Shake & Bake Chicken

with Hot Honey

(& Crispy-Coated, Oven-Roasted Sweet Potato Wedges)

Book: Hungry For More

Category: White Meat & Sides

Aldi Test*: Yes!

Tackling two recipes in one post. Making progress, guys.

A personal note about me. I'm a tax accountant at a public accounting firm so I am BEYOND busy from February-April, obviously. What many of you may not know is that we get a second busy season from August-October. Which I am in, right now. So, my methodology for the order of recipes is largely based on time.

Even so, I did some serious meal prep to prepare for this: I mixed the marinade & the shaky-bready goodness, chopped the potato wedges, and made the hot honey the night before. I then asked my husband to please, please, please, throw the marinade in with the chicken when he gets home from work (at 4) the next day, so that it would be ready for me to shake when I got home from work (at 8). WHO THOUGHT AHEAD!?!? This gal.

I digress.

This was also supposed to be a mid-week meal, but scheduling changes made it a Friday meal. We had a friend in from out of town and my husband invited over a bunch of mutual friends; so, this went from being a cozy meal for two to an appetizer for many. Which ended up being a lot of fun and the perfect way to spend my night off.

The process:

The shake and bake process was RIDICULOUSLY easy. I was shocked. I had never shaked and baked before. You literally throw the chicken in a bag with the breading, shake, take it out, then bake. Which honestly sounded way too intuitive to be all there is to it. But, there you have it - it’s that simple. BIG fan.

Ignore what a mess I look - I’m hanging on by a thread, guys.

The latter half off the chicken drumsticks weren't quite as evenly coated as the first half, but it didn’t seem to be a problem.

Pop that puppy in the oven and coat the fries. So, here is where I screwed up…. So, I knew I had to have either rice flour or cornstarch for the fries and being dumb I was like 'oh, I have cornstarch at home.’

As it turns out, I did not have cornstarch at home, I had cornmeal. I wish I could say this is the first time I've made this mistake. It's not. I've made this mistake a total of 3 times now…. I need to buy cornstarch.

So, not having the proper ingredients, I proceeded anyway. I KNOW that taints the integrity of this experiment but ya know. I don't care. I used cornmeal instead of cornstarch. Sue me! Although….

TIP #1 Don't use cornmeal, use cornstarch like the recipe says

Ignore my laissez-faire attitude and follow the instructions.

So, not the prettiest, but I was a glass of wine or two deep at this point so my desire for proper presentation only went so far. (I busted out the fancy plates, guys).

Everyone was starved so I had exactly 20 seconds or so to take this picture. One last tip:

TIP #2: Make EXTRA Hot Honey

Seriously, I didn’t make enough, people loved it.

This is honestly a huge reason why I cook: good food is universal, it brings people together. Having good friends over for food, much-needed laughter, and maybe too much wine is what makes life living in my book.

Apologies for waxing nostalgic for a moment there.

HOW DID IT TASTE?

Shake & Bake Chicken w/Hot Honey

Okay the chicken was fantastic. Easily the best chicken I have ever made. Everyone was pretty stoked on it. The flavor was perfect, and while the chicken wasn’t as crunchy as it would have been if it had been fried, the breading offered a decent bite to mix up the textures.

My husband wanted to give the chicken a 5. But I think it could be a little better if it was a little crispier.

Est. Cook Time: 15 minutes active, 1 hour total (+4 hrs to marinate)
Actual Cook Time: 30 minutes active, 1.5 hours total (+4 hours)

Ease of Recipe: 5/5

Recipe Rating: 4.75/5

Crispy-Coated Oven-Roasted Sweet Potato Wedges

So, remember, I screwed up the potatoes. Because I used cornmeal instead of cornstarch the texture was soggier than I wanted - but the flavor was absolutely fantastic and every last bit of it was eaten. So, giving it a conditional high score until I make it again and correct the texture.

Est. Cook Time: 10 minutes active, 40 minutes total
Actual Cook Time: 30 minutes active, 1.25 hours total

Ease of Recipe: 4.5/5

Recipe Rating: 4.5/5

Would I make it again?

Hard yes. It is so rare to find something that is easy, (relatively) quick, and delicious. Both of these fit the bill. Put these high on the list of recipes to cook

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Shake & Bake Chicken & Crispy-Coated, Oven-Roasted Sweet Potato Wedges