It’s funny how I used to regard fast food joints or restaurants as the only place to get certain foods. Take the humble chicken breast sandwich. It never occured to me that it could be made at home. That was a fast food item only.
I was a Wendy’s Spicy chicken sandwich man myself. They actually use a real chicken breast instead of the pressed and formed Bits O’ Yardbird plank of chicken meat that McDonalds and Burger King offered.
Has that changed? I have no idea. Going into one of those places or ordering through the drive-thru would be as foreign to me now as a trip into outer space. It’s been well over five years now, and no, I’m not missing it at all.
Looking up the damage on that spicy chicken sandwich, it clocks in at 490 calories, 51 grams of refined carbs, 5 grams of sugar, and a whopping 990 mg of sodium. That doesn’t take into account the large fries and large coke to go with it. That pushes the calorie count to 1,041 for one meal, and the sodium count to “He was taken from us too soon.”
To put it in perspective, a normal sized functioning adult should average around 2000 calories a day, give or take. So if you ate that so-called “meal deal”, that’s over half your calories in one sitting. And because most of those calories are empty or simple carbs, about an hour after consuming all that, you will be hungry again and looking for dessert. I know I was back then.
Turns out, there is no great mystery to making your own chicken sandwich right in the comfort of your own home. No, really! It’s quick and easy, tastes much better, and it doesn’t have strange teenage booger hands touching it before putting it in your mouth. No, I swear, you can make your own.
I would highly suggest sourcing some local true pasture raised chicken breasts, like I get from Cooks Venture, for this application. They are smaller normal growth birds so you won’t have to spend hours with a sledgehammer pounding flat the Godzilla sized mutant breasts sold at the mega-marts.
Remember, kids…even if the label says free range at the store, it’s a lie 99.9 percent of the time. Legally, that means the cage door was open for 10 minutes a day onto about a 3 square foot area.
I haven’t calculated the calories on my sandwich, but I would guess it’s reduced by at least half, possibly more. We are air frying instead of deep frying and using almond flour instead of white flour. We even get to use real buns this time, so that’s fun.
Make this at home, people. It’s so much better for you, tastes amazing, and any boogers on it are your fault alone.
Homemade Spicy Chicken Sandwich:
Ingredients
4 free range slow growth chicken breasts
50 – 60 grams almond flour
1/2 tsp sea salt, black pepper, garlic and onion powder
1 tsp smoked paprika
Cayenne pepper to taste
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
2 tbsp whole milk or half and half
Orowheat brand keto hot dog buns
Avocado oil mayo, shredded lettuce
Instructions:
Mix the almond flour and all the spices together. I use a cake round pan:
Trim your chicken breasts of any extra fat and pound flat using a zip lock bag and a small cast iron skillet:
Whisk the egg and milk together. Coat the chicken breasts in the egg wash, then dip in the almond flour mix. Spray the coated chicken with a little hit of avocado oil non-stick spray to aid in browning. Place on the air fryer basket of your device:
Air fry for 20 – 30 minutes until the chicken reaches 170 degrees, time will vary depending on your machine. Cut the chicken lengthwise to fit the buns:
Prep your keto buns with condiments of your liking and shredded lettuce, then enjoy:
See the list of all Jason Murphy’s recipes at www.mysaline.com/jason-murphy.