More Fried Chicken, Y'all!

Kat and I must be on the same wavelength because I found myself revamping Paula Deen's Southern Fried Chicken, even after Kat shared one of her fried chicken recipes just last week! I love fried chicken, but haven't had the real thing in years, because once I start, I just can't stop myself. And then I want biscuits, topped with butter and honey. And then maybe some mashed potatoes with gravy (brown gravy, that is, I know how southerners love white gravy!). Or potato salad. And then have some pie . . see, this is why I don't have it!!

Here's my lineup (minus some olive oil):

I reduced the egg yolks by two and just used the whites. I also omitted the salt from Paula's House Seasoning and used crushed corn flakes to get that crunchy texture so I could use skinless chicken. I originally had intended to bake the chicken, but decided at the last minute to pan fry them, using 1 - 2 Tbsp oil to ensure that my chicken came out crispy. I was just in that kind of mood and the oven-fried method usually only works 50% of the time for me.

I set up my dunking and dredging stations. Egg, water and hot sauce on the left, crushed cornflakes on the left.

I coated the pan with enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan, about 1 1/2 tbsp of olive oil.

While I waited for the oil to heat up, I pounded out my chicken breasts. When I make chicken, I almost always use a meat pounder/tenderizer (not sure of it's official name) thing to flatten it out for two reasons. First, it makes the chicken cook so much quicker and it's easier for me to not overcook the little guys.

The second reason is evident below:
Look at how huge that piece of chicken is! I promise you, it was just a small chicken breast, but pounding it out makes it look so much bigger! So I felt like I was really treating myself to this huge piece of "fried chicken," but I'm really getting a very reasonable portion.

I've never tried the hot sauce in the egg mixture before, but I loved this recipe! It was crunchy and not overcooked (thanks to my meat mallet!) and had a little kick to it. I even had some today as leftovers over a salad with some egg whites and more hot sauce and it was still amazing!

What's your favorite thing to add hot sauce to? I've never really used it, but am thinking I should start but don't know what to put in on, other than eggs. Too bad Kat can't tolerate spicy foods, otherwise I would totally share my leftovers!

And the nutritional stats are . . . not quite ready! Sorry, guys, but typing up the ingredients for both recipes (while very important in comparing our recipes) takes f.o.r.e.v.e.r and I have a date on the couch with these two great girls and Hot Tube Time Machine, so I'll add them in later.


They don't look it, but they're excited!

Here's the recipe, it's a keeper!

FNF-ing Awesome Pan Fried Chicken

1 whole egg, plus 2 egg whites
1/3 c water
1 c hot red pepper sauces
2 cups crushed cornflakes
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 tbsp oil, for cooking

Combine the egg, egg whites, water and hot sauce and whisk in a small bowl. Pour the crushed cornflakes into a shallow dish. Heat the oil in a large frying pan.

While the oil heats up, pound the chicken breasts to ~1/4" thickness and season with pepper and garlic powder. Dip into the egg mixture and coat in cornflakes. Cook in pan, about 4 minutes on each side or until cooked through.