Griddler Fried Chicken

I haven’t posted a new recipe in a LONG time … but I haven’t done anything I considered original in a long time. If I don’t think something is of interest, I don’t bother recording it for myself, nor do I post it.

I’m in charge of chicken tonight — boneless breast. I spent an hour digging through my database of boneless breast recipes, finding nothing I was interested in that didn’t require preparations the night before. So I fell back on a current favorite — griddler fried chicken.

A couple years back I gave Lorraine a Cuisinart Griddler for Christmas and we use it frequently. One of the recipes I created is a not really a recipe — it’s a method for frying boneless meat and fish in the griddler to produce a fried flavor without the high oil content. As a result, I no longer pan fry anything with a coating (well, almost nothing — I do some dishes with flour or cornstarch, but nothing with bread crumbs or cracker crumbs).

In lieu of posting a new recipe, I’m posting my method for griddler frying foods. While there is a recipe here, it’s really a template — it’s wide open to substitute whatever ingredients or seasonings sound good at the moment. But first the recipe!

Note: I started this post a couple of months ago and just got around to finishing it.

Griddler Fried Chicken

• 1-1/2 lbs boneless chicken breast
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp granulated garlic
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 3 Tbsp lemon juice
• flour
• 2 cups coating mix *
• grated Parmesan cheese
• sesame seeds
• Costco no-salt seasoning
• dried parsley
• cooking spray oil

Clean the chicken, removing fat, cartilage, and anything not edible. Slice the breast halves in half horizontally, or in thirds if really thick. If the meat is more than 3/8″ thick, cover with plastic and pound thinner with a meat mallet. Regardless of thickness, this works best if the meat is the same thickness.

Beat the eggs in a large bowl. Add garlic, salt, and lemon juice and beat until well mixed.

Spread flour on a large sheet of wax paper. Lay another piece of wax paper on the counter, one large enough to comfortably hold all the chicken pieces.

Place a piece of chicken on the flour and use the wax paper to flick the excess flour over the chicken, then fold the wax paper over the chicken and press the flour into the meat on top and bottom. Pick up the chicken, shake off excess flour, and place on the second piece of wax paper. Repeat with all chicken. Let rest 10 minutes.

Lay a large piece of wax paper on the counter and cover it with coating mix.

Note on “coating mix”: You can use bread crumbs or cracker crumbs. Or anything else that sounds good. I typically go through the cupboard and grab anything applicable such as not-sweet cereals, crackers, or whatever-the-heck looks good. [If I don’t have enough coating mix I add store-bought bread crumbs.] Everything goes into Oskar (I still use the one my parents gave me as a present 30+ years ago. Google “oskar food processor”). Today’s mix includes Crispix, Puffins (some type of semi-sweet cereal), and Toasted crackers. For me, the coating mix is never the same twice.

Dip a piece of chicken in the egg, coating it thoroughly. Let the excess drip off in the bowl and lay it on the coating mix. Season with Parmesan, sesame seeds, no-salt seasoning, and parsley. Fold the wax paper over the chicken and press the coating mix in. Pick the chicken up and shake off excess. Lay it back on the previous wax paper. Repeat with all remaining chicken.

Setup the griddler with the flat plates in use. The ridged side works, but after cleaning the plats you’ll never do it again. Preheat on Sear.

Spray the chicken with cooking spray, coating the top side. Flip the meat and repeat.

When the griddler is hot, place chicken on it, avoiding crowding. Cook each batch for 5 to 7 minutes, depending on thickness. Repeat for all batches.

This works great for boneless pork and whitefish.