Spicy Cauliflour Buffalo Bites & Chicken Strips

As a mom, wife, and someone who is always thinking about ways to eat cleaner, I still want to eat tastey food. When my husband I first got married I had little to no kitchen experience. The role of "wifey" was a new title. I wasn't use to having to prepare meals for other people other than myself. I stumbled upon a great blogger who I still look to for new recipe ideas. Budget Bytes. She breaks the cost of the dish down by the cost per serving. A great way to keep your budget in check, and she has some really great recipes. I had made her baked chicken strips before and homemade honey mustard dipping sauce - TO DIE FOR! This was our Sunday night meal: Panko dregged chicken strips with honey mustard dipping sauce and spicy cauliflour buffalo bites. I found the recipe for the cauliflour on Pinterest.

Chicken Strips: Adapted from Budget Bytes

Ingredients

• 2 lg. chicken breasts
• 1 cup mayonnaise (I used MiracleWhip Olive Oil - a little less calories)
• ⅓ cup honey (I used what I had in fridge - a little spicy mustard, a little yellow, & a dash of honey mustard.)
• ¼ cup mustard (any variety)
• ¼ tsp garlic powder
• ¼ tsp paprika (I was out of paprika so I combined 1 tsp of ground cayanne peper and 1/2 tsp of black pepper)
• to taste salt and pepper
• 2 cups panko bread crumbs (you can always use corn flakes too!)

 

 

Instructions

1. In a bowl, combine the mayonnaise, mustard, honey, garlic powder, paprika, and some freshly ground black pepper. Stir until everything is evenly combined then taste and season with salt to your liking. Divide the sauce into two portions. Half will be the marinade and half will be the dipping sauce – it MUST stay separate. Keep the sauce refrigerated until ready to use.
2. Trim the chicken breasts of excess fat and slice diagonally into ½ inch thick strips. You should get about 14-16 strips total. Place the sliced chicken in a bag or bowl with half of the honey mustard sauce and stir to coat. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or over night.
3. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Prepare a dredging station by lining a large baking sheet with foil and then placing two wire cooling racks on top. The wire racks keep the strips lifted as they bake so that the bottoms will crisp too. Coat the wire racks with non-stick spray. Pour the panko crumbs into a wide, shallow bowl.
4. One by one, coat the chicken strips with panko crumbs. Do not wipe off excess honey mustard sauce before coating with panko, the sauce helps it adhere. Place the strips on the wire rack as you bread them. Continue until all of the strips are coated with panko crumbs. Discard the leftover honey mustard sauce that the chicken was marinating in.
5. Bake the chicken strips in the oven until the crumbs have turned golden brown (about 30 minutes). To Fry: Alternatively, heat about ½ inch of vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until the surface of the oil looks wavy. Fry a few strips at a time on each side until they are golden brown and crispy. Drain on a plate covered with paper towels.
6. Serve warm with the reserved half of the honey mustard sauce.

 

 

Spicy Cauliflour Buffalo Bites

 

Ingredients

• 1 head cauliflower
• For the batter:
• Dash of Frank’s Original Hot Sauce, or whatever kind you like
• ½ c. white rice flour
• ½ c. water
• Pinch salt
• For the Buffalo sauce:
• ¼ c. Frank’s Hot Sauce
• ¼ c. oil, canola oil works best
• Pinch salt

***I didn't have rice flour so I used regular All-Purpose Flour. I had to make the batter twice. I might water it down a little more next time.

 

For the sauce I only had olive oil on hand, it worked just fine.***

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Mix together the batter ingredients in a small bowl. Dip the cauliflower in the batter until coated evenly then place on greased baking sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes or until the batter hardens.
2. Mix together sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Once the cauliflower are done baking, brush them with the hot sauce mixture and bake again for a few more minutes, until cauliflower is crispy.
3. Remove from oven. You may want to add a bit more buffalo sauce to taste.
4. Enjoy!

 

 

Here is another version from SkinnyTaste!

 

Everything was a huge hit! My husband said he would like for me to make the cauliflour again. Remember to not cut the chicken strips too thin. If you do make them small, adjust the baking time so they won't dry out.

 

Hope you enjoy a healthy meal with your family!