Do you miss the breading you used to enjoy on your chicken before you went gluten-free?
Have you been avoiding recipes for gluten-free breaded dishes because you don’t think they will turn out?
I’ve had my shared of flops when trying out breading. But I have also discovered some things that work great.
And once again, if you don’t try it, how will you ever know?
So if you haven’t yet tried gluten-free breading, or your experiments have been disasters so far, here are some tips.
What to use for the breading:
There are many kinds of gluten-free breading for you to start experimenting with. Here are a few ideas.
- Brown rice crumbs: You will be able to find these in your gluten-free section of your grocery or health food store. Use them in place of wheat bread crumbs. Add salt, pepper and herbs for extra flavor.
- Almond meal: Use in place of bread crumbs. I personally love this choice.
- Other ground nuts such as pistachios, cashews, walnuts. You can choose to grind or chop them coarsely or grind them into a fine meal.
- Cornflakes or gluten-free rice cereals: grind these up into a fine meal and bread as usual.
- Stale rice bread, cornbread or other gluten-free breads. You can also toast bread in the oven until it is dried out and golden brown. Grind to a fine meal in the food processor and use a bread crumbs.
- Dehydrated potato flakes: Make sure to find a natural brand that is free of preservatives (like Barbara’s).
- For Chicken Parmigiana: mix 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese with 1 cup bread crumbs and add 1 Tbsp fresh chopped herbs and salt to taste.
To Bread Chicken or Fish:
There is no set rule on how to bread, though there are some traditional ways to do it.
Traditional breading:
- Dip chicken or fish into a flour (I use rice flour but you can experiment with others sorghum flour or potato starch. You can try like spelt if you can eat gluten or regular wheat flour if you can eat wheat.
- Shake off excess flour and then dip fish or chicken into a egg mixture of 1 egg and 1 tsp of water. (Stir well as if you’re making scrambled eggs to make the egg mixture. )Then coat the chicken or fish with your bread crumb mixture.
- From there, you can fry the chicken or fish on a skillet with a little oil or bake in the oven for a healthier version. I usually fry on medium heat. Lower stove top heat if breading begins to burn and add additional oil. You can also cover it half way through to avoid burning.
Baking verses Frying:
I personally like to use breading not only for fried dishes, but also for baking. This is a healthier choice if you are watching the fat content in a meal.
For Baked “Fried” Chicken:
Bread your chicken as usual using a gluten-free breading, flour and egg. Instead of frying it, place it in a Pyrex baking dish and bake in the oven at 375 F. The time will depend on if you are making nuggets or whole chicken breasts. Nuggets should take no more than 20 minutes but a whole breast will take up to 45 minutes to bake through.
Other ways to bread:
You will see that the following Lemon-Pistachio Chicken recipe does not follow this way of breading. The recipe uses honey to coat the chicken in place of the flour and egg.
The other unusual thing about this recipe is that is calls for lemon zest in the breading. This is something you can try in other dishes, or if you’re in a hurry, you can simply squeeze lemon juice over the chicken after it’s finished cooking.
Other ways I have breaded fish or chicken is by skipping over the flour step and just using the egg and then bread crumbs.
I have also used coconut milk in place of the egg and it works well. I did this when I was avoiding eggs temporarily.
Whatever you try, have fun, and let me know if you discover a new way to bread!
LEMON-PISTACHIO CHICKEN over GREENS
From: unknown cooking magazine clipping
TOTAL TIME: 25 MINUTES * MAKES 4 SERVINGS
Ingredients:
¾ cup cornflakes, ground up crackers or almond meal
4 Tbsp shelled pistachios
1 tsp grated lemon rind
½ tsp salt
1.3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken tenders
1-2 Tbsp honey
1-2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
6 cups organic mixed salad greens
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp olive oil
Steps:
1. Combine cornflakes, pistachios, lemon zest and salt and blend
in a food processor until coarsely ground. Place in a shallow dish.
2. Brush each chicken tender with honey. Dredge each tender in
crumb mixture.
3. Heat a large nonstick skillet with the olive oil at medium
heat. Add the chicken tenders and sauté for 5 minutes on the first
side. Flip, lower heat to low-medium and cover the chicken. Cook
for another 5-10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Cut
chicken into 1-inch strips; set aside.
4. Place salad greens in large bowl and toss with lemon juice,
olive oil, salt to taste.
5. Place greens on plates and divide chicken evenly into four
portions.
Per Serving: 217 Calories; 5.6 g Fat; 29g Protein; 12g
Carbohydrate; 2.2g Dietary Fiber.
I invite your ideas and comments about gluten-free breading! Please leave a comment, a recipe, a link to a recipe of your’s or any other comments! Have a great day!
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