Cheese Nip Chicken

I can’t take the credit for this recipe. I found it on Mary Ellen’s Cooking Creations Blog yesterday while trying to figure out what I wanted to do with some chicken we had thawing. The picture of the bright orange chicken she had post was what actually caught my eye first. I was hesitant to make baked chicken because it seems like it always comes out dry but I think Mary Ellen hit the oven sweet spot by raising the temperature from the old standby of 350 to 400 degrees. It’s a higher heat that seals in the juices and crisps up the coating much better. I relied on my trustworthy meat thermometer to tell me when the chicken was done and it was hands down the best piece of baked chicken I’ve ever hand. Juicy on the inside and a crispy, tasty crust on the outside.

Ingredients

3-4 boneless chicken breasts

Laughing Cow cheese (we used the low fat original variation)

Cheese Nips

Garlic powder

Onion powder

Paprika

Ground mustard

Salt

Pepper

2 Eggs

Flour to dredge

Canola oil

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly spray a large baking dish with canola oil.

Fill a large zip lock bag about a quarter of the way with Cheese Nips. Crush into fine crumbs (I used a rolling pin). Set up a coating station in this order: flour, egg, Cheese Nips.

Cut a pocket into the side of each chicken breast. Spread one wedge of Laughing Cow cheese into each pocket. Dredge each piece of chicken into flour, dip in egg, repeat, then coat in Cheese Nips. (You’ll be so happy you double dipped in the flour and egg.) Place in dish.

Bake uncovered for approximately 30-45 minutes (depending on how large your chicken is) (for best results use a meat thermometer).

We had steamed green beans and a brown rice with this chicken. You’ll notice how I have no pictures of the chicken because we ate before giving it a second though.

Enjoy!