Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich

 I promised this one awhile ago, but I can assure you, it was worth the wait. I've already shared my love of Chick-fil-A with the nuggets, but my favorite has always been their original Chicken Sandwich. I found this copycat recipe, and we had to try it. YUM! Looking back, I can't completely remember if these tasted just like the real sandwich. I think they were a great imitation, regardless. One thing I am changing is pounding the chicken breast very thin. I know that it takes longer to cook through, but one of the great things about the Chick-fil-A sandwich is that it's a little thicker and juicier than your average chicken sandwich. We each had two sandwiches to try, one that was pounded thin, and one that was a little thicker. The thicker sandwich won hands down. So, pound it a little bit, but don't go overboard, and then just check to make sure it's cooked through. And again, use a good thermometer. You want to keep your temperature just right so you don't either burn the chicken or soak up too much oil.

Printable Recipe

Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich

from From Away

2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
Kosher salt and ground pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
Oil, for frying (Peanut or Canola)
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup whole-wheat flour
1 tablespoon dry milk
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1 sour pickle, cut into eight slices
4 soft hamburger buns, split (Potato buns complimented the chicken very well)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Cut the chicken breast in half horizontally, to make 4 thin pieces.

Place each piece between wax paper, and pound slightly with a mallet.

Season the chicken with 1 teaspoon kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon paprika.

In a shallow baking dish, whisk together egg, milk, and 2 tablespoons water.

In another baking dish, whisk together both types of flour, dry milk, powdered sugar, baking soda, dry mustard, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon paprika, and 1 teaspoon each salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, heat about two inches of oil to 325 degrees in a heavy-bottomed pot or cast iron skillet.

While oil heats, slice pickle, and set aside.

Working in batches, dip chicken in the egg mixture, turning to coat, then dredge in flour mixture and shake off any excess.

Fry the chicken in hot oil, using a candy thermometer to monitor oil temperature, until golden brown, about 4 minutes. Drain on paper towels.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat.

Spread the cut side of the buns with some butter, and lightly toast in the skillet, buttered-side down.

To assemble sandwiches, spread grilled buns with more butter, dip 2 pickle slices in jarred pickle juice to moisten and place on the bottom bun.

Top with a piece of fried chicken and the bun top.

Serve with: Fries, Mixed Vegetables

General Tso's Chicken

We made this for dinner last night, and wow! (Like, I had to go back for a third helping while I was writing this up.) I love that I'm slowly stockpiling amazing recipes for our favorite Chinese foods, but at the same time, I'm making it impossible to ever again eat at a Chinese restaurant. The all-you-can-eat $6.99 buffet isn't going to cut it anymore. I'm almost afraid to make the spring roll recipe from a Vietnamese grandmother (not mine, another blogger's). Do I have time to make my own spring rolls if I realize I can never go back? Yeah, I know, my first world problems. And the blog I got this from--awesome! I've tried several of their recipes and they have all been amazing. It's written by a married couple who alternate posting recipes (how cool is that), and they sound just like what I want to be--living in a 100-year-old farmhouse in Maine, raising goats, cooking and eating. Sign me up!

This one is a little spicy. Not crazy spicy, but I'd bet it's more of an adult meal. Fine by me because we got to eat it all! I'm used to a sweeter version in restaurants, but this was way better with just a hint of sweetness to it.

Sorry there are so many random ingredients in this one, though. We're very blessed to have an amazing International section at the Commissary, so I didn't have trouble finding them. They're actually pretty common ingredients for many of the Asian recipes I've been saving lately, so I didn't mind trying some new things since I'll be using them often instead of letting it take up space on my fridge door. Hope you feel the same way and can find them all just as easily!  

I did have to make a few changes again. I substituted apple juice for the sherry (I read somewhere that you can use vanilla extract too, but I wasn't sure what that would taste like). And I did cut down the hoisin sauce to 1 tablespoon. I have only made one other meal with hoisin sauce, and I made the mistake of smelling it straight from the jar. I truly thought I was going to die. Fermented soybeans do not smell good. Who knew? I couldn't get the smell out of my nose, and I hated the whole meal because all I could taste was the hoisin sauce. I wasn't going to ruin this one by putting in that much. I think one tablespoon flavored it perfectly this time. I could still pick out the flavor, but in a good way. So, if you're not used to cooking with hoisin sauce either, I'd stick to the 1 tablespoon. And don't smell it. I also didn't have any scallions or even green onions. (I had to start over my jar of never-ending green onions. Long story.) Ridiculous, I know, but that's why they're missing from the picture. Next time!

Printable Recipe

General Tso’s Chicken

 from From Away

3 large boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized chunk

2 tablespoons dry white sherry or apple juice

1/4 cup chicken stock or broth

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

1 tablespoon hoisin sauce

2 teaspoon Sriracha sauce (it's a kind of hot sauce)

2 teaspoons sesame oil

3 tablespoons sugar

1/3 cup + 2 teaspoons cornstarch, divided

Peanut oil, for frying (I used canola oil like always)

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced, or 1/4 tsp dried

6-8 “Japonese” dried red whole chilis (ours were with the Hispanic foods in a HUGE bag)

3 scallions, white and green parts, cut into half-inch chunks

Steamed rice (we used 4 cups prepared)

In a large bowl, toss chicken chunks with sherry and a pinch of salt, and set aside to marinate for 15 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine chicken stock, soy sauce, vinegar, hoisin, Sriracha, sesame oil, sugar, and 2 teaspoons of the cornstarch. Stir until smooth.

When ready to cook, drain chicken, then toss to coat evenly with remaining 1/3 cup of cornstarch. Chicken should have a dry coating of cornstarch; add a little more if coating seems moist.

In a wok or a large skillet over medium heat, bring oil to 325 degrees. Add chicken in batches and cook, stirring often, until chicken is brown on all sides, about 4-5 minutes. (It took me four batches to cook it all. The meat will cook more evenly if you don't overload your wok.)

When each batch is done, remove from wok and drain on paper towels.

Pour most of the oil out of the skillet, until only a thin coating remains in the pan.

Add garlic and ginger to pan and stir until fragrant, about 15 seconds.

Add whole chilies, chicken pieces, and scallion pieces, and toss to combine.

Add sauce and simmer, stirring constantly, until sauce thickens, becomes shiny, and evenly coats chicken.

Top with more sliced scallions and serve immediately with steamed rice.

Makes 4 or 5 servings


Serve with: Egg Rolls

Chick-fil-A Chicken Nuggets

I hardly ever fry foods. No matter how good a recipe looks, if I see anything about frying, ninety percent of the time I will just keep on moving. But this one stopped me, mostly because some people compared it to Chick-fil-A. Ah, Chick-fil-A. I could move into your restaurant in a moment's notice. It's probably best that the closest one is just under 3,000 miles away. I don't know what they do to their chicken, but yum. So when I found recipes for their nuggets and their sandwiches, I had to try them out. I actually don't think I've ever had their chicken nuggets (I love their chicken sandwich too much to stray), but I imagine this is a close rendition. I love them plain, but my husband made some fry sauce to dip them in, and that was pretty dang good too. Honey, ketchup, barbecue sauce, however you want to do it, just as long as you make up a batch soon so you know what you've been missing.

As a sidenote, I know they say peanut oil is best when frying foods. I bought peanut oil for this recipe, I even poured it in the pan, but I immediately poured it back in the bottle when I realized I would have to use the whole expensive bottle for one recipe. I couldn't do it. I almost always use canola oil, and we like how everything turns out. My only suggestion it to use a good thermometer. It's very important to keep your oil right around 375 degrees. If it's too high, your food will burn instead of cook evenly. And if it's too low, it will soak up the oil and become greasy and fatty. (Thank you Alton Brown and Good Eats!)

Printable Recipe

 Chick-fil-A Chicken Nuggets

from My Name is Snickerdoodle

3 skinless and boneless chicken breasts

1 cup milk

1 egg

1 1/4 cups flour

2 TBSP powdered sugar

2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

Peanut oil (is best) or canola oil

In a medium bowl whisk the egg and stir in the milk.

Trim any fat away from chicken. Cube chicken into bite size pieces.

Place chicken in milk mixture and cover. Let it marinate for 2-4 hours in the fridge. This will make the chicken very nice and tender.

In a gallon size resealable baggie (or I prefer using a large Tupperware container that I can shake everything around in), combine flour, powdered sugar, salt and pepper. Seal and shake to combine.

Place about 2 inches of oil in a wok or a medium deep pot. Over medium high heat (more towards the high side) heat oil until hot. If using a thermometer let the temperature reach 375°. (If you don't have a thermometer, you can test the oil by dropping a few drops of water into it. You want it to sizzle and not pop too much.) Adjust your heat if necessary throughout cooking.

Using a fork or tongs remove cut chicken from milk mixture and place in the flour mixture. (Don't pat the chicken dry. I tried this last time, and the flour mixture didn't stick very well to the chicken, so I lost a lot of flavor.) Seal and shake until nuggets are completely coated.

Place about a 6-8 nuggets into hot oil and let them cook until golden brown, turning half way through once the edge of your chicken starts to turn white. It should take about 1 minute each side. Always double check to see if any chicken you make is cooked through.

Remove and drain on a paper towel. Repeat until all nuggets are cooked. (I keep a cookie sheet in the oven and turn it on warm. Once the nuggets have drained, I keep the done ones in there while the rest are cooking.)

Makes 6 servings.


Serve with: Favorite Sauce, Macaroni and Cheese, Mixed Vegetables