When I started frying chicken, you  rarely found boneless chicken at the butcher counter, so you had to debone the chicken breast yourself. No big problem to do, in fact, it saves you money to do the deboning rather than the butcher. I prepare breading the chicken breast in advance, refrigerate, and fry just before serving. After frying, you can place the breaded chicken fingers in a warm oven (120-150 degrees) for an hour or more until ready to serve.

Using a splatter screen over your skillet helps eliminate splatters on your cooktop and also provides a safety feature while frying. The seasoning in this recipe gives the chicken an Italian flavor and is best served with a warm marinara sauce for dipping. The Progresso Panko Italian Style Bread Crumbs make for a light, crispy coating but you can also use regular Italian Style bread crumbs. Who doesn’t enjoy dipping food and eating smaller portions? Therefore, this recipe can be served as an appetizer or as an entrée.

Ingredients:

Serves: 6

• 3 halves skinless boneless chicken breasts
• 1/2 cups All purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups Progresso Panko Italian Style bread crumbs
• 3 eggs
• 1 tbs water
• 1 tbs grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 tbs fresh flat leaf parsley finely chopped
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp black pepper
• 3 tbs Extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. Pound breast between two sheets of wax paper until evenly thin.
   
2. Cut each breast lengthwise with kitchen shears or knife. Cut each strip in half.
3. Place ½ cup flour on a sheet of wax paper. Place 1 ½ cups bread crumbs on second sheet of wax paper.
4. In a shallow dish beat eggs well. Blend in Parmesan cheese, water, salt, pepper and parsley.
5. Dredge breast in flour, dip in egg, coat with bread crumbs.
   

Frying:

1. In large skillet, over medium, heat olive oil until hot. Add chicken pieces; do not over crowd skillet.
2. Fry until lightly brown on both sides.Drain chicken pieces on a cookie sheet lined with paper towels. Continue cooking all chicken pieces. Add more oil to skillet, if needed.
   
3. After all pieces are cooked and drained, remove paper towels and place cookie sheet in a warm oven until ready to serve.
4. Serve with marinara sauce for dipping. Here’s my Marinara Sauce Recipe.