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What’s the craziest thing you do with breakfast cereal? Leave a comment.
What can you do with Cap’n Crunch Cereal? The Average Betty Test Kitchen turned it into a coating for chicken that you can either fry or bake.
Ingredients for 12 Cap’n Crunch Fried Chicken Nuggets
1 boneless skinless chicken breast
3/4 cup Cap’n Crunch cereal
1 egg
3 tbsp flour
2 tbsp sparkling water
oil for frying
Directions for Frying:
Pour cereal onto a paper towel.
Crush cereal using whatever means available. And I do mean whatever.
The result should be coarse crumbs.
Add 1 tbsp flour to cereal crumbs and stir. While you’re at it, pour the other 2 tablespoons of flour onto a plate.
Pour beaten egg into cereal-flour mixture and stir. Add sparkling water to make batter. Start with a tablespoon. Stir. Add another. Stir. The consistency should be that of thick, lumpy pancake batter. Add more sparkling water if needed. You may also opt to use beer and make a beer batter. You might decide to add other seasonings such as black pepper, onion or garlic powder, possibly cayenne pepper depending on how picky your sailors are.
Wash, dry and cut chicken into pieces. Begin heating 2-3 inches of (vegetable) oil over medium-high heat. If you have a thermometer, use it! The best temperature is 350-375 (F).
Coat chicken pieces with flour.
Dredge chicken pieces in cereal batter.
Drop into hot oil and fry until golden brown; about 5-7 minutes total. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with a little sea salt immediately. (Get it? Sea salt! LOL!) Keep hot in a pre-heated 250 (F) oven if needed.
Ahoy, matey!
Directions for Baking:
Ingredients for 12 Cap’n Crunch Oven-Fried (Baked) Chicken Nuggets
1 boneless skinless chicken breast
1 cup Cap’n Crunch cereal
1 egg
3 tbsp flour
Preheat oven to 400 (F). Prepare chicken pieces and create an assembly line: Plate with 2 tablespoons of flour, beaten egg (with a splash of water) and crushed cereal with 1 tablespoon flour added.
Dredge chicken in flour.
Dip in beaten egg.
Roll in cereal-flour mixture.
Transfer chicken to a non-stick foil lined baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes. I found that I had to place the chicken under a 500 (F) broiler for a moment or two, to get the golden brown color.
Fried or baked, cereal isn’t just for breakfast anymore. One big credit to the baked Cap’n Crunch Chicken is in the form of the sandwich. It is almost like Chik-Fil-A. Almost.
DIPPING SAUCE IDEAS:
For a Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce, try this recipe. Add hot sauce to give it some kick! Try serving with wing sauce, ranch or blue cheese. Another favorite during experimentation (especially on the sandwich) was Spicy Brown Mustard cut with just a bit of mayonnaise.
Link to the Food Snobs and Cap’n Crunch blog post.
Looking for something else?
Chicken Strips with Dipping Sauces
Mini-Burgers
Jalapeno Poppers
How about something sweet?
White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
Easy Peanut Butter Marshmallow Squares
Sugar Cookies with Easy Icing
Search terms: averagebetty, capn crunch chicken recipe, captain crunch chicken recipe, oven-fried chicken recipe, fry chicken, cereal, crunchy baked chicken recipe, honey mustard recipe, honey mustard dipping sauce, planet hollywood chicken
i dont have a oil thermometer how do i kno when the oil is hot enough? thanks.
Hi there! Great question!
I found this article that is very helpful on frying:
http://busycooks.about.com/od/quicktips/qt/deepfrying.htm
It says, “If you don’t have a thermometer, the oil is ready when a 1″ cube of white bread dropped into the oil browns in 60 seconds; that oil temperature will be about 365 degrees F.”
Hope this helps…
Cheers,
Betty
in the good old days we would just spit in the oil, which when hot enough would just spit back
Haha! Jason, I LOVE your method… much more practical :)
great fried chicken! I never knew you could use captain crunch as a coating. Although, I have seen a lot of fried chicken recipes use corn flakes as a coating. Must give your recipe a try!
Hey Jessie, I’ve seen the cornflake recipes too… I’ve never tried either before this experiment. It’s tasty and sure to please kids and picky eaters!
What a cool idea! I’m always looking for different batter recipes as I loved all things fried : )
Betty, Iv never had capt crunch before so im not sure wht it taste like. Is it sweet or salty or tasteless?
Thanks, Jada! Let me know what you think ;)
Hey Farina, I had never had Cap’n Crunch before my nieces left me with half a box after they left for the summer! It is *sweet*. According to the description on the box, it is a sweetened corn and oat cereal. Thanks for dropping by :)
Love y’all,
Betty
Cap’n Crunch Chicken is probably the most requested meal by family, coworkers and friends. They can’t get enough of it! I don’t make it exactly your way though. I use large chicken tenders and add salt and pepper to the flour before I dip in egg and cereal and bake. And as far as dipping sauces go, the best is Hidden Valley Spicy Ranch. Like I said, people cant get enough of it!
Haha! Jason, I LOVE your method… much more practical
I think that this is a great idea for children, but adults and teens I do not agree…..
sincerely Kiana Davis
I came across your website, thought I would suggest a variation. Tonight for dinner, I decided to experiment and make Peanut Butter Crunch fried chicken strips. It turned out quite good. I added chili Pepper to it as well.
thermometer how do i kno when the oil is hot enough? thanks.
Great site. I keep finding new and interesting things to do with chicken.
I know this is an old article but i have been requested to make capn crunch chicken for parties for a few years now and this is exactly how i bake it except i add salt, black pepper and garlic powder. Also- the absolute best dip for it is Spicy Ranch from Hidden Valley (its kind of a pink/orange color)- its horrible on a salad but awesome for this. I tried a few times to duplicate this awesome dip that a local restaurant served with their chicken until my roommate saw the ranch and wanted to try it and we realized that the restaurant was using hidden valley lol. nice recipe and awesome pictures, i am literally defrosting the chicken now and cant wait to have some!!!
Thanks for the tips, shay! :) Now I’m going to have to try the Spicy Hidden Valley and figure out how to make it. LOL