Background
Sometime early in the day, I took out chicken breasts to thaw. Tossing them in the microwave - the one place we found we can let meat thaw without cats getting at it - I made a mental note, "at some point today, I should figure out what to do with this." And then, magically, it was 5:30. Crunch time. Having recently being diagnosed with gestational diabetes, recipes have become a bit more restricted, but I felt confident I could come up with something using my tried-and-true "rummaging through the fridge" technique. What was that? Some Buffalo Wild Wings Spicy Garlic sauce, and what do you know, it had a very, very small amount of carbs. Bingo! I set to work, thinking about several other recipes I'd made in the past and combined things to come up with this one.
Thing is, it didn't turn out as awesome as I would have liked. But I think it's important to admit that to you, and to myself. It's all part of the process of cooking. Sometimes we're not awesome, folks. And it's really okay. How not awesome was I? Well, I lost most of the spicy garlic buffalo taste, so fairly. Not to worry, we still ate it and it was still delicious with a tangy aftertaste, just not what I intended. Dipped in additional sauce, it was outstanding. I will include some thoughts on modification below the recipe.
Ingredients
1 whole boneless, skin-on chicken breast, cut in half
2 T. Buffalo Wild Wings Spicy Garlic sauce (or other favorite buffalo sauce - this one is dairy-free)
1T. extra virgin olive oil
1/8 C. bread crumbs
Italian seasoning
Tarragon
Salt
Pepper
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash chicken breasts and pat dry. In a bowl large enough to dip each breast in, whisk buffalo sauce and olive oil together. On a small plate, mix bread crumbs and seasonings (to taste - I added the tarragon for sweetness… I actually wanted basil, but was out - how did that happen??). Dip both sides of each chicken breast into the sauce mixture and then dip skin side into bread crumbs. Place in baking pan, skin side up. If you have extra bread crumb mixture, sprinkle or pat onto chicken breasts. Bake in center of oven 20-30 minutes (depending on thickness of chicken breasts), until juices run clear and meat is cooked through (no pink).
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| Accompanied with Easy Garlic Aioli (below) |
Notes
As mentioned above, I lost a lot of buffalo flavor in the cooking process. The next time I make this dish, I will try one of the following:
• omit mixing the olive oil with the buffalo sauce. I did this because I thought it would coat better, but I fear it just diluted the flavor
• poke chicken breasts with a fork and let them marinate in the buffalo sauce/olive oil mixture for a few hours before dipping in bread crumbs
1/2 C. light mayo
1 heaping teaspoon chopped garlic (I used the jar stuff because I'm simply exhausted)
1 T. lemon juice (or juice from one lemon from our tree - which are somehow super potent)
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper (or both seasonings to taste)
Mix ingredients together, cover and let sit in fridge for at least half an hour.
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