Coconut Fried Chicken

I was in a fierce cooking mood the other day.  Free time often makes me get the urge to get in the kitchen.  With several hours all to myself, I needed to get my bake on.  It started with the Mantecaditos and just escalated from there. When I posted my Lemon Garlic Tilapia on glipho a few weeks back, I received a comment that mentioned coconut tilapia.  Well that got me to thinking when I didn't have any tilapia immediately available that coconut and chicken could turn out very well.


The basic recipe is from a Coconut Chicken Fingers post, and I took a few liberties by adding in chili powder and rather than going baked I decided to fry these bad boys in some olive oil.  Extra crispy!

I started by spreading out the coconut flakes on a dish and chopped them into slightly smaller pieces with a large knife.  I mixed in the panko bread crumbs, powdered garlic, chili powder, salt, black pepper, white pepper, onion powder, and cayenne pepper and stirred until it was combined.

So the setup was a plate with flour, a bowl with a beaten egg, and the other plate with the coconut and bread crumb mixture.

I cut the chicken width-wise into strips and rinsed them in cold water.  To bread the pieces, I rolled the chicken in flour, then dipped it into the egg, and finished it off with the coconut and bread crumbs.

Next, I added them to a pre-heated cast iron skillet with some olive oil in the pan and let them cook for 2-3 minutes on each side.  I kept breading more as it cooked, and let me tell you, they burn fast!

Look at these delicious beauties.

YUM!  These were even better than I expected.  Slightly sweet but crunchy and all around great.  With chili powder and cayenne pepper I thought these might come out slightly spicy.  Ha!  I couldn't detect a bit of kick.  I chopped a few pieces up and used them in my salad the next day and yep, talk about great.  Now I can't wait to try the tilapia variety!

Coconut Fried Chicken

4 chicken breasts
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup coconut flakes (sweetened)
1 cup panko bread crumbs
2 teaspoons powdered garlic
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Chop coconut into smaller pieces and spread on a plate. Add panko bread crumbs, powdered garlic, chili powder, salt, black pepper, white pepper, onion powder, and cayenne pepper and stirred until combined. Beat 1 egg in a bowl and on another plate, spread out the flour. Cut chicken into strips. Heat olive oil in a cast iron skillet, then cook chicken for 2-3 per side on medium heat.