I love the versatility of Almond Meal. I gave up Panko bread crumbs a while ago and have been very satisfied with using Almond Meal (Almond Flour) in its place. Besides, who doesn’t like fried chicken? And you can’t have fried chicken without the breading!
Since I cut most grains out of my diet last year, I haven’t missed them. And I sure haven’t missed the bloat that would accompany them. I also dropped 3-4% body fat just by removing them from my diet. (For me, that equates to about 11 pounds lost.)
Now the nutritional value of Almond meal is pretty nice. For 28 g (that’s 1/4 cup) there are 160 calories, 14 g of fat, 6 g of carbs (3 g is fiber!) and 6 g of protein. It’s also a good source for vitamin E and magnesium. It is gluten-free and kosher. (I use Bob’s Red Mill Almond Meal/Flour)
Panko bread crumbs (for the same 28 g comparison) holds 104 calories, 0 g of fat, 22 g of carbs (1 g is fiber) and 3 g of protein.
If you have never tried Almond Meal/Flour, this is a good recipe to experiment with.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. Organic chicken (your choice of cut)
- 1 cup Almond Meal
- ½-1 Tble Chili Powder
- ½-1 Tble Mexican Oregano
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp salt (I use sea salt)
- 2 Egg whites, whisked (1 whole egg will work, too)
- 1-2 Table butter or ghee, melted
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350°F
- Combine almond meal, chili powder, oregano, pepper and salt in one bowl
- Whisk the 2 egg whites together in another bowl
- Dip each piece of chicken in the egg and dredge in crumb mixture
- Set coated chicken on baking stone or baking dish
- After all pieces have been coated and dredged, take remaining crumb mixture and sprinkle over spots that were missed
- Drizzle melted butter over crumb mixture. Not much is needed at all.
- Bake chicken 40-50 minutes or until juices run clear (times will vary due to what type of cut you use)
Serves 4
Enjoy hot or chilled!
TIP: When you are dredging your chicken piece in the crumb mixture and you over handle, the crumb mixture will start sticking to your fingers and coming off the chicken. We don’t want THAT!
So, after you coat chicken in egg, just roll the drumstick (meaty part) through the crumb mixture. You don’t eat the bony end so it won’t matter if there isn’t any crumb on that part. And for the breasts, lay the bottom side into the crumb mixture first and then the top side. That way if any crumbs come off, it will be from the bottom side.
