Hi all! I have SUCH a good recipe to share today. It’s the ultimate comfort food that my husband and I crave: chicken and waffles. The mixture of crunchy, spicy chicken with the sweet and fluffy waffles is to die for. There’s this popular waffle house near our house that makes awesome chicken and waffles. The downside is that the wait is usually about 30-40 minutes and the food is fairly expensive for what it is. After a couple trips to the waffle house, I decided to try my hand at making this delicious meal, and was very pleasantly surprised. Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1-2 lbs chicken tenders (depending on how many people you want to feed)
• 2 cups buttermilk, divided (you can also use 1 cup regular milk and add 2 tsp lemon juice or vinegar)
• 1 tsp salt, divided
• 1 tsp black pepper, divided
• hot sauce to taste
• 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 tsp paprika
• cayenne pepper to taste (I used ~1/4 tsp)
• chili powder to taste (~1/8 tsp)
• canola oil for frying
• Belgian waffle mix, prepared according to box directions

First, get started on the marinade. Mix up 1 cup of buttermilk, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, and hot sauce. Pour into a food storage bag with the chicken. Let the air out before sealing the bag, and massage the bag to get the marinade all over the chicken. Refrigerate the marinating chicken for at least 4 hours.

After the chicken is done marinating, it’s time to prep. Preheat the oven to 250°F. Whisk together the flour, cornmeal, chili powder, cayenne, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper on a plate or in a large shallow bowl. Pour remaining 1 cup buttermilk into a separate bowl.

Now, get your frying station ready. Have the oil heated to about 350°F, with the marinated chicken, dry mixture, and buttermilk close by. This is also a good time to get started on making waffles (it does involve some multitasking).

Dip the chicken into the buttermilk, then into the dry mix- then back into the buttermilk, and back into the dry mixture. This double dipping ensures a good thick crust around the chicken for perfect crunch.

Fry the chicken in the hot oil, turning a few times, until a food thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the tender reads 165°. Tip: put only a few tenders in the fryer at the same time to prevent cooling down the oil and making the crust soggy.

When the tenders are done, transfer to a paper towel lined baking sheet and keep warm in the preheated oven.

Once all your tenders are done, pop a few on top of a golden brown waffle and drizzle with syrup! You could definitely mix your syrup with some red pepper flakes or cayenne for an extra kick of spice, or you could keep it traditional (my personal favorite).

Shout out to the waffle making king, my husband!

Enjoy making, and eating, this awesome comfort food!