Crispy Polenta-Crusted Chicken-Secret Recipe Club

For this month’s Secret Recipe Club post, I have the privilege of sharing the UK-based blog Searching for Spice.  Corina is the busy mom of two young children so many of her recipes are quick and easy.

With this blog being a UK blog, most of the recipes use metric measurements which makes conversion to imperial measurements a bit challenging.  I did a Google search for conversion help and found this page on Epicurious which give the math to make the conversion, but I still came out with some strange results.  I really want to make the Sticky Toffee Pudding recipe, but haven’t  yet because of that.  Luckily, some of Corina’s recipes are made with imperial measurements, such as the Microwave Chocolate Mug Cake, which I have made several times.  Both hubby and I have enjoyed this dessert very much.  It is the perfect thing when you want something sweet and chocolaty, and you want it Now!

My post, today, however, is for the Crispy Polenta Crusted Chicken.  We eat a lot of chicken so I am always looking for new ideas for what to do with it.  It also just so happened that there was a recent sale of boneless, skinless chicken breasts so I stocked up.  I also had dry polenta on hand.

I agree with Corina and liked the fact that this chicken recipe produced a nice crisp crust without the messiness of many coated chicken recipes.  The recipe is made up of only four simple ingredients-chicken breasts, buttermilk, dry polenta and a seasoning of your choice.

I ended up sort of guesstimating on the amount of buttermilk and think I needed twice the amount of polenta than in the original recipe to completely coat the amount of chicken that I used.  I did brush the foil-lined baking pan with olive oil and put it in the preheated oven for about 5 minutes while I coated the chicken.  I forgot the drizzle of olive oil over the top of the chicken before baking, but it turned out nice and crispy anyway
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The polenta gave the chicken a little undercurrent of corn flavor which I really liked.  This recipe will be going in my regular rotation of chicken recipes.

Be sure to visit Searching for Spice.  There are lovely recipes there.

Crispy Polenta-Crusted Chicken
1 1/4 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 1-inch thick chicken fingers
1/2 c. buttermilk (Corina used 100 ml)
1 c. dry polenta (Cornia used 100 g)
1 t. your favorite seasoning (Corina used 1/2 t.) (I used a French Fry Seasoning from Big Lots)
olive oil

Place chicken breast fingers in a zip-top bag.  Add buttermilk and massage bag to coat chicken pieces evenly.  Marinate at least 30 minutes in the fridge, turning bag over after 15 minutes.  Can be marinated longer if desired.  Mix the polenta and seasoning in a shallow pie pan.  Line a jelly-roll or cookie sheet with foil and brush with olive oil.  Place in a 350 degree oven while coating chicken.  Remove chicken pieces from bag, letting excess buttermilk drip off.  Roll chicken in polenta, covering the surface evenly.  Set aside on a sheet of wax paper.  When chicken pieces are all coated, remove heated pan from oven and place chicken on it.  Drizzle olive oil over the chicken.  Return to oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, turning chicken once.  Remove from pan and serve with your favorite dripping sauce if desired.  Makes 2 to 3 servings.

You can read what Secret Recipe Club is all about here.

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