Chicken ‘n Waffles… but like healthier and stuff.

I’d never had Chicken and Waffles until I lived in LA and a friend took me to Roscoe’s.  Truth be told, I’d never even HEARD of Chicken and Waffles up until then.  And I’m a Southern girl.  If you’re late to this party like I was many years ago, I’ll catch you up to speed… It’s fried chicken served with, sometimes on top of, waffles and both eaten together with maple syrup.  Sound strange?  It isn’t really… It’s the ultimate combination of sweet and savory.

The origin of Chicken and Waffles is a bit unclear, and there isn’t really a traditional recipe for it either.  There’s nothing fancy to it- because it’s really just that.  Fried chicken.  And waffles.  Eaten together.  Chicken and Waffles.  Done.  If you have a really good fried chicken recipe you swear by, and also a waffle one – just put ’em together, drizzle with syrup and there you go.  Chicken and Waffles.

OR you can make my version and feel less heavy afterwards.  Your choice.

But if you chose to make mine (good choice), here is my Honey Nut Oven Fried Chicken and Coconut Cornmeal Waffles.  SO GOOD!  The whole dish is made with health as a main concern AND it’s gluten free for all you wheat free-ers out there.  (I’m not gluten free so you can trust that if I like this, it’s good.  Trust me.) The thing I think that really makes this delicious and fun is what I use to bread the chicken with… I may or may not be using Honey Nut Cheerios and Fritos.

And it may or may not be freakin’ awesome.

But you’ll have to decide for yourself if you agree.

I trust that you’ll make the right choice.

CHICKEN n WAFFLES my way

HONEY NUT OVEN FRIED CHICKEN

Begin with 10 pieces of dark meat, bone-in, skin-on chicken (thighs or drumsticks).

Soak them in plain yogurt or buttermilk and some dijon mustard overnight or all day if possible, or as long as you can before you begin cooking to tenderize and begin to flavor the meat.

Set up a dredging station with 3 baking dishes or large bowls…

In one dish/bowl mix together the following…

• 1 cup brown rice flour
• few pinches of kosher salt

In another dish, beat together…

• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk (I prefer whole milk buttermilk)
• several pinches of kosher salt
• several dashes of hot sauce

In your food processor or blender, pulse the following until you get the consistency of breadcrumbs, and then add to your third dish…

• 1 cup corn chips (such as Fritos), crushed
• 1 cup honey-nut cereal (such as Honey Nut Cheerios), crushed

Take each piece of your soaked chicken and coat in your rice flour mixture, then in your buttermilk/egg mixture, and finally in your cereal/chip crumb mixture.  Place each coated piece of chicken onto a greased ‘cooling rack’ situated over a foil-lined baking sheet.

Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for 35-45 minutes, or until the juices run clear when you prick the meat.

While your chicken is cooking, let’s get those waffles made, shall we?…

COCONUT CORNMEAL WAFFLES

Begin to preheat your (Belgian) waffle iron

In a large bowl, combine the following dry ingredients…

• 1/2 cup finely ground cornmeal
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 cup oat flour
• 2 TB baking powder
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 TB maple sugar

Stir or whisk to mix well.

In a separate bowl combine the following wet ingredients…

• 5 large egg yolks (whites reserved in another bowl for whipping later)
• 1 (13.5 oz) can full fat coconut milk (roughly 2 cups)
• 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted, then slightly cooled for easy mixing

Whisk together until fully combined and you have a thick, smooth custard.

Whip those reserved egg whites until stiff peaks form.  Set aside.

Mix your wet ingredients into your dry with a whisk until fully combined.

Fold in your whipped egg whites gently with a rubber spatula.

Use a large, greased ice cream scoop, scoop out equal sized portions of the batter and place onto the greased and hot waffle iron.  Cook according to package instructions.

Keep your waffles warm by placing them on a parchment-lined baking sheet and in a warm oven while you make the rest.

TO ASSEMBLE

Place 1-2 hot waffles on each plate (with butter if you’d like), top with 1-2 pieces of the ‘fried’ chicken, drizzle with real maple syrup.

Eat.

Repeat.

(Bonus flavor points- warm your maple syrup on the stove while you’re cooking with a dried chili pepper to infuse some spice… or add a pinch of ground cayenne 😉