Coconut Chicken

I want to share with you one of our new favorite dishes. Coconut Chicken. This one even makes my picky boy raise his eyes towards heaven and sigh, "You make some good chicken, Mom."

High praise. If you only knew his eating habits....Though maybe you have one like him at home.

This recipe is gluten free, low carb and extra delicious.It is similar to a Parmesan Chicken dish I make (which is also a family favorite), but I have adapted this one to meet our current dietary needs.

I got a huge package of chicken breasts marked down at Aldi's this week. The breasts themselves were ginormous! I cut two of them in half to make four large pieces.

Other people have proper meat cleavers. Not me. I'm too cool for that. I have darling vintage juice glasses which do the job efficiently. Though remind me to at least take the chipped polish off my nails if I'm going to take a picture of my hand next time. 

Anyhoo. I pounded the chicken out. Who needs therapy? Just take your frustrations out on a piece of chicken. It will save you a fortune. 

 In one bowl I beat an egg or two. I actually beat two, but how many you want to beat is up to you. It depends on how big your eggs are. My eggs were kind of wimpy. I needed two. I also use buttermilk quite a bit as a first coating for my chicken. 

In another dish (a pie plate, actually), I mixed 1/2 cup of almond meal flour, 1/2 cup of shredded coconut, about 1 or 2 tsp. of red pepper flakes, a dash of salt and a dash of pepper. If you don't think your family can take the heat, you can leave the pepper flakes out. Josiah didn't even mention the heat. I think it adds a wonderful foil to the sweet coconut.

I dipped my pounded chicken breasts into my egg.

And then into the almond flour mixture. I made sure that both sides were covered adequately. You can't let one side think you are favoring it for the other!

I then placed them on my baking sheet. This is a pampered chef pan and I did spray it lightly with my cooking spray. I don't know if it would have been necessary, but I did it anyway.

Now, don't skip the next part...whatever you do. Melt about 4 T. of Buttah. You heard me. But-tter.
I drizzled it all over the top of my chicken. You might be adverse to a little butter in your life. I'm not. Processed sugars. MSG. Corn Syrup. But, not butter. Your chicken will thank you.
 

It was my original intent to adding a little lemon juice to the butter, but as luck would have it...I couldn't find it. I had just thrown away a few withered lemons that had been lingering in the bottom of my fridge (I can't even tell you how long they had been there). I had purchased a bottle of lemon juice (don't judge), but I can't find what I did with it. It must be hiding from me. I really don't know if I missed the lemon juice in the dish, so it was a happy misfortune.

About 30 minutes later, the coconut chicken was done. Juicy. Crispy. Yummy. Josiah asked me what the little spikey things were. I think the "spikey" things brought the chicken up to the cool factor in his mind.

If you wish this chicken would be good with a dipping sauce. I wasn't as obliging this particular day. I had limited time. Can you imagine?

I think I am going to try this with shrimp, too. Heavenly.

Here is the recipe. 

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1/2 cup almond flour

1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1-2 tsp. red pepper flakes

Dash of salt and pepper

1 egg

4 T. of melted butter

 Preheat the oven to 350. Spray cooking spray on a baking sheet and set aside. Mix almond flour, shredded coconut, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper together in a bowl. I used a pie plate. Beat egg in separate bowl   Dip chicken breast in egg and roll in dry mixture. Place chicken on the baking sheet and drizzle melted butter over the top of the chicken breasts. Cook for appx. 30 minutes or until chicken is done. Don’t overcook! 

Enjoy!