Lemon Thyme Chicken Strips - Citrus Blog Hop

I've been wanting to incorporate a regular section of the blog where I take premade, commonly used grocery items and demystify them in the hopes of helping readers avoid all of those nasty extra ingredients.  Chicken nuggets, strips, fingers, (or whatever they are called because I'm pretty sure a chicken possesses no parts by those names), was on my list, along with a whole host of other go-to products. I just need a fun name for the series of posts and I'm stumped.  If you've got suggestions, I'll gladly take them.  For  now, I'll keep filing the recipes under "Helpers" in the tabs.

Since citrus is January's blog hop theme, and chicken tastes great with lemon, and lemon works well with thyme, and all three are amazing with garlic, I decided now would be a great time to get started by explaining how to skip the bags of frozen breaded chicken, which are bogged down with a lot of ingredients and oils we don't want or need.  Making your own chicken strips is silly easy.  You can use precut chicken tenderloin or deboned chicken breasts.  If you use the chicken breast, you will need to cut it lengthwise into 3/4" - 1" strips.

Once you have the chicken, you will then need something wet so the breading will stick to the chicken; in this recipe, I used egg and lemon juice and then added other flavorings.  For the wet stage, you can add pretty much any flavors you like, such as garlic, hot sauce, soy sauce, lime juice, or even milk, or mayonnaise and mustard.

The next stage is the breading.  For that, you can use anything from your own  homemade breadcrumbs (which is what I did in this recipe) to flour and cornmeal to crushed crackers or cereals; each will give a different final texture, but all will be crunchy.  However, if you do decide to purchase those things, be sure to read the label - you might be surprised at how many useless ingredients some companies can pack into something as basic as breadcrumbs.  To your breading of choice, add various seasonings that sound good to you, such as Parmesan cheese, dried herbs like Italian seasoning or thyme, or spices such as cayenne, and definitely salt and pepper.  The combinations can be as classic or as unique as you like.

Once all of those things have been decided and arranged in their own separate shallow bowls, simply dip your chicken strips into the wet mixture, shake off any excess so it doesn't sog the breading (remember, the main purpose of the wet ingredients to get the breading to stick to the chicken), dredge in the breading mixture, place them on a baking tray, drizzle them with melted butter or olive oil, and bake them.

Easy.  It's really just a matter of owning two shallow bowls for dredging and then coming up with what sounds good to you.  If you have children, they seem to like the repetition of the preparation a great deal, so it's a great way to teach them how to make their own chicken strips (or "nuggets", if you cut the pieces smaller) and get them involved in making dinner or lunch.

Please don't laugh at my macaroni and cheese in the picture above; I desperately wanted mac & cheese, but found I only had a few ounces of several different types of pasta left over, so I decided I didn't care how it looked, and put them all together.  It still tasted exactly like macaroni and cheese (surprise, surprise), and I was most satisfied.

For more delicious citrus themed recipes, be sure to check below this recipe for a list of all my awesome #citruslove blog hop co-hosts this month, as well as all the recipes listed beneath!

Lemon Thyme Chicken Strips with Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce/Dressing
serves 6

• 3 garlic cloves, pressed
• 2 Tbs fresh lemon juice
• 2 Tbs water
• 1 Tbs Dijon mustard
• 1 egg
• 1 1/4 c whole wheat bread crumbs
• 2 Tbs lemon zest (from an organic lemon)
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 lbs organic chicken tenders OR boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 3/4" strips
• 2 Tbs olive oil (for drizzling)
• Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce, optional (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 425F.  Lightly oil 2 baking sheets.

In a shallow bowl whisk together the garlic, lemon juice, water, mustard, and egg.

In another shallow bowl, mix together the bread crumbs, lemon zest, thyme, paprika, salt, and pepper.

Dredge chicken in egg mixture, press into bread crumb mixture, turning to coat completely.  Place on prepared sheets.

Drizzle with olive oil.

No judging the state of my baking sheets!

Bake 13-15 minutes, or until the bottom is crispy and golden, and the breading does not stick when turned.  Flip them over and bake another 7-10 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink.

Serve with honey mustard dipping sauce.

Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce/Dressing

• 1/3 cup homemade (or very good quality) mayonnaise
• 2 Tbs raw honey
• 1 Tbs Dijon or stone ground mustard
• 2 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp prepared horseradish
• salt and pepper to taste

Whisk all ingredients together until well mixed.  Serve with chicken strips, or drizzle on salad greens.




Please join in on the #citruslove fun by linking up any citrus recipe from the month of January 2012.  Don't forget to link back to this post so that your readers know to stop by the #citruslove event!  The twitter hashtag is #citruslove.

Citruslove Blog Hop Co-Hosts

A Little Bit of Everything ~ Roxana ~ @RoxanaGreenGirl

Astig Vegan ~ Richgail ~ @AstigVegan

Baker Street ~ Anuradha ~ @bakerstreet29

BigFatBaker ~ Erin ~ @BigFatBaker

CafeTerraBlog ~ Terra ~ @CafeTerraBlog

Cake Duchess ~ Lora ~ @cakeduchess

Cakeballs, Cookies and More ~ Sue

Easily Good Eats

Elephant Eats ~ Amy

Georgiecakes ~ Georgie ~ @georgiecakes

Hobby And More ~ Richa ~ @betit19

Mike's Baking ~ Mike ~ @mikesbaking

Mis Pensamientos ~ Junia ~ @juniakk

No One Likes Crumbley Cookies ~ TR ~ @TRCrumbley

Oh Cake ~ Jessica ~ @jesshose

Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives ~ Lisa ~ @parsleynsage

Peaches and Donuts ~ Sylvia ~ @PeachesandDonut

Savoring Every Bite ~ Linda ~ @Spicegirlfla

Simply Reem ~ Reem ~ @simplyreem

Smart Food and Fit ~ Lisa ~ @LisaNutrition

Soni's Food for Thought ~ Soni ~ @sonisfood 

Teaspoon of Spice ~ Serena ~ @tspcurry
That Skinny Chick Can Bake ~ Liz ~ @Thatskinnychick

The Art of Cooking Real Food ~ Laura ~ @TAofCRF

The More Than Occasional Baker ~ Ros ~ @bakingaddict

The Spicy RD ~ EA ~ @thespicyrd  

The Wimpy Vegetarian ~ Susan ~ @wimpyvegetarian

Vegan Yack Attack! ~ Jackie ~ @veganyackattack

Vegetarian Mamma  ~ Cindy ~ @VegetarianMamma

You Made That? ~  Suzanne ~ @YouMadeThatblog