Tools:
1 pkg Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts (I buy all natural ones, not sure how much better they are than Purdue brand but it makes me feel better. I bought mine on sale for $1.99/lb today, not bad!)
1 pint Buttermilk (yes that is the little carton)
3 cups Flour (you can sub whole wheat flour if you prefer)
1 pkg Powder Ranch (don't judge, I am convinced it is the "Secret Spices" in KFC)
3 cups+/- Veg oil (you can use Crisco if you don't mind the added fat, they will be more crispy)
Start by cleaning your chicken and cutting it into strips about as thick as your thumb and as long as your finger. Put them into a Ziploc bag with the buttermilk. I suggest doing this the night before when the kids are in bed for 2 reasons. 1) The buttermilk soaks into the chicken and tenderizes and flavors it 2) You don't have an emotional, whining 2yr old pulling on your pant leg while you have chicken all over your hands.
In a large Tupperware combine flour and ranch pack, add black pepper and 3 pinches of salt (I ONLY use kosher salt when I cook, it has crystals large enough to pinch. It will seem odd at first but trust me NO professional chef uses that iodized suff home chefs use). Remove chicken from bag and bury in the flour mix, this way the wet chicken keep absorbing the flour mix until you are ready to put it in the pan. The more flour the chicken collects the thicker and crispier the coating will be.
Now that you have all the chicken buried in the flour mix. Start heating the oil in the heaviest shallow pan you have (we will talk more about the importance of having quality pans another time). The oil should be about 1 inch deep and the heat should be on medium high. The oil is hot enough when you flick flour from your fingers into it and the flour sizzles on the oil. Start taking the chicken out of the flour and gently shake of extra flour, Slowly dip them into the oil. Watch your oil temp. The chicken should be gently bubbling. If it is spitting hot oil at you, turn it down; if it isn't bubbling quickly, turn it up. NEVER SHOULD IT SMOKE!
Gently turn chicken over when you see the sides are starting to turn golden brown. When both sides are brown, they are done! Drain on paper towels. Crack open a few of the larger ones to insure that they are cooked fully (I have yet to have a golden brown piece of chicken that isn't cooked though)
Notes:
2lbs of chicken made about 20ea chicken fingers
I told you this blog would be about healthier, home made versions of that crappy frozen stuff. I never claimed it was HEALTH food. I use real butter and oil, but the natural kinds...your body knows what to do with it, unlike processed foods that your body doesn't know how to process.
Next time you go to buy processed, frozen chicken fingers check the bag. Chances are they are made out of Machine Separated Meat that has been glued back together! For less $ you have REAL chicken fingers that you can be sure there are no unnatural chemicals in them.
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