Hands-on Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Serves: 8

How did we make a finger-licking chicken recipe more family-friendly? First, we replaced the traditional bone-in chicken wings with boneless strips of white meat, then we swapped in oven-baking for deep-frying. That gave us a lower-fat dish that's also easier for kids to help prepare. Finally, we whipped up a simple blue cheese dip, great for dunking both the chicken strips and a healthy serving of celery.

Ingredients

• FOR THE BLUE CHEESE DIP
• 1/2 cup sour cream, 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 6 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• FOR THE SAUCE
• 1/4 cup butter, 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon hot sauce (we used Frank's RedHot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce)
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar

• FOR THE CHICKEN
• 1/2 cup floar
• 3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 cups plain bread crumbs
• 2 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon pepper
• canola oil cooking spray
• 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into strips
• VEGETABLES
• 8 celery stalks, sliced into sticks

Instructions

1. In a medium bowl, use a fork to stir together the ingredients for the blue cheese dip, mashing the cheese crumbles into small lumps as you work. Refrigerate until ready to use.

2. Make the sauce by melting the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Remove the pan from the heat, and stir in the hot sauce and the vinegar. Set the sauce aside.

3. Heat the oven to 450°. Arrange three shallow bowls for dredging the chicken. Put the flour in the first bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and the egg in the second, and stir together the bread crumbs, salt, and pepper in the third. Lightly coat two baking sheets with cooking spray.

4. Coat each chicken strip by dredging it first in the flour and then in the buttermilk mixture. Press each piece into the bread crumbs, then transfer the strips to a baking sheet. Space the pieces on the sheet so that they don't touch. Lightly spray the strips with oil.

5. Bake the strips for 10 minutes. Flip each piece and spray them again. Return the strips to the oven and cook them until they're golden on the outside and no longer pink on the inside, about 10 minutes longer.

6. Brush each baked strip on both sides with the sauce (apply it generously for grown-ups, less so for kids who prefer a milder version). Serve the strips with the blue cheese dip and celery sticks on the side.

Nutritional Information:

Per serving (3 chicken tenders) Calories 279, Total Fat 10 g (16%), Saturated Fat 5 g (24%), Cholesterol 115 mg (38%), Sodium 770 mg (32%), Total Carbohydrate 17 g (6%), Fiber 0.7 g (3%), Sugars 2 g, Protein 29 g (57%)

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• Celery |
• Chicken |
• Finger Foods |
• Sauces

Related Categories:

• Finger Foods |
• FamilyFun October 2011 |
• Sauces