in buttermilk for 2 to 24 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
3. Lay a wire rack on a baking sheet and spray it with non-stick spray.  In a separate bowl, mix flour, panko, corn flake crumbs, salt. and pepper.  Dip the chicken tenders in the panko mix and coat thoroughly, then lay on the baking sheet.  Repeat with remaining chicken.
4. Spray each chicken piece lightly with cooking spray (it will help them crisp) and bake for 12 minutes. Flip and bake for 12 more. Let cool.

I really enjoyed these.  After one bite, Ryan said he wasn't sure about the breading.  That didn't stop him from eating all of the chicken fingers, minus the three I ate.  After the last one, he declared them good.

I ate mine with a gallon of ketchup, and Ryan paired his with a gallon of ranch dressing.

We will be having these again.  And soon.