You don't have to give up crunch or flavor to make delicious, heart-healthy chicken fingers. Like many comfort foods, deep-fried chicken fingers get much of their flavor from fat. Baking chicken fingers eliminates this problem. Using a few easy cooking techniques, you can make tasty chicken fingers that keep fat to a minimum and flavor to a maximum.
Chicken
To decrease the fat, use breast meat to make your chicken fingers. Read the nutrition labels on packaged chicken to get the leanest available. Slice the breasts into fingers when the chicken is still cold for easier slicing.
Wash
Using whole milk and eggs to coat chicken fingers increases the saturated fat and cholesterol content of your recipe. Use skim milk or a nut milk, such as soy or almond, to reduce the fat. Use egg whites instead of whole eggs, or skip the eggs completely. Your coating should stick to the meat without them. Add hot sauce to the milk or directly to the chicken strips if you want spicier chicken fingers.
Coating
Commercial breads often have trans fat, the other bad fat besides saturated fat. Use crushed corn flakes, finely crushed nuts or panko. Nuts and panko may have more fat than some breadcrumbs, but the fats are monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. Compare labels to find a coating that has the least amount of bad fats, looking to avoid partially hydrogenated oils. Add spices to your coating to add flavor and make up for the decreased flavor from fat from baking, rather than frying, chicken. Use little or no salt if you are trying to restrict sodium, and blend different herbs and spices for more flavor. Add cayenne pepper or chili powder to your coating if you like heat in your food.
Baking
Let your chicken fingers get to room temperature before you put them in the oven to allow them to cook evenly. Bake the chicken fingers on a rack to let excess fat drip away during the cooking process. Place the rack in a pan or on top of a baking sheet to catch the fat. Let the chicken fingers rest on the rack after you remove them from the oven rather than placing them on paper towels. Greasy foods placed on paper towels will sit in their own fat and reabsorb some of it. Let the chicken fingers rest for several minutes before you serve them. Doing this will let some of the juices that have risen to the surface reabsorb into the meat so you'll have moist chicken fingers.
Sauces
Serve fat-free dipping sauces with your chicken fingers. Honey mustard is a better choice than a mayonnaise-based dip. Grocery stores have many dipping choices, including barbecue, Indian, Asian and Caribbean marinades and sauces.
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