Gluten Free Chicken Strips

I have been so busy trying out new recipes all week that I have had very little time to blog! I am going to post a few new things to try out today! First up are these super delicious gluten-free fried chicken strips. These are really simple to whip up and take no time at all to cook. I'll post all of the ingredients first then go into the step by step.

Ingredients:

• 3-4 thawed chicken breasts
• 2 cups milk (some people prefer buttermilk, I used fat free milk)
• 2 or 3 large eggs
• 1 tsp Frank's hot sauce (I used the buffalo wing style sauce and it was so good!)
• 1 Cup white or brown rice flour
• 1/3 Cup tapioca starch
• 1 teaspoon salt plus more for seasoning the chicken (I used Johnny's Seasoning Salt)
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper (I left this out since I used the seasoning salt)
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• vegetable oil

Instructions:
First, slice chicken breasts in 1/2 inch slices long-ways to make the strips

Brine and Bread:

1. Place strips in a bowl with milk, salt, and hot sauce
2. Cover tightly and place in fridge for an hour or longer (the longer the better)
3. After letting the chicken brine, drain the milk and rinse the strips
4. Pat chicken dry with a paper towel and season with salt and pepper
5. Whisk eggs together in a bowl (you can add more hot sauce to the eggs if you want spicier strips)
6. Mix flour, starch, garlic powder, and paprika in a separate bowl
7. Dip each strip into the egg then into the dry mixture- making sure to coat all parts of each strip
8. Let the strips sit for about five minutes to let the breading soak in then coat them one more time

Frying:

1. Fill a large, deep frying pan with vegetable oil up to about half way full and insert a frying or candy thermometer
2. While the oil is heating up line a baking sheet with paper towels and place a wire cooling rack on top
3. Heat the oil to about 380 degrees Fahrenheit 
4. Lower chicken into oil carefully and do not crowd the pan- I fried 2 strips at a time
5. Let strips fry for 2-3 minutes, flip them and cook for 2-3 more minutes
6. Remove cooked chicken and place on cooking rack (you can pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees to keep chicken warm while the rest is cooking)
7. Allow oil to come back up to temp between frying

This recipe makes for juicy, tender, crispy strips! Even though this is a gluten free recipe these could pass for store-bought. These can be prepared and placed in the brine the night before being fried and will be even more delicious and juicy. I usually tend to prefer dark meat because white meat is normally too dry for me but these may have changed my mind- plus they're gluten free which is always a bonus!

Enjoy!