Sweet and Spicy Chicken Tenders

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• For the chicken:
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, pounded to ½ inch thickness and cut into strips
• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon each salt and pepper
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 cups panko bread crumbs

• For the sauce:
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup honey
• 3/8 cup ketchup
• 1 1/2 tablespoon white vinegar
• 3 teaspoons chipotle adobo sauce (or tabasco chipotle sauce)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch

Instructions

1. For the chicken: Preheat oven to 400°F. In a large zip-top bag, add the flour, salt, and pepper. Seal bag and shake to combine ingredients. Place the eggs in a shallow bowl and the panko bread crumbs in a second shallow bowl. Drop a few pieces of chicken into the flour mixture and toss to coat. Then dip the chicken into the egg, turning to coat. Last dip the chicken into the bread crumbs, turning to coat and place on a baking sheet. Repeat until all chicken is coated. Bake for 16 minutes, or until chicken is crispy and cooked through. Remove from the oven and dip chicken into the honey chipotle sauce (see below).
2. For the sauce: While the chicken strips are baking, prepare the sauce. Add all the ingredients except the corn starch in a small saucepan and stir to combine. Bring to a gentle boil, whisking throughout. Once sauce comes to a boil, combine the cornstarch with ⅓ cup cold water in a small bowl and pour into the sauce (if you don't mix it first it'll clump). Reduce heat to low and stir occasionally until chicken is out of the oven and ready to be dipped in sauce.

Notes

- For the sauce ingredients, chipotle adobo is the sauce that chipotle peppers are packed in. You can find them canned in the international foods section at the grocery store. I just remove the chipotle peppers from the can and scoop out the sauce at the bottom. If you don't have adobo sauce you can use tabasco chipotle pepper sauce (smoked) and it still tastes fantastic!