Buffalo Chicken Breasts

I really wanted to call this recipe Hot Breasts, but I thought that might be bad for the search engine...

You know, like Hot Wings...but with chicken breasts?

I was trying to make a healthier version of Hot Wings, but I still wanted a little crunch, so I did do a quick flour and fried in a little oil. Not deep fried, not seriously encrusted. You could if you wanted to, but this is just a little bit healthier. Alternately, you could grill or panfry without any crust at all.

Next, wing sauce. What makes up wing sauce? It's hot sauce, plus butter. That's pretty much it. Hooter's uses more butter for their mild sauce, so their Hot is actually less fat. Follow?


Ok, so my favorite wing sauce is this, Frank's RedHot Wings, Buffalo.

Instead of adding butter, they have added butter flavoring... so their sauce is fat free, carb free and so low in calories you'll faint.

Frank's is brilliant, yo.

Now, we don't want plain, unadorned chicken. I mean, you could, but what's the fun in that? Let's give it some more flavor, more character!

Either cut your chicken breasts in half, width-wise or pound out to flatten. This makes them cook quicker and more evenly. Quicker cooking = tender and moist.

Sprinkle breasts or thighs, with salt and pepper and chili powder. Yeah, baby.

If you use thighs, you have Hot Thighs.....hehe.

Then, dredge in flour, and pan fry in a small amount of oil until cooked throughout.

I'm sorry for the above picture of raw chicken. There's nothing attractive about that. I just wanted to show you that I didn't cover it with chili powder, but only added a little flavor.

When pan frying, make sure that the oil is hot, I used about 2 Tbl in the bottom, a good swirl. Then, when you put the meat in, don't touch it for 5-7 minutes. If you mess with it too early, the breading won't stick to the meat and will flake and fall off and be a major disappointment. You don't want that.

Then, turn, scraping the bottom of the pan firmly as you slide under it. Let it fry on the other side for 5-7 minutes as well. If you don't cut the chicken, or pound it out, it will take longer to cook throughout.

I always cut my chicken at the thickest point and check.

Then, set on a couple paper towels, just to drain a bit.

Don't sauce until you're ready to eat. We don't want it to get soggy. Just, plate it up and pour sauce over. Easy peasy.

This was actually, surprisingly wonderful.

The fireman said it made him want wings....which disappointed me a bit, but he REALLY loves wings. However, he cleaned his plate and had seconds, so I think I can count it as a success.

Quick, flavorful and a little less fattening than Hot Wings.

The Recipe:
Buffalo Chicken Breasts or Hot Breasts
4 chicken breasts or thighs
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
2 Tbl oil (for frying)
1 cup flour (for dipping)

Cut breasts in half or pound out flat. Spinkle with salt, pepper and chili powder. Heat oil in skillet and then fry chicken, about 5-7 minutes per side. Don't flip early! Check for doneness. Drain for a minute on paper towels.

Serve with Frank's RedHot Wing Sauce poured liberally over.

Amen.