Spicy Chicken & Waffles
I lost power to my house for four days and I forgot that we had to throw out frozen belgium waffles. Sadly, they along with many other items in my fridge, could not be saved. I didn’t realize this until I was about to start frying up the chicken. Ugh. I had to use the little Eggo waffles instead.
“Ew, why didn’t you make a batch of fresh waffles?” Ummm, because I’m tired. Honestly, I don’t have the energy for that. I’m not one of those types of people. And the waffles I sometimes give my kids for breakfast worked awesome with this meal. Yay for me;)
Moving on.
This comfort meal was yum. I personally added more cayenne pepper to my dredge than I have listed so if you are like me and like a bit more kick to your waffle - I’d advise to spice it up!
For the delicious syrup. I mixed up organic syrup with butter, honey and cinnamon. Ingredients are below. Do it because the syrup was out of this world!
Ingredients:
Chicken:
2 lbs chicken thighs. (chicken tenders for healthier option)
3-4 cups buttermilk
Dredge:
2 cups flour
2TBSP garlic powder
2TBSP onion powder
2TBSP paprika
2TBSP kosher salt
Vegetable oil for frying (amount varies on pan used & chicken thighs fried at the same time)
1TBSP cayenne pepper (personally, I used 3-4 tablespoons)
Syrup:
1/2 cup maple syrup
3TBSP butter
2TBSP honey
2 tsp cinnamon
8 waffles (your choice!)
Directions:
Sprinkle kosher salt on chicken thighs and let sit for 5 minutes. Next, in a large bowl submerge the chicken in buttermilk ensuring that the chicken is fully covered. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes!
In a shallow bowl combine dredge ingredients. Make sure it is mixed well for even seasoning. Remove chicken from refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for 10-15 minutes.
Heat oil in cast iron pan (or wok, or a deep-walled pan) to ⩰325°. Take the chicken from the buttermilk bowl and dredge it. Next, fry chicken in batches for 3-4 minutes on each side. Chicken should have a golden brown color. While chicken is cooking, add all the ingredients for syrup together, microwave until butter is melted then whisk together.
Once chicken is fried place them on a plate and cover with tin foil to keep warm. Toast waffles. Arrange waffles on plates and place the chicken on top. Drizzle syrup all over, serve immediately and enjoy!