Crunchy Coconut Chicken Fingers with Peach Honey Mustard.
I have one favorite thing about this chicken.
And it’s that I made it for lunch one day, then packed up the leftovers and stuck them in the fridge, only for my husband to find them a day later and take them for his own lunch.
He hates coconut.
I mean, hate hate hate. And it’s not like how he “hates” ricotta, since we all know he doesn’t really hate that anymore. He can’t stand the texture of coconut, which I can’t do a darn thing about. He loves the taste (think: rum or gelato) but the squishy-squeak-beneathe-your-teeth thing? Can’t do it.
I had no idea he took them that day – I just happened to ask him when he came home what he ate for lunch. He responded with… “those chicken fingers that were in the fridge?”
Oh. I stopped dead in my tracks.
Before I continue I should mention that reheated (most likely microwaved) crispy baked chicken is about as high on my list to eat as steamed broccoli or a bowl full of fennel seeds is. I am weird about stuff like that. Like if it’s supposed to be crispy, I want it to be crispy. Annnnnd I’m pretty sure that tossing it in the microwave for 30 seconds is not going to do that. Oh well. He could care less.
Makes my life easier.
So while I’m stopped dead in my tracks, I turn to look at him and ask, “were they good?” I was pretty hesitant but kind of hysterically laughing inside. For once, I wasn’t trying to trick him into eating the chicken – in fact, I had fully intended on telling him I coated the chicken in coconut, FYI, so he might want to stay away. But I forgot. Really.
He said they tasted odd. Different, he claimed. Not like the usual ones that he wants once a week.
Ha. Ha ha ha ha ha. I don’t know why I found it hilariously hilarious.
On another note…
There is something about photographing chicken fingers that I simply loathe. I can’t do it. All my pictures end up looking the same and I have no idea how to place the chicken and ugh… life is hard. Whine whine whine.Â
What’s so funny is that crispy chicken fingers made a two time appearance in my 2012 recipe disasters – and mainly just because I didn’t like the photos. And when something doesn’t look appealing, I automatically assume it doesn’t taste good and scrap it. Even if I liked it. It’s like I have no filtered recipe memory.
One was even nearly the same as this recipe but I’m so glad I waited on it. These are so much crunchier (high heat, a wire rack and a spritz of nonstick spray/oil is necessary to reach this!) and seriously, my life revolves around crunch. And I actually soaked these in coconut milk instead of buttermilk. YES.
It’s weird. But not.
Crunchy Coconut Chicken Fingers with Peach Honey Mustard
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken tenders
- 1 can of full fat coconut milk
- 1 1/4 cups unsweetened, shredded coconut
- 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 cup dijon mustard
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 ripe peach, peeled and chopped
Instructions
- Add the coconut milk to a blender and puree until completely smooth and creamy.
- Place chicken tenders in a baking dish, sprinkle with a little salt and pepper and cover with coconut milk. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place a wire rack on top. Spray the rack with nonstick spray.
- In a large bowl, combine coconut, flour, panko, salt and pepper. Stir well to coat. Remove dish with chicken from the fridge. It should have a thick coating of coconut milk on it, so remove each strip and dredge it through the coconut mixture, pressing gently to adhere. Place the chicken on the well-greased wire rack and repeat until finished.
- Spray all the chicken tenders with a spritz of coconut oil spray or nonstick spray. Bake for 15 minutes, then gently flip and spray the other side. Bake for 15 minutes more, until golden and crispy.
- While the chicken is baking, add peach chunks to a blender or food processor until pureed. In a bowl, whisk together honey, dijon mustard and peach puree. Serve chicken fingers!
Notes
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I appreciate you so much!
Also weird but not: the peach honey mustard. It’s so summery. I swiped the idea from making this strawberry honey mustard last year. Just do it.
100 Comments on “Crunchy Coconut Chicken Fingers with Peach Honey Mustard.”
I love coconut chicken and the peach honey mustard sounds amazing~ What a great dish! LOVE it!!!
I’m with you on the reheated chicken! I don’t eat much chicken anymore (after a few years as a vegetarian, it just doesn’t appeal to me all that much), but I’d much prefer leftovers cold. I especially hate bone-in chicken reheated. The smell of it makes me gag. ick!
Coconut chicken is my favorite! The peach honey mustard sounds so good. Definitely want to try making this! :)
These sound so good and the story that comes with them is equally good! Not sure my brothers would have choked these down, but then again, I don’t know. I mean they look like normal chicken fingers! Whatever, they sound and look awesome to me! Coconut anything is were it is at!
hahaha love the story behing these… and they look amazing!
I used to totally LOATHE coconut up until about 2 months ago when I started adding coconut extract and coconut milk to things. I still really don’t like the flaked kind (it kind of reminds me of eating shredded paper) but otherwise I’m ok with it! And about that photographing chicken – I whole heartedly agree. Unless it’s grilled with gorgeous perfect grill marks, it’s not a very easy subject to work with!
Soooo many things I love about these! Soaking them in coconut milk is genius, and that peach honey mustard sounds incredibleeee. I WANT.
I normally soak my chicken in yoghurt, but coconut milk sounds so much better. I love coconut especially with meats; this could go really well with a mango mayo in a crusty bun.
OMG…I have to make these! They sound soooooo amazing! I’m pinning this right now! ;-)
Agreed. Slightly reheated (think warm) grilled or roasted chicken is okay. Reheated chicken with any coating – no thanks. It turns out a soggy mess. I leave that for the fiance who will eat just about anything.
That crusting is absolutely perfect!! I need these.
These look AMAZING!!!!!
I want to put peach honey mustard on everything! I make my own mustard and honey mustard. I don’t know why I’ve never thought to add something like peaches! Awesome idea!
I would eat anything dipped in that peach honey mustard.
YUM! Maybe I can get my fiance to eat coconut in this way! It looks absolutely delicioso!
Need these in my life STAT!
Ugh, recipes like these make being a pescatarian hard. I LOVE COCONUT EVERYTHING.
Maybe I’ll make some coconut shrimp soon.
Peach honey mustard sounds magically summery.
Oh, this is SO up my alley! Totally mouthwatering and magical. I’m making this soon fo’ shizzle.
My husband haaaatttees mayonnaise. He’s totally un-American for not loving the artery clogging goodness but he’s totally liked recipes I’ve made with it in it. All without knowing of course. It’s actually still my little secret.
I LOVE when my boyfriend eats something he “hates” and doesn’t even realize it. Oh, sweet victory. And these pictures are all awesome, lady! xo
Talk about sneaky! I guess thats how you could make him eat more things that he doesn’t like. I agree chicken fingers are super tricky to photography but I think you made them look great!
Girl, your pics look good to me! And YES for tricking the husband. I don’t know what it is, but I totally love those moments. May much more coconut be in your life :)
OMG! My two favorite things coconut and crunch!! This is on my “to-try” list!
Well I think you did a swell job of photographing these because my mouth is actually watering just thinking of them. My boyfriend/fiance (whatevs) hates coconut too so I’d be curious to see if I could sneak this past him…..
Wow! This looks amazing! My husband has some of those weird food aversions too – once I made an African stew that happened to have peanut butter in it and I didn’t tell him. He loved it and was enjoying his seconds until I confessed what I’d put in it. He stopped eating it almost immediately – shame on me for ever saying anything, right? ;)
I’m the same way – reheated chicken fingers is just not happening in my life. Love the peach honey mustard!
This looks delicious! Think you could do the same basic thing to make coconut shrimp, if you baked it for less time?
Yes, you could do it with coconut shrimp! There is a Bobby Dean cooking channel show where he uses a similar technique to this but with shrimp. I have mad it a few times and it is really good! The key is using the cooking spray or a light drizzle of oil on top of them before baking.
definitely.
Yummm, looks good. But I think there’s a typo in the recipe. You’ve written coconut milk, when you want to say dry coconut mixture…. Otherwise you never coat the chicken with the dry ingredients.
oops, fixed it – thanks!
These look so crispy and yummy and I adore the peach honey mustard, I just might start putting it on everything!
Girl, if anyone can make chicken fingers look amazing, it’s you – I almost wanted to lick the screen ;)
mmm coconut chicken fingers – so trying this!
Coconut makes EVERYTHING better! Yum!!
Um, these look amazing. My husband claims to not like coconut either, but I still don’t totally believe him. (He does like coconut curry, for instance). Maybe it’s the texture for him too.
PS: I had a mango margarita with jalapeno and bacon a few weeks ago and thought you may be interested. Literally a whole slice of bacon was in there, like celery in a bloody mary.
PPS: if you don’t have songza, you should download it. They may or may not have stations with names like: 90s 1 hit wonders, 00’s pop divas, 90s school dance…etc.
that sounds incredible.
I could not think of a food I would want more! My aunt loves coconut, so instead of making nothing with it I’m frequently making everything with it..Ha!
I’m with your husband – love the flavor, hate the texture of coconut. I’m going to try these without the coconut in them and will defintely be making that sauce.
I love everything about these chicken fingers. I’m a coconut freak and that peach honey mustard sounds incredible!
Would you notice if your husband mysteriously disappeared and I came to replace him….? Cuz seriously, I would be a happy kept man if I had this coming at me all the time.
I’ll make you a neon clutch!
and wear tons of denim?
I might get out of bed for these.
I love this! I’m struggling to do low-carb and if I sub out the panko for amond flour I think I could do this serious justice. The tenders look sooo freaking good!
I so with you on the leftovers thing. I really dont like soggy “once crunchy” foods. So not yummy!
These sound SO GOOD! They’re almost similar to a Thai curry in chicken finger form, with all that coconut everywhere. :) And don’t worry about the pictures–everyone knows the worst-looking food tastes the best, right? I personally think these look great anyway! So much crispy crust…
Can I come over for lunch…please?!
always.
I love love love when my fiance eats something and likes it and it has things he “hates” in it! It cracks me up. Then it sends him on a rant about “hiding things” in his food and “secret ingredients.” blah blah…we watch top chef, chopped, iron chef, masterchef…he should know by now that there will always be a secret ingredient.
Side note: last nigh on Wheel of Fortune (bc I’m 80 and watch it everyday…and love when I win), one of the puzzles was “Tasty Coconut Chicken”!
haha! i’m 80 too.
Like Mr. How Sweet- I don’t care for coconut either, unless it’s of the alcohol-taste variety. It’s definately a texture thing.
Same thing happened to me with my hubby when I made Corn Cake (read: Don Pablos Copycat recipe) and put in sour cream, which my husband loathes. Of course I didn’t tell him BEFORE he ate it, but he proceeded to snarf it down like it was his last meal on earth. After about the 5th time making it, and only because he caught me adding in the sour cream, I came clean. By this time, he didn’t care. Chalk one up for me!! :)
I’m with Mr. How Sweet. I can’t stand coconut. I’m okay with the flavor – in booze, candy, etc., but the texture. GROSSSS!! However, it seems like every food blog I’ve read lately has a lot of coconut in the recipes. I wonder if it is the time of year or you are all just trying to help me lose weight by posting recipes I won’t try :)
I do like the story though. HILARIOUS!
Yum, these look good. I just don’t understand why people don’t like coconut texture :P I love everything coconut. It’s the best!
A culmination of all of my favorites chicken fingers, peaches, honey mustard, coconut and CRUNCH! LOVE LOVE LOVE!
Love the story! Did you ever tell him the truth? Peach honey mustard–what a good idea!
I made these and served them with a Thai green curry dipping sauce and a side of noodles. Really great, you should try it!