Really easy Chicken Strips

There are a lot of days, when i want to make something for dinner for Chris and I, but i want something simple and quick. Chris works nights from 6 pm to 6 am, and a lot of times i am just coming home from work when he is just waking up, or I'll wake up before him and have time to cook. I have never made my own chicken strips before, and I don't know why, but I have always just gotten the Tyson bag ones or something like that.

Well these are really easy and quick.

This recipe I read about online, I don't remember where, but if I did, I would link it. Well they used mayo as a coating to hold the breading versus an eggwash or egg/milk. It was very different, but I gave it a shot.

First, I seasoned the chicken tenders with salt and pepper on both sides, then placed the tenders in a bowl with 3 Tablespoons of mayonnaise, one teaspoon of garlic powder, one teaspoon of onion powder, one teaspoon of paprika, and a bit more salt and pepper. I mixed it up well. 

I only had a small amount of panko on hand, and I wanted to make this dish a bit healthier, so i decided to grind up instant oats, yes you read that right, oats. I ground up instant Quaker oats in a small spice grinder, and then added it to the pank mix. I mixed it up well and then began to evenly coat the mayonnaise covered chicken. 

It is best to coat these one at a time. I used the spoon that was used to mix them with the mayonnaise to lift them out of that bowl and into the panko/oatmeal. Once they were covered a good bit, you can use your hands to make sure it's evenly on the chicken.

I lined my baking sheet (yes, i am baking these chicken strips as opposed to frying) with aluminium foil, for easy cleanup later. Before placing the chicken on the foil, I sprayed it with a generous coating of nonstick spray. Although we are baking them to be a bit healthier, we still want to get a crisp on them.

You can drizzle a small amount of butter on the tops of the strips to get them crispier, if you want. These are going to bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, but you are going to want to flip them halfway through, so at 15 minutes, flip them.

The above is the end result, you can make a dipping sauce with these, a honey mustard, or just dip them in ketchup, bbq sauce, or hot sauce.  We ended up making some mashed potatoes with these, and mixed them, you know sort of like the KFC chicken bowls.