“We can stay up late, swapping manly stories, and in the morning…I’m making waffles!” so says Donkey in Shrek. In this case, it’s okay to serve these waffles for dinner (or brunch). I don’t think Donkey would complain.

My sister-in-law, Annie T, shared this recipe with us a few weeks ago – early on in our COVID-19 isolation. Our niece, Atlee T (almost 11) liked it so much that she asked to have it once a month and on her birthday. With that endorsement, Ed and I knew we had to give it a try.

I dusted off the waffle maker that I received 25 years ago this spring as a shower present from my grandmother, Meema.  Meema went “rogue” and got me a Betty Crocker waffle maker as I didn’t have one on my registry. To quote my dad when I shared a photo with him, “that is so retro, and so Meema.” Thankfully it still made perfect waffles and made me think of her and smile.

I’d never made cornmeal waffles before – Ed and I agreed that we liked the crunchy consistency. I used both non-GMO small batch flour and cornmeal from Full and By Farm, a CSA in Essex, NY on Lake Champlain where my parents are members. (Please see my recent post, European Peasant Bread Revisited, to learn more about why this works for me.) If you want to make these gluten-free, you can use the same amount of gluten-free flour (such as Cup4Cup) and gluten-free cornmeal (such as Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Medium Cornmeal). While cornmeal is gluten-free it often is cross-contaminated with gluten-containing ingredients.

The chicken is easy and healthy, mostly. While it may look fried, it is actually baked in the oven. You coat it with mustard, panko bread crumbs (regular or gluten-free) and some spices (paprika and ancho chili powder). By baking it on a rack (such as a cookie cooling rack) it crisps up nicely in the oven.

You mustn’t forget the maple syrup. Start with real maple syrup and stir in a squirt of Sriracha sauce before warming it up in the microwave or in a small pot on the stove. The sweet-spicy combination is a great complement to the chicken and waffles.

We had extra waffles, so I froze them so we can replicate this meal a second time without getting the waffle maker out. Or, have some for breakfast.

Don’t want any spice? Just leave it out of both the chicken and maple syrup. I guarantee you’ll still be pleased with the results. I’m pretty sure that even Shrek would like this meal. 

Spicy Chicken and Cornmeal Waffles

 

Spicy Chicken and Cornmeal Waffles
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Recipe type: Main Dish
Author:
Serves: 4 to 6
Ingredients
Waffles
  • 1-1/2 cups all-purpose or gluten-free flour (see Notes)
  • 1 cup yellow cornmeal (see Notes)
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1-3/4 cups buttermilk (see Notes)
  • 2 large eggs
  • 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Chicken
  • 4 tablespoons Dijon mustard
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
  • ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
  • 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons paprika
  • ½ teaspoon ancho chili powder (adjust to taste or use other chili powder)
  • 6 medium boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
Maple Syrup
  • 1 cup real maple syrup
  • 1 to 2 squirts of Sriracha sauce
Instructions
Make Waffles:
  1. In a large bowl, stir together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and sea salt.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together buttermilk, eggs and melted butter.
  3. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Gently stir to combine.
  4. Let the batter sit for 10 minutes so the cornmeal may soften.
  5. Preheat traditional waffle maker (not Belgian waffle maker). Once hot, spray with oil (you should only need to do this once).
  6. Drop a bit less than ⅓ cup of batter onto each side of the waffle maker and cook until steam stops seeping from the iron or an indicator light alerts you that they are ready.
  7. Keep warm in a covered dish or in a separate oven at about 250°F.
Make Chicken:
  1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Cover a large cookie sheet with aluminum foil and place a cookie cooling rack on top. Set aside.
  2. In a flat bowl, mix mustard, thyme, salt and pepper.
  3. In another flat bowl, mix cheese, breadcrumbs, paprika and ancho chili powder.
  4. Dip chicken in mustard mix and coat completely on both sides.
  5. Dredge coated chicken in cheese-breadcrumb mix and coat completely on both sides. You’ll want a heavy coating – press down on the coating with your fingers.
  6. Transfer to rack. Spray tops of each piece of chicken with a light coating of cooking spray.
  7. Bake until chicken is golden and cooked through (165°F), about 15 to 20 minutes.
  8. Let chicken rest 5 minutes before cutting.
Make Maple Syrup:
  1. Pour syrup in a microwave-safe pitcher and add 1 to 2 squirts of Sriracha sauce.
  2. Microwave on medium about 1 minute or until warm.
  3. For serving, slice chicken, place on top of waffles and drizzle spicy maple syrup on top.
Notes
* You’ll want to start cooking the waffles about 5 minutes before the chicken goes into the oven. I figure about 4 minutes per batch of waffles. This recipe makes 12 (or 6 batches) of traditional rectangular waffles.
* If you want to make this truly gluten-free use gluten-free flour (such as Cup4Cup Multipurpose Flour) in place of the all-purpose flour and gluten-free cornmeal (such as Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Medium Cornmeal).
* I recommend using SACO Cultured Buttermilk Blend in place of fresh buttermilk. You’ll find it in the baking section of your grocery store. Follow directions on the container for use. It keeps for a few years refrigerated so you always have buttermilk on hand.
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Source:  Variation on recipes from King Arthur Flour and Food Network Magazine