Gluten Free Extreme Crunch Baked Hot Honey Chicken!
I have been on a crispy chicken train the past few weeks.. not sure why. Maybe its just my rebellious nature! January is the month of dieting and I was frying up a storm. I’m not totally rebellious though as I too (like so many) am trying to work on upping my protein every day and I am diving into a bunch of protein baked goods in the next month.
I felt like it was time to nail down a PERFECT in every way baked chicken recipe!! Many of the OG’s (back in my real sustenance days) are familiar with the Paleo KFC Chicken Tender recipe! (Which by the way I reworked a little and brought back for the club too since its so widely loved!) You you may be familiar with my fried gluten and dairy free buttermilk fried chicken recipe. (which Is outrageous by the way).
But it felt like it was time to use my 12+ Years of gluten free baking experience to master a profoundly amazing EXTREME Crunch baked chicken. I DID IT and I did it with gusto!! This chicken is unbelievable. The truth is that it way outshines the paleo KFC chicken tender recipe so if you love that one- please give this one a try!
A few weeks ago we had a big snow storm & my best friend and her wife got snowed in with us at our house. I used this as an opportunity to nail down this recipe since there were more mouths to feed and I knew I would be making the chicken over and over until it was perfect. Every batch was excellent but this final round was unreal! The crunchiness is SO crunchy that it holds on to the crunch for days even in the fridge. Although it will not last days in the fridge. The chicken itself is so tender and juicy!! Everyone absolutely loved it and devoured it! My friends are not gluten free and said it was the best crispy baked chicken they had ever had!
The hot honey sauce is a beautiful blend of sweet, spicy and a hit of garlic! I was inspired by my Chinese hot honey chicken recipe to recreate something similar. BUT, I wanted to mention that its completely optional and if you have kids that don’t like spicy it can be left out of the recipe. Its drizzled on at the end after baking so you could always serve it to the kids plain and douse it over your own chicken too.
Additionally the cayenne can be fully omitted from the honey sauce!
How to make the sauce Sugar Free:
To make the sauce sugar free: Swap out the regular sugar/ honey for sugar free honey + add 1/4 Tsp of Liquid Stevia or Liquid Monkfruit.
Let’s talk about the sweetener options: Keto honey really isn’t a known ingredient…YET. I did a deep search on Amazon for it and since I found the first brand awhile back, a few more have come on the scent. My current favorites are:
The Nature’s Hollow brand can cause a little bit of digestive upset for some people, but not everyone. The other two are really gentle on your stomach. All 3 brands will work great in this recipe. Make sure you don’t skip the liquid stevia/monk fruit extract, either as it will bring the sweetness to the perfect level. Combining sugar free sweeteners really helps to create a more traditional balanced sweetness that your tastebuds expect.
I made this recipe AGAIN on the Super Bowl. Its become an absolute favorite in our home and within our circle of friends!! Its becoming my go to thing to make when we host! Whats really nice is that I am able to prepare it/get it fully breaded and then stick it in the fridge on the pan ready to bake later.
This last round I cut the chicken into smaller tender sized pieces & doubled all of the dry ingredients as well as the egg mixture. I did end up with a bit extra breading- so next time if I do this I plan to include another breast or two! Because to be honest there is no such thing as too much of this “fried” chicken. It always gets inhaled.. and rarely do we have any leftovers.
lour Options:
Better Batter Gluten Free Orginal Blend. This flour blend continues to amaze me. It can do so many things better than most other blends that I have tried. I cant live without for my bread recipes & have found it works exceptionally well in cookies too! .
What if you cant get your hands on it? This may be the case if you live outside the US. My friend Nichole from Gluten Free on a Shoestring has figured out a mock recipe for better batter. Her version should work great in this recipe! The owner (Naomi) of better batter has confirmed that the mix is similar to the official version.
While I did not test it out- I think that King Arthur Measure for Measure gluten free flour would be worth trying with 1/8 tsp of xanthan or guar gum added!
Feel free to experiment with other brands and please come back and let me know how it turned out!!
Better Batter so kindly offered me a 30% off promo code to share with all of you! This can be used as often as you would like for every single purchase made directly on BetterBatter.com Use the code: BakingAngell30
Gluten Free Extreme Crunch Baked Hot Honey Chicken!
Ingredients
- 6 Chicken Breast Pounded out thin & cut in half. (2 Lbs)
- 3/4 Tsp Salt
- 1/ Tsp Black Pepper
- 1/4 Cup Gluten Free Better Batter Original Blend
- 3 Large Eggs (Or 3/4 cup of "Just Egg"- for egg free)
- 2 Tbsp Franks Red Hot (or other hot sauce of choice)
- 6 Cups Gluten Free Cornflakes Finely Crushed
- 1/2 Cup Gluten Free Better Batter Original Blend
- 1 1/4 Tsp Salt
- 1 Tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 Tbsp Paprika
- 1/2 Tsp Dried or Fresh Thyme
- 1/4 Tsp Cayenne
- 3/4 Cup Of Honey
- 2-3 Tbsp Franks Red Hot Sauce or other brand of choice (to taste)
- 4 Tbsp Butter (regular or vegan)
- 4 Cloves Fresh Garlic finely minced
- 1/4 Tsp Salt
- 1/4- 3/4 tsp Cayenne (to taste). 1/4 Tsp gives a nice little kick while still remaining relatively mild. Add more to your heat preference.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.
- Pound out chicken breast thin & an even thickness. (If you pound too much to chicken will begin to break! When this starts to happen its time to stop trying to make that area any thinner. Add chicken to a bowl and toss it with the salt and pepper and then add in the 1/4 cup of flour to evenly coat all sides. Set aside.
- In a small bowl maker the egg mixture. Liberally whisk together the eggs & hot sauce. Set aside.
- Make the cornflake breading : Finely crush the cornflakes. Add the crushed cornflakes to a medium bowl and stir in the 1/2 cup of flour, salt, garlic, paprika, thyme and cayenne.
- Bread the chicken: Dip the chicken into the egg mixture (draining off excess and then into the cornflake breading. Set on baking sheet. After breading all pieces- bread them a second time. Into the egg mixture- draining off excess and again into the cornflake breading.
- Place back on the baking sheet. Drizzle liberally with oil (Using a quality spray oil works well as well to evenly coat the chicken.)
- Place into the oven and bake for ONLY 15-16 minutes. This is the amount of time the chicken needs- leaving it in longer may dry out the chicken breast!
- While the chicken is baking- make the hot honey sauce. Add all ingredients to a small sauce pan & simmer on low for about 10 minutes allowing the garlic to toast and the sauce to thicken a little!
- Remove the chicken from the oven and spray it with oil once more. Brush the hot honey sauce on (the amount is up to you!) and turn the broiler on. Broil the chicken (on a medium or rack) for just a few minutes. This will make it extra crispy! Keep a close eye on the chicken making sure not to burn it as this can happen quickly with the broiler on.
- Serve hot- with extra hot honey sauce for dipping! Store leftovers in the fridge. Reheat in a microwave or air fryer.
Notes
If you opt to cut the chicken into smaller pieces (nuggets or tenders) you may need to double the eggs & breading quantities.
