CRISPY BUFFALO TENDERS

Sometimes I really crave a giant plate of buffalo hot wings drenched in ranch dressing.

​Well my prayers were answered when I came across Cassy Joy's recipe in her book Fed & Fit.  Her recipe, The Frizzle Chicken Bake, inspired me to put a healthy twist on a new recipe to cure my buffalo wing craving.  Her idea to use pork rinds as breading for chicken is pure genius!  A pork rind is roasted or fried pork skin.  This healthy, fatty snack makes a light + crispy breading for the chicken and can be found with no or little added ingredients. I chose Epic's Sea Salt and Pepper pork rinds because it only had a couple added seasonings to it.  Also, this saves me time from seasoning the breading myself.  All you do is crush the rinds, coat the chicken, and bake! You know I love when things are simple :) 

This recipe is extremely versatile. You could use any sauce you wanted with these delicious chicken tenders, instead of hot sauce and ranch dressing (still drooling). Feel free to personalize these with a variety of sauces such as, honey mustard, BBQ sauce or even add them to a big caesar salad.  Yum! 

Well enough chit chattin'- let's get crushin', coatin' and bakin' folks!

CRISPY BUFFALO TENDERS
serves 5-6

Ingredients:

• 2-3 lbs of chicken tenders
• 1/2 cup Chosen Foods mayo
• 1 bag of Epic pork rinds, sea salt + pepper
• Frank's Red Hot Sauce
• Tessemae's Ranch dressing

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line 2 large baking pans with parchment paper.

2.  Place half of the pork rinds in a large Ziplock bag and seal tightly, letting all of the air escape out of the bag.  Crush the pork rinds until they are all in small pieces. Repeat with the rest of the pork rinds. 

3.  Place the mayo in a shallow dish or bowl and the crushed pork rinds in a separate dish or bowl. 

4.  Place each chicken tender in the mayo, and coat it with a very thin layer of mayo.  Then, place the chicken tender in the pork rinds, coating it well so the crust covers all sides of the tender. (See above photo)

5.  Place each chicken tender on the prepared baking pan, leaving space between each tender.  Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the chicken is no longer pink. 

6.  Serve chicken tenders with a heavy drizzle of hot sauce and ranch dressing.  Pair these juicy tenders with some sauteed asparagus or raw celery sticks for a balanced meal!   

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                           Always craving good food,
                                               Jillian