I was dropping off some barbecue sauce to a friend the other day – she loves it on pulled pork, her son loves it on chicken fingers – and she was asking me if I had a chicken finger recipe.
As a matter of fact, I do, a couple of versions, in fact. One, with panko crumbs and a honey mustard-mayo marinade. Another using crushed Chex cereal and still that honey mustard & mayo marinade. And finally, not really chicken fingers but more paillards, with Buffalo sauce.
Still, I thought I’d revisit the whole chicken finger thing, and play around with the marinade; this time, using my mango spread, mayonnaise, and a bit of my new Westboroughshire Sauce. You can just use Worcestershire, if you like, and mebbe swap out Greek yogurt for the mango spread.
I still used honey mustard on top of the finished chicken fingers, but feel free do do as Teri’s son does and go for the barbecue sauce.
INGREDIENTS
•1/2 cup mayonnaise
•1/2 cup mango spread or yogurt
•1 tbsp Westboroughshire Sauce
•2 tbsp water
•1-1/2 lb chicken breast tenderloins
•2 cups Panko crumbs
Cut the chicken breast into strips and place in a gallon sized zipper bag.
Stir the mayonnaise together with the mango spread (or yogurt) and Westboroughshire (or Worcestershire, or, heck, if you have some, Sherry Peppers) sauce, then add water to thin the mixture out a bit.
Pour the marinade over the chicken strips in the bag, close, and toss lightly to coast all pieces of chicken with the marinade.
Stash in the fridge on a rimmed plate (to catch any leakage) for a couple of hours or overnight, flipping the bag and mebbe giving the chicken a bit of a squeeze when you think to.
When ready to cook, heat your oven to 425º, apply cooking spray to a rack fitted into a foil-lined baking pan, and add the Panko to a flat bottomed bowl.
Working a few strips at a time, remove the chicken from the marinade, then roll in the Panko to coat.
Arrange on the rack and pop into the oven for around 20 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and nicely browned.
Serve as you will.
Leftovers, if you have any, make for a nice chicken salad, and also work well rolled into a flour tortilla with some Romaine and a bit more of that honey mustard as a sammich.
Or, you could also stir a bit of your favorite barbecue sauce into a bit of mayonnaise and use that instead…