Spicy Chicken and Cornmeal Waffles
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
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1-1/2 teaspoons paprika
- 1/2 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:
- In a large bowl, stir together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and sea salt.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together buttermilk, eggs and melted butter.
- Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Gently stir to combine.
- Let the batter sit for 10 minutes so the cornmeal may soften.
- Preheat traditional waffle maker (not Belgian waffle maker). Once hot, spray with oil (you should only need to do this once).
- Drop a bit less than 1/3 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.
- Keep warm in a covered dish or in a separate oven at about 250°F.
Make Chicken:
- Preheat oven to 450°F. Cover a large cookie sheet with aluminum foil and place a cookie cooling rack on top. Set aside.
- In a flat bowl, mix mustard, thyme, salt and pepper.
- In another flat bowl, mix cheese, breadcrumbs, paprika and ancho chili powder.
- Dip chicken in mustard mix and coat completely on both sides.
- 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.
- Transfer to rack. Spray tops of each piece of chicken with a light coating of cooking spray.
- Bake until chicken is golden and cooked through (165°F), about 15 to 20 minutes.
- Let chicken rest 5 minutes before cutting.
Make Maple Syrup:
- Pour syrup in a microwave-safe pitcher and add 1 to 2 squirts of Sriracha sauce.
- Microwave on medium about 1 minute or until warm.
- 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.
* 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.
