Sweet Potato Oven Baked Chicken Strips with Spicy Honey Drizzle

A few years ago, Trevor and I were at a restaurant and I kept telling him that the chicken I was eating tasted familiar but I couldn’t put my finger on it. He tried a bite and without hesitation said, “chicken nuggets dipped in honey”. And I realized he was spot on. Obviously, the dish was far better-tasting and more refined than the old childhood classic, but it was still reminiscent of it, in a good way.

This sweet potato tortilla chip crusted chicken strips are a similar throwback, and the spicy honey drizzle adds a grown up nod to the classic. Soaking the strips in the buttermilk makes them incredibly tender, and eliminates the need for an egg wash. We only added a little bit of sriracha for a mild, kid-friendly level of heat, but feel free to adjust the amount to your taste level.

Sweet Potato Oven Baked Chicken Strips with Spicy Honey Drizzle

 

Print

Serves: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 lb thin chicken breasts, cut into small strips
• 1½ cups buttermilk
• 6 cups sweet potato tortilla chips
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• ¼ cup honey
• ½ to 1½ teaspoons sriracha (to desired level of heat)

Instructions

1. Place chicken breasts and buttermilk in a medium sized bowl or ziplock bag. Refrigerate, and let marinate for 4 hours or overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly spray a baking dish (large enough to fit the chicken strips) with cooking spray.
3. Place sweet potato tortilla chips in the bowl of a food processor. Process chips until fine crumbs are formed. Add paprika, salt, and pepper and pulse until combined. Dump crumbs onto a plate. Remove some of the chicken strips from the buttermilk and immediately place the strips on the plate of crumbs, turning to coat them completely. Once they are coated in the sweet potato crumbs, place in the prepared baking dish and repeat the process for the remaining strips.
4. Lightly spray the tops of the coated chicken strips with cooking spray. Bake in the preheated oven for about 15-20 minutes, until coating is crisp and chicken is cooked through.
5. While chicken cooks, make the spicy honey drizzle. Stir together the sriracha and honey and lightly drizzle over the cooked chicken strips. Serve the extra honey with the chicken strips for dipping.

Notes

For the freezer: Freeze chicken and buttermilk together in a small ziplock bag and the sweet potato tortilla chip coating in another small ziplock bag. When you are ready to use them, defrost chicken and buttermilk in the fridge. Proceed with coating and cooking the chicken according to directions.

3.2.2925