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Waffle Crusted Chicken with Spicy Maple Sauce using whole grain waffle crumbs and baked in the oven. A healthier twist on chicken and waffles!
Waffle Crusted Chicken with Spicy Maple Sauce
Waffle Crusted Chicken with Spicy Maple SauceThe maple sauce is the perfect spicy-sweet compliment to the chicken.
A few more crispy chicken recipes I love are Sesame Crusted Chicken and Tortilla Encrusted Chicken.
Are waffles healthy? I have been asked this before and the answer is yes. There are many healthier buying options to look for or even when making waffles such as using whole wheat or whole grains to add more nutrients and fiber. Also opting to use higher quality ingredients can make a difference.
Tips:
- If you’re making this for the kids, leave the red pepper flakes out of the sauce, they’ll love it!
- I like to soak the chicken in buttermilk which helps make it moist and tender, but if you’re pressed for time you can skip this step.
- If you don’t have waffles or are feeling creative, you can switch the waffle crust for your favorite whole grain or gluten free cereal. Or even nuts.
Hope you enjoy!
How To Make Waffle Crusted Chicken
More Chicken Recipes You Might Enjoy:
- Cheesy Chicken Enchilada
- Instant Pot Chicken Parmesan
- Cheesy Jalapeno Popper Stuffed Chicken
- Chicken Shawarma Salad
- Parmesan Crusted Chicken with Broccoli
Waffle Crusted Chicken with Spicy Maple Sauce
A healthier twist on chicken and waffles, these chicken cutlets are breaded with whole grain waffle crumbs and baked in the oven. The maple sauce is the perfect spicy-sweet compliment to the chicken.
Yield: 6 servings
Serving Size: 1 cutlet, 1/2 tbsp sauce
Ingredients
For chicken:
- 3 boneless, skinless chicken breast, (1 ½ lbs total)
- 1 cup reduced-fat buttermilk
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- dash of tabasco, optional
- 4 whole grain or multi-grain frozen waffles, lightly toasted and cooled (I like Trader Joe’s)
- 1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
- cooking spray
For sauce:
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 small garlic clove, finely minced
- 1/4 cup reduced sodium chicken broth
- 2 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/2 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
Instructions
- Cut the chicken into 6 (4-ounce) cutlets and place them in a shallow dish.
- Pour the buttermilk over the chicken pieces, refrigerate and let them soak for at least 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Break the waffles into small pieces and pulse in a food processor until they resemble coarse crumbs.
- Evenly spread the crumbs on a baking sheet and bake for 4 minutes. Set aside to cool.
- Remove the chicken from the buttermilk, place on a paper towel-lined plate and pat the chicken with another towel to dry the surface of each piece. Discard leftover buttermilk.
- Season both sides of the chicken with ¼ teaspoon (total) salt and pepper.
- Put the egg and tabasco (if using), in a shallow dish or bowl. Combine the waffle crumbs, thyme, 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper in another dish.
- Working with 1 piece at a time, dip chicken in egg, then crumb mixture.
- Transfer cutlet to a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Lightly spray each piece with cooking spray.
- Bake for 20 minutes, or until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 160 degrees.
- Let chicken rest for 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, heat small non-stick skillet over medium heat.
- Add the olive oil and garlic and sauté the garlic until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Add the chicken broth, syrup, vinegar, red pepper flakes and thyme.
- Bring the sauce to slow boil and allow it to reduce by half.
- To serve, top each chicken piece with ½ tablespoon of sauce.
Last Step:
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Nutrition
Serving: 1 cutlet, 1/2 tbsp sauce, Calories: 251 kcal, Carbohydrates: 16 g, Protein: 28 g, Fat: 8 g, Cholesterol: 109 mg, Sodium: 385 mg, Fiber: 0.5 g, Sugar: 7 g
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This was amazing! The waffle coating was crispy and the sauce was just the right blend of sweet and spicy (I was very generous with the red pepper flakes). Will definitely be making this often.
Does this really calll for 31 1/2 pounds of chicken or is that a typo?
Sorry— it is 3 chicken breasts for a total of 1 1/2 lbs. I will fix so that is clearer.
Made this on a whim. I enjoy a good chicken and waffle dish and decided to try it. Used my extra batch of Krusteaz waffles though and I omitted the buttermilk and fresh thyme (used dried) because I didn’t have on hand. I cannot stop thinking raving about this dish. We baked on a baking sheet. I roasted broccoli as a side but I’m thinking of other sides for the future. So delicious. That sauce brings it to the next level.
Could you replace the Tabasco with sriracha sauce?
Such a great meal!! Thank you, Gina!!
We’ve done it twice, once in the air fryer and once in the oven. Both turned out great but air fryer was my favorite. In the air fryer we did 350 for 13 minutes then 400 for 4-5 minutes. We did pound the breasts out very thin before marinating in buttermilk. Turned out perfect!!
Also one more lesson- the first time we made it we had barely enough waffle crumbs. This time we did 6 waffles and did egg white instead of egg wash to save some points, but the extra waffles bumped the point value up a couple (totally worth it though!!).
This time we replicated the coleslaw in the pictures and I thought I would share it here because I saw others requesting the recipe (this was just what we came up with, nothing official).
2 cups shredded red cabbage
1 cup grated carrots
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
4 tablespoons mayo
1 tablespoon sugar
celery salt*
pepper*
Dried fennel*
dried dill*
mustard powder*
*all to taste (I didn’t measure)
Mix the vinegar, mayo, sugar and spices first then add the cabbage and carrots.
Mix well and make it a few hours ahead of time so the cabbage and carrots absorb the dressing.
This batch made 4 servings for 4 points each (green plan). It was nice and tart but really went nicely with the chicken.
This was a total bust for me so I know I did something wrong… as soon as I put the waffles in the food processor they didn’t crumble but they almost formed a dough-like ball. Anyone have this problem? Did I not let the waffles cool enough? They were slightly warmed.
We’ve had to toast our waffles as if we were about to eat them so they get crisp and then let them cool completely on a cooling rack. This gets most of the moisture out so they break apart nicely in the processor. The drier the better, just be sure not to overly brown them (don’t want them to scorch in the oven).
My family loves this recipe! It is sweet, but savory. My son adds hot sauce to make it a real chicken and waffles meal. I am making it again tonight! I double the sauce, it is so yummy!
This is delicious however did I do something that my ‘gravy’ hardened as we at it. If nothing I have learned how to make rock candy. 😄
Can a blender be used in replace of a food processor for the waffles? Thanks!!
Did you try a blender? I think I’m gonna try my vitamix.
I don’t like the idea of chicken and waffles, but this is absolutely delicious! I loved the sauce especially. Thank you for making our lives easier and healthier. ❤️
I love this fresh spin on a guilty pleasure!
This blew me and my picky eaters away! My daughters (9 and 11) are super skeptical of chicken, and they both cleaned their plates and asked for more.
A couple of things, the amount of waffle crumbs wasn’t enough to cover all 6 cutlets. I wound up having to add Panko to the last 2 cutlets to stretch the waffle crumbs. This could just be the size of my cutlets, I didn’t weigh them out to see if they were 4oz each.
I also decided to pound out the chicken breasts to even thickness before breading too.
I was a little nervous about the sauce, it seemed really spicy to taste! But when I put it on top of the chicken it was the perfect amount of spice. Even the kids loved it! It really pulled the whole meal together.
My husband commented that all of the flavors worked together to create a perfect meal. Thank you!
Glad you both enjoyed it!
What is the cabbage “slaw” in the picture?
This was delicious! Definitely will be making this again!
Gina, great recipe,. Im a Australia WW, have done almost all states in the USA via RV over the last 6yrs, love your food and all your recipes take me back to the great memories my husband and i have in your country….
Cheers, Vonny.
Aw, thank you!
Looks great! Planning to try this soon, can you use almond milk (for dairy free) in place of the buttermilk? Thanks for reading 😄
Hmm I am not sure?
This was fantastic- one the the best skinnytaste recipes I’ve made to date and I’ve made many!! This is a definite repeat
I know this is an older recipe, but wow!! It is seriously amazing! I’m sad it took me so long to try. So delicious and my husband is already trying to put it on the menu again next week.
Wow this is great!!!
Wow fantastic!!!
This recipe looks amazing! I just got an air fryer, but haven’t been able to gage the timing for chicken in it. What temp and how long would I cook the chicken for, in the air fryer?
One of the best recipes I’ve had to date (all of your are amazing but this is life changing!!). I know I will make this a staple in our home!
great!
Could this be done with chicken legs?
I have made this dish four times, and each time it gets better and better! The spicy sauce elevates this dish to the next level! I never “got” chicken and waffles until this! It pairs really well with the spicy green beans from your first cookbook!
🙂
I can’t believe how good this is! It pairs really well with your strawberry cucumber strawberry salad, since when I think of waffles I also think of strawberries!
Meh. Fairly tasty but not worth the effort. Too many steps and no time to clean up while chicken was cooking because I had to make the sauce. My kitchen was a mess! Would try it again maybe if you thought I could make the waffle crumbs and sauce ahead of time and store somehow.
I made this tonight and made the bread crumbs ahead of time as well as the sauce. You should give it another go!
I’m late to the party with this recipe. Made it this weekend (for some reason I thought chicken and waffles was a good dish to celebrate the 4th of July!), and it was delicious! We had field peas and broccoli as sides. Thank you so much for these delicious and healthy recipes! I started WW in January and have lost almost 40 pounds. We have several of your recipes each week, and I attribute much of my success this year to these fantastic recipes!
Wonderful!! That makes me so happy 🙂
Yummy, however I input the nutrition info into my WW blue app and it came up 8 points. I’m hoping I did something wrong.
Hi Amy. Did you use the recipe builder?
Can you use fat free milk instead of the buttermilk?
I think the reason for buttermilk is it tenderizes the chicken. I don’t think milk would do that.
Holey Moley is this an amazing recipe!! I made it tonight for dinner and I’m in love! Only problem is that it’s so tasty I want to eat all of the servings!