Paleo Chicken Fingers
January 16, 2012 in Lunchbox Foods, Meat and Poultry, Proteins
What kid doesn’t like chicken fingers? I’ve experimented with a few different techniques, trying to find one that yields a nice “breading” while being easy enough to tackle for a meal mid-week. My kids like this seasoning mix, but if yours is super sensitive to spice, you might want to leave out the coriander and cumin. Or maybe add your favorite spice instead!
Ingredients:
- 1 lb chicken tenders (or skinless chicken breast, cut into strips)
- 1 egg, beaten
- ½ cup Almond Meal
- ½ tsp Salt
- ¾ tsp Paprika
- ¼ tsp Ground Coriander Seed
- ¼ tsp Ground Cumin Seed
1. Preheat oven to 425F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Combine almond meal with spices on a plate or shallow dish. Place beaten egg in a separate shallow dish.
3. Dry chicken with paper towel. Dip in egg then dip in almond meal mixture, coating all sides. Place on baking sheet. Repeat until all chicken tenders are coated.
4. Bake for 16-18 minutes, turning once in the middle of baking, until completely cooked (interior temperature should read 180F).
Do you need help finding any ingredients? Check out Important Pantry Items for the Paleo Baker.
And now to find almond meal…I wonder if a mortar and pesel would make then fine enough? It looks great!
Trader Joe’s has an inexpensive raw, natural almond meal in their baking aisle. You can also make almond meal by pulsing whole, raw almonds in a food processor or blender. I think a mortar and pestle would work too, if you’re patient!
Can’t wait to try these! I’m assuming almond meal is the same thing as almond flour, aka ground almonds?
Almond meal is typically a little bit coarser than almond flour, but almond flour should work with this recipe.
Thanks for the reply! I’ll try it with almond flour, since that is what I have on hand. If they turn don’t out very well, I’ll get some meal. This recipe looks too, too awesome not to try a few times!
Just made these tonight and they are fantastic! Better than any nugget we have tried at home using traditional bread crumb recipes. And browner, which makes them look better, too. Thank you!
Thank you! You just totally made my day!
We tried these last night and they got 2 thumbs up from the kids! We’ll definitely be making these again
-Jennifer K
I’ve made these twice now and my family LOVES them. My only changes: used almond flour instead of almond meal (that’s what I had on hand) and subbed garlic powder for the coriander and cumin. They look fantastic and taste great, too What an easy, wonderful recipe. Thank you, thank you!
I made these tonight but didn’t have almond meal – I used ground flax and added some unsweetened coconut too. DELISH!!!
Schnitzel is a popular staple in my home. Just this year I started using a recipe like this for chicken, pork and even beef. (beef wasnt a huge hit.) Almond meal is so, so, so good! My kids are almost done hating me for not letting them eat homemade pizza all the time.
Wondering if you can make these and freeze some for later?
I haven’t tried it, but I definitely think that it would work to freeze them.
Just made these for an office party and they are awesome! I am sure they will be a hit tomorrow, now I just have to keep husband out of them until the morning. Thanks!
I just blogged about this recipe and how awesome it is! I gave you full credit so hopefully you will get some new followers!
http://fitmomsfullplates.wordpress.com/recipes-we-love/
Thank you for such an easy recipe that my picky daughter and husband actually like! I love that my daughter will actually ask for these and it gets her to eat some meat
This recipe looks YUMMY!! I am not able to eat almonds…what would you recommend using instead of almond meal or flour. I have noticed that several of your recipes call for the use of those ingredients.
I think ground pumpkin seeds would be really yummy. You could also do a custom mix of your favorite nuts and seeds. I do have lots of recipes using almond meal and almond flour, but my more recent recipes tend not to (since I can’t eat almonds myself).
I made some for dinner tonight and my husband and I loved them! We had them with honey mustard dressing and they were amazing! Thanks for posting…am very inspired by your recipes!
[...] http://www.thepaleomom.com/2012/01/recipe-paleo-chicken-fingers.html [...]
I made them omitting the cumin, ’cause we are not so used to it…. they were really tasty
We ate it with sun dried tomato dip!
My family loved these! I wasn’t so sure that they would be a hit since the spice combination was a little different than they are used to, but was a hit.. I doubled the recipe and the four us ate them all.
Made these for dinner tonight – fantastic! My husband and 4-year-old son gobbled them up.
My kids hate new things. I have seen many versions of paleo chicken fingers but they usually involve frying, which I prefer not to do. A friend of mine shared this site and I was in a pinch so I tried these. I was worried because my kids don’t really like spices much…but these were awesome! I love them and my kids asked for seconds, which NEVER happens!
I need to make this for Mr Picky!
These were great!!!! My kids loved them as did us adults! I’m pretty sure they beat any others…paleo or not! Will be on our “Make frequently” list!
Is there a flour substitute for almond flour or meal? I’m trying to get everyone switched to paleo cooking but we have a nut allergy in our family and it seems hard to make these recipes without any type of nuts.
Thanks!
You could easily make this with ground seeds.
This looks so yummy. Any ideas for what to use in place off the egg? Unfortunately, I can’t eat them
Thanks for all that you do and your dedication to this site!
You could try without the egg… You’ll end up with a different texture and the breading mit not stick as well, but it should still taste good.
Thank you so much for this recipe! I used garlic powder instead of the spices and added parmesan cheese into the mix. My kids loved it and it tasted like a cheat meal to me
Will be making these a lot!
I’m just working on getting my family to eat Paleo. I have two toddlers who are extremely difficult to get them to eat. Mostly too busy, but often picky. They did ok with these tonight, I thought they were very good, however, I noticed that no one talked about “crunch”, mine didn’t really seem to get a good crust. Thoughts? maybe that is just how they turn out but I figured I would ask. Thanks for the recipes!
These aren’t really crunchy when I make them. You’d probably have to deep fry them for more crunch.
Could you use Coconut Flour instead of Almond? Hubby is allergic to most nuts.
I would try finely shredded coconut instead of coconut flour. Also, ground pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds would be a great alternative.
I have made this twice and each time when I take it out of the oven to flip the pieces over, there is a lot of liquid/ water released by the chicken that I have to soak it up with paper towels before placing it down again. They seemed dry to me before I dipped them in the egg and almond meal mixture. They were fresh, not frozen chicken breasts. They would have been soggy and wet if I didn’t soak it up but turned out good. Any idea why that is happening?
I had the same problem as Elizabeth with the extra fluid coming out during baking. I just lived with it. These did not come out crunchy like a chicken “nugget” but they did turn out like a nice breaded piece of chicken. I used whole boneless/skinless thighs to make this. Everyone in my family REALLY liked them! Oh, and I added a bit of finely shredded coconut to see if that would help with the crunchiness, which it didn’t. The taste of the seasonings was right on, we loved it.