Instructions

You will need three large bowls and 2 baking sheets for this recipe.

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Mix the flour, salt, and pepper in bowl one.

Mix the panko, parmesan, and oregano or thyme in bowl two.

Crack the eggs and mix them with a fork in bowl three.

Now arrange the bowls in a line: flour bowl, egg bowl, panko bowl.

If you haven’t yet, slice the chicken into strips. If the chicken is slippery, put it into the freezer for 5 minutes to firm up.

Dip a few chicken strips into the flour, coating them completely. Lift them out and shake off any excess flour. Dip chicken into the egg, then coat with panko. Place the breaded strips on a baking sheet. Repeat until all pieces are coated.

Pour a generous tablespoon of oil onto a second baking sheet, ensuring it is completely covered. Add more if necessary. (A heavy nonstick baking sheet is helpful here; you don’t want a baking sheet that will warp in the oven heat) Add about two tablespoons of butter. Place sheet in the oven briefly to heat up. Watch closely to ensure the butter does not burn. If it starts browning rapidly, turn the heat down 25 degrees.

Once the butter is melted–which will happen quickly–carefully add the chicken strips to the hot baking sheet. Tongs are best for this. Bake chicken for ten minutes, turning pieces over. Cook another ten minutes.

If your oven has hot spots, you may need to turn baking sheets from front to back and/or move chicken pieces around on the baking sheet. You may also need to add a bit more oil or butter.

After 20 minutes, check for doneness: chicken will be nicely browned and extremely enticing looking. It will look and smell done. Remove cooked pieces to platter or plate and try to refrain from consuming immediately. Return any underdone looking bits to oven for a few more minutes.

Either serve immediately or allow to cool and serve later in the week to ecstatic family and friends. Who should worship you.

Oven baked chicken fingers cry out for mayonnaise mixed with Sriracha. If you really want to gild the lily, make ailioli. Squeeezes of fresh lemon are also delicious.

Chicken fingers will keep, refrigerated, in a covered container, about four days. Though this is unlikely.

Notes:

The original recipe instructs readers to cook chicken at 450F. My oven runs true, but ovens vary; and this was too hot for me: the butter burned, and the chicken almost did. I found 400F a better temperature–the chicken cooked in 20 minutes without burning. If you find this too cool, turn the heat up 25 degrees, but watch closely. Boneless chicken cooks quickly.

The original recipe called for three pounds of boneless, skinless chicken thighs. I’ve made this three times with one-pound packages of chicken breast, because it’s what I had.  Next time, I’ll happily use the the full three pounds of boneless thigh meat Hesser calls for. There is no such thing as too much of this chicken. It’s that good.

I am able to purchase quality grated Parmesan at the cheese counter of my market. Please avoid the processed stuff, which is tasteless.

The original recipe called for fresh oregano. Lacking it, I substituted thyme, which worked beautifully.

You could play a bit with the breading; depending on the rest of your meal, ground coriander, cumin, fennel, paprika, cayenne, or sumac would all work here. I added a pinch of cayenne and a quarter teaspoon of sweet paprika to one recipe. Wonderful.

Panko, or Japanese breadcrumbs, are widely available in most markets, usually in the International or Asian foods aisle.