Double Crunch Honey Garlic Chicken

Here's a delicious chicken recipe from Rock Recipes that I pinned about a year ago.

Now, there are a few reasons why I rarely fry anything. The first is that I hate the smell it leaves in my apartment. The second is that I have to mop the kitchen floor immediately afterwards. And the third, is that fried food tastes good, and I don't want to be eating it all the time. But mostly I hate mopping.

I read some of the comments before I made it and desperately wanted to try using half flour and half cornstarch as someone suggested, to see if it would be extra crispy, but I was out of cornstarch. Next time!

Someone also suggested letting the chicken sit for 1/2 an hour after coating to let it get a bit gloopy, would make it even crispier. I tried it, but couldn't really tell the difference between the pieces that were gloopy and the ones that were less gloopy. They were both equally as crisp in the end.

I decided to cut my chicken into nugget and strip shapes, rather than just slicing the breasts in half. You could do that of course, but kids like smaller pieces and they can just pick them up and dip them.

I also adjusted the spices a bit, and will add even less sage next time. It was just too overpowering. I made less of the sauce and I drizzled it on top instead of dipping the chicken in, which turned out to be a good move, because this sauce is sweet! It was delicious and I loved it, but not so much that I wanted my chicken completely coated in it. My kids were not fond of the sauce and ate their chicken dipped in ketchup instead, and my husband doesn't like sweet sauces, which is the reason why I made less to begin with. For him, I placed the chicken on a toasted roll and mixed together some mayo with buffalo chicken sauce. Add lettuce and tomato and you end up with a crispy chicken sandwich that's so much better than take-out!

You could serve these with rice or whatever starch you want, but since the chicken is fried, I went with something a bit healthier for a side. My kids don't notice if I don't serve a starchy side. They don't mind eating fruit and veg. I tried serving the chicken with the sauce for dipping, but it didn't go over well. They preferred ketchup.

Double Crunch Honey Garlic Chicken
Adapted from Rock Recipes

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

• 2 large boneless skinless chicken breast halves, cut up as you wish
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground thyme
• 1 teaspoon ground sage (or less)
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 eggs
• 4 tbsp 2% milk
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• avocado (or unflavoured) oil for frying

Directions

1. In a shallow dish, combine the flour with all the herbs and spices and mix very well.
2. In another dish, beat the eggs with milk.
3. Coat the chicken pieces with the flour mixture, then with the egg mixture, and back into the flour mixture. The second time, press the flour into the chicken so it sticks well.
4. Set the chicken pieces aside while you make your sauce. They will get a bit gloopy, but as I said above, it made no difference to me.
5. To make the sauce, combine the garlic and oil and cook over medium heat for about 2 minutes until the garlic starts to cook. Don't let it brown though. Stir in the honey, soy sauce and pepper and simmer over medium low for about 10 minutes. I will thicken up. Stir it though, because it will bubble up.
6. Heat about 1/4" of oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Check to make sure the oil's hot enough by dropping a little bit of flour in. See if it bubbles.
7. Place the chicken pieces into the oil and cook for about 5 minutes per side or until crispy and cooked through. This will depend on the thickness of your pieces. I did 3 batches as all the pieces wouldn't fit into the pan at once. Set them on a rack to let any excess oil drip off between batches.
8. Serve with a drizzle of sauce.