Coconut Chicken

I don't cook. Not because I don't like to cook. I'm just very lucky that my husband LOVES to cook, and our schedules make it so if we want to eat dinner before 7:30 at night, he HAS to cook!

I am sooo grateful that he cooks everynight, but lately I feel like we have been eating the same exact menu every week.

I've been searching online for simple, kid friendly, inexpensive recipes, and have found a few that are "attempt-worthy."

So today, I decided to try Coconut Chicken.

 I altered this recipe from Make 5 Dinners in 1 Hour. to fit our needs.

I really liked it, my husband liked it a lot, and E, who all of the sudden doesn't like coconut peeled the batter and coconut off of the chicken strips and dipped it in BBQ sauce.(Can't please everyone all of the time!)

If you like coconut shrimp from Outback, you will really enjoy this simple recipe!

All that you need-

1-1/2 lbs chicken tenders (I bought a pack of Perdue fresh chicken tenders at BJ's that included 5 indivually packaged packets of 5 strips per pack for $13) I used two packs, for 10 tenders

1 cup of PANKO bread crumbs (I had no idea what Panko bread crumbs were, so I googled them and found them at Target in the Ethnic food isle. They were with the Asian food items)

1 cup of Coconut flakes (Target in the cereal aisle by the chocolate chips)
2 eggs beaten
1/2 cup of Orange Marmalade (Bought at target for $1.69/jar)
1/2 cup of Honey

Preheat oven to 400degrees

Mix the coconut and  bread crumbs together in a shallow dish, beat the two eggs and put in a separate shallow dish, put the raw chicken in another dish and have a cookie tray with aluminum foil, sprayed with cooking spray ready for the assembly line.

Dip your raw chicken tender in the beaten eggs. Use tongs to coat both sides, then place chicken into the bread crumb/coconut mixture and coat.

Place cookie sheet in oven and cook for 25 minutes.




I pulled the tray out of the oven after 15 minutes, and flipped the chicken, so that it could cook evenly on both sides. (And I was worried that I would overcook the chicken because the coconut was getting a little dark- BUT the next time that I make this, I will actually cook for at least 5 more minutes, to make the bread crumbs a little bit more crispy/crunchy)

While the chicken is cooking, make your dipping sauce.

1/2 cup of Orange Marmalade and 1/2 cup of honey I mixed together in a bowl, and put in the microwave for one minute.

We had a caeser salad, and mac and cheese with our coconut chicken, and had a quick, simple, tastey dinner!