Gluten Free Crispy Buttermilk Coconut Chicken Fingers
Get this tested recipe for gluten free crispy buttermilk coconut chicken fingers—with thousand island dipping sauce.
Yield: 5 servings
Equipment
- Wire rack
Ingredients
For the Chicken
- 1 ½ pounds skinless boneless chicken tenders (or breasts cut into tender-sized strips)
- 2 cups (16 fluid ounces) buttermilk or plain yogurt
- 1 ¼ cups (100 g) unsweetened coconut flakes
- 1 ½ cups (210 g) gum-free gluten free flour blend (140 g superfine white rice flour + 47 g potato starch + 23 g tapioca starch/flour)
- ¼ cup (33 g) coarsely ground yellow cornmeal
- 2 teaspoons smoked Spanish paprika
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
For the Better-Than-Thousand-Island Dipping Sauce
- ¼ cup (56 g) plain yogurt
- ¼ cup (56 g) mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons (34 g) tomato ketchup
- ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon smoked Spanish paprika
- 2 tablespoons chopped cornichons (or sweet relish)
Instructions
Marinate the chicken.
- Place the chicken tenders and the buttermilk in a gallon-size zip-top plastic bag, and place in the refrigerator to soak for at least 30 minutes and up to overnight.
Make the breading mixture.
- Preheat your oven to 300°F. Place the coconut flakes in an even layer on a rimmed baking sheet, and place in the center of the preheated oven.
- Bake until the coconut flakes are just beginning to brown around the edges (about 8 minutes). Remove from the oven and allow to cool briefly before crushing with your hands into small bits.
- Place the coconut in a medium-size, flat bowl, and add the flour blend, cornmeal, paprika, salt and black pepper, and mix to combine well.
- Increase the oven temperature to 400°F.
- Line a large rimmed baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper, and place a wire rack on top. If your wire rack is not nonstick, spray it lightly with cooking oil to grease.
Coat & bake the chicken.
- Remove each piece of chicken from the buttermilk, one at a time, and allow to drain briefly before dredging both sides through the flour blend.
- Place on the wire rack about 1 inch apart from one another. Spray the top of each piece of chicken lightly with cooking oil.
- Place the baking sheet in the center of the 400°F oven. Bake for 10 minutes.
- Remove from the oven, flip the pieces of chicken over, spray each again lightly with cooking oil and return to the oven to continue baking until crispy on both sides and cooked through (about another 10 minutes).
Make the Thousand Island Dipping Sauce.
- In a medium-size bowl, place the yogurt, mayonnaise, ketchup, salt and paprika, and whisk vigorously until smooth. Add the chopped cornichons, and mix to combine. Serve the chicken with the dipping sauce.
Thanks for stopping by!
Hi, I’m Nicole. I create gluten free recipes that really work and taste as good as you remember. No more making separate meals when someone is GF, or buying packaged foods that aren’t good enough to justify the price. At Gluten Free on a Shoestring, “good, for gluten free” just isn’t good enough! Come visit my bio!
