Crispy pan-fried chicken made sans gluten.
Why didn’t we do this sooner?
Okay, I know why.
Because I was a gluten free fried chicken naysayer and thought it was impossible to make a crispy, tender, succulent, satisfying fried chicken in the gluten free form. But, spoiler alert: it is possible. We done did it!
And it isn’t rocket science, either. I simply used gluten free all-purpose flour and almond meal for the breading. Boom clap, fried chicken.
I almost baked this chicken instead of pan-frying it…you know, on account of baaaaking being the heeeealthier method. But then I remembered my cast iron skillet hadn’t yet gone through its rite of passage (the rite of passage being the act of frying chicken), and I shuddered at the thought of what the other cast iron skillets would say.
So I was doing my skillet a favor, is what it boils down to. This process had nothing to do with the fact that I was craving something crispy fried to submerge in a vat of stone ground mustard (read: it had everything to do with the fact that I was craving something crispy fried to submerge in a vat of stone ground mustard).
If you’ve never fried chicken in a skillet, no sweat, it’s a cinch. Here’w how we do it:
Slice your chicken breasts length-wise from the thickest part of the breast to the thinnest. Don’t you love it when I show you raw meat?
Add some kosher salt, cracked black pepper, and garlic powder (+ any dry herbs of your choosing) to your favorite gluten-free flour blend, and give it a stir.
Make yourself a work station and do your dunking. Start by coating the chicken in egg, followed by the flour mixture, and then the almond meal.
Sear those chicken strips in a hot cast iron skillet for a few minutes on each side, and then calculate the velocity of a canoe traveling downriver in relation to a person on shore who is walking at 2.0 m/s in the northwesterly direction as the canoe accelerates at a rate of 3.5 m/s2 for 3.8 seconds, hits a rapid and then accelerates at a rate of 8.25 m/s2 for 2.13 seconds.
Juuuust kidding…you’re done. You don’t need to calculate velocity of anything, excuse me while I tuck my TI-83 back in my shirt pocket.
Moving…right along.
Because we eat vegetables at alllll our meals, we serve the chicken with a vibrant green salad. And because we require adequate mustard submersion, we make sure there’s gobs of it on our plate for the dipping.
Gluten free fried chicken. It really is a thing.
Please do.
Gluten Free Pan-Fried Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- 2/3 cup gluten free all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ cup almond meal/flour
- 2 tablespoons to 3 coconut oil*
Instructions
- Place chicken breasts on a cutting board and carefully slice them length-wise, starting at the thicker end, moving toward the thin end.
- Combine the gluten free all-purpose flour with the salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Mix together and put on a plate.
- Add the almond meal to a separate plate.
- In a small bowl, lightly beat the two eggs.
- Bread the chicken by coating it first with the egg mixture, then the gluten-free flour, followed by the almond meal. Repeat for all of the chicken cutlets.
- Heat enough coconut oil (or high-temp oil of choice) in a cast iron skillet to medium until the skillet is completely hot.
- Carefully place breaded chicken cutlets on the hot skillet and allow them to cook 2 to 3 minutes on each side (longer if the chicken is thick), or until crispy and cooked through. Internal temperature of the chicken should be 160 degrees F.
- Serve the pan fried chicken with a green salad or your favorite side dish.
This tasted great, thanks for the suggestion. Not much of the almond flour stuck to the chicken after its dip in the egg and flopping about in the flour. Re-dipped one of the breasts in the egg again before dropping it into the almond flour again. Seemed to help, but wondered what your success rate was of getting almond flour to stick.
Oh, and the leftover egg, almond meal and some of the flour mixed together makes a great savory pancake. And the heat of the skillet left over from the fried chicken is pretty much all you need. Once you flip the pancake, you can turn the heat right off and let the rest of the pancake cook. If you put a lid on it, it’ll puff up and get all fluffy and light.
Hi Cindy, I don’t recall having a problem getting the almond flour to stick, but I do remember my fingers getting suuuuuper big and heavy with almond flour from the dredging, ha! Almond flour definitely doesn’t stick as easily as regular flour, but I don’t think I had problems with the stick-age. I’ll have to re-work the recipe and see what I can do about creating a stickier breading – I bet coconut flour would work well in combo with almond flour. Nevertheless, I’m so happy you tried the recipe and will let you know if I come up with an alternate method. Also – What an amazing idea for the leftover almond meal and egg! I love the resourcefulness 😀 Thanks so much for your feedback! xo
You make the seemingly impossible -possible. amazingballs.
There comes a time when it’s just gotta be fried! I’m loving the almond meal in this coating…de-lish!
YUM! I have not had fried chicken in FOREVER! This looks awesome!
Such a delicious way to enjoy the ubiquitous chicken breast! Can’t wait to try this!
Your raw chicken picture is top notch! 😉 I love that you used almond meal in the crust of this chicken, so much flavor and crispiness going on! You’ve done your cast iron skillet proud!
i wonder if i can do this with cornmeal + almond flour….i cant wait to try it.
Simple, delicious and healthy! What a great dish my friend!! Love love love this!!
I don’t have the cast iron skillet for this, but I like the way you’ve done the chicken. It actually makes me want to eat fried chicken, which I mostly don’t like because it is so drenched in grease. This recipe would also work for making chicken-fried steak (I’ve been doing that with a fried chicken recipe I got elsewhere). Looking forward to trying this.
Oh no! My cast iron needs to go through this rite of passage too!!! For shame. I gotta get frying!!! I think in fact I am going to make these lil chickies for dinner!
Haha! I’d say as long as your cast iron skillet has seen its fair share of bacon, you’re probably good to go 😉 Lemme know if you try the chicken!
Perfect simple and healthy meal! You, know I never pan fry chicken, but clearly I need to start!
You’re a frying maven, Tieghan.
OMG! I got my super geek heart beating fast over that canoe! Too funny! Love the chicken. That salad is dreamy too.
Haha! Apparently you got as much of a thrill out of physics as I did 😉 Glad you like the chicken and salad! xo