#23) Honey-Chipotle Chicken Crispers

This recipe if from Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 3 and is the second dish from Recipe Lottery #3. As I mentioned before a few times, I’m a huge fan of this series of books and highly recommend it.  You can also go to his web site at http://www.topsecretrecipes.com where he has a ton of recipes from his books available for free.  This chicken crispers recipe is from the Chili’s chain.

Honey Chipotle Sauce

• 2/3 cup honey
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1 tbsp white vinegar
• 2 tsp chipotle chile powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

Just mix everything in a sauce pan over medium heat until it bubbles then reduce the heat and let it simmer for 2 minutes.  Then remove from heat and put it in a bowl big enough to toss the chicken strips in.

Heat your deep fryer (or deep pot with thermometer) with vegetable oil to 350 to 360F.

Batter

• 1 beaten egg
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 tbsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 3/4 cup flour

Mix everything together except for the flour in a bowl and whisk for 30 seconds.  Then add the flour.

Breading

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 tbsp salt
• 3/4 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder

Mix everything together to make the breading.

When ready dip the chicken tenderloins or sliced up chicken breast (cut in long strips) into the batter and then toss into the breading.  Fry these in the oil for 4 to 5 minutes and then drain on paper towels.  Make sure you don’t put in too many at once since this drops the oil temperature very quickly and makes the food oily.

The last step is tossing the chicken into the honey-chipotle sauce

I’m all about the sauce on this dish – lots of sweet and lots of heat, two of my favorite things!  I’ll definitely be making that sauce again but the actual chicken crispers were not as good as my method for chicken strips that my kids request by asking for “Daddy’s Famous Chicken Strips”.  Todd Wilbur recreates the originals so this isn’t a knock on his clone recipe since I’m sure it tastes almost exactly like the Chili’s version.  My method takes more planning and time but it is still simple, fool proof and it tastes really good.  Here is my recipe for chicken strips, made dozens of times over the past year:

Daddy’s (Me) Famous Chicken Strips

Egg Mixture

• 1 beaten egg
• 1 cup milk

Dry Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground pepper
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper (I usually skip this because my son complains about his mouth being on fire!)
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp paprika

Cut your chicken breasts into strips  and dip each piece in the egg mixture and then the dry ingredients.  Put them back in the egg mixture and then back into the dry ingredients a second time.  Take all of your double coated chicken strips and put them in the fridge for about 20 minutes or more.  At this time get your vegetable oil up to 375F and by the time it gets there your chicken should have cooled enough.  The reason you put it in the fridge is so that the breading better adheres to the chicken.

Here is a great tip I learned that I’d like to pass on.  If you are doing something that is going to make a mess, like double breading chicken strips, just cover your entire surface area with newspaper.  Once you are done preparing the chicken you can scrunch up the newspaper and throw it away leaving a perfectly clean counter!

Fry for 5 to 6 minutes and keep each completed batch in an oven set at 200F to keep them warm.  Once they are all done you can choose a bunch of different sauces (make sure you heat them up if they are cold) and coat each strip in one of the sauces or they are also great plain with a little salt.

Roy