Keto Chicken Strips

Chicken strips are one of my very favorite finger foods! I've explored numerous recipes over the years, but many have pork rinds as breading, and let's just say I am not the biggest fan of pork rinds (mainly because I can't get past the smell lol). 

On our last family vacation, I learned about a restaurant that had keto chicken strips on the menu, and even though it was about an hour drive, my dad and I went two days in a row. They were fantastic and have been on my mind ever since. I finally got around to experimenting in the kitchen to re-create them. They came out fantastic 😍 - not identical to the ones we had on our vacation, but I'd say close to equally good (minus all the fun of finding something like this on a menu, of course).

It's rare I bring out my deep fryer, but in an effort to make them as similar as possible, I did. I later tried this recipe both oven baked and oven baked + air fried to finish. All three cooking methods work out well, though I will say I like deep fried best (though I could have told you that before I started). I'll continue making the baked ones on a fairly regular basis, and I'll likely save the deep fried ones as a special treat from time to time.

P.S. These goes incredibly well with HighKey biscuits (and code CKK10 will get you 10% off)! 

Ingredients:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 large eggs

1.5 tsp salt

~9oz raw boneless, skinless chicken breast tenders (or cut your own from breasts)

2/3 cup almond flour

1/2 cup walnut flour (you can also make this by putting 3/4 cup raw walnuts in a Ninja)

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp garlic salt

1/2 tsp onion salt

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper 

*if deep frying, frying oil (I used avocado oil)

Note: you will have excess breading mix, but it can be hard to coat them well if you don't have enough. If you hate wasting ingredients, you can cut everything in half (except the amount of chicken).

Instructions:

1) In a bowl, mix together the heavy whipping cream, eggs and 1.5 tsp salt. Stir well.

2) Put the raw chicken tenders in the mix, and make sure they're all fully submerged.

3) As the tenders soak, make the breading mix in a separate bowl by mixing together the almond flour, walnut flour, garlic salt, onion salt, garlic powder, pepper and cayenne powder. Stir well. 

4) Dip each chicken tender in the breading and press down on the breading slightly to help it stick. (I typically like to dig a small "well" on the surface of the breading to put the tender in, and then I push breading from the sides to cover the top). Repeat until all strips are coated. 

5) Line strips on a non-stick surface, and put them in the refrigerate for at least an hour. (This helps the breading stick - don't skip this step.)

6) Now it's time to cook them. This step will depend on your cooking method. 

→ If you're deep frying, fill your fryer with oil to the minimum line and heat to 400 degrees. Once it's reach 400 degrees, put your strips in the frying basket (lined single file), and cook for roughly 5 minutes and 30 seconds or until done. 

→ If you're only oven baking, cook for about 23 minutes at 425 degrees or until done.

→ If you're oven baking and air frying, cook for about 19 minutes at 425 degrees and then air fry for around 6 minutes or until done.

Note: while you can air fry alone, I don't recommend it, as the breading sticks to the chicken much better if it's cooked in the oven first. 

7) Enjoy!

Picture Instructions:

Oven-baked then air fried pics:

Nutrition Facts:

Normally I provide nutrition facts, but for this recipe they really depend on the size of your chicken pieces, how much breading you use and the cooking method. Given the variance (especially if you deep fry, as it's hard to calculate how much oil is absorbed), I am not including nutrition facts for this recipe.