Baked Panko Chicken (Easy, Easy, Chicken Dinner)

When there's chicken in the fridge and not a whole lot time to work with, Panko Chicken is my go-to recipe. When I'm being entirely lazy, I generally heat up a can of veggies for a side dish. However, served alongside pasta and steamed broccoli, both drizzled with an herbed butter, this chicken dish can become an absolutely heavenly meal! Technically speaking, if the chicken was flattened with a mallet and served with katsu sauce, I could almost call this recipe "Baked Chicken Katsu", but I won't insult any Japanese restaurant's honor with such a title.

My own personal lazy method of prepping this dish involves globing mayo on half of a large plate, and sprinkling panko and seasoning on the other side of the plate. I pat the chicken on the mayo side, flip it over and pat down again, rubbing the mayo all over the chicken. Then I pat the mayo-ed chicken on the seasoned panko side, and coat by pressing the chicken firmly into the crumbs. I use a clean hand to sprinkle on more panko if needed. I realize using two separate plates is cleaner, and using a container full of panko to coat the mayo-ed chicken is probably 5x easier, but when I resort to this recipe, I'm usually not in the mood to use more than 1 dish to prep everything. ;-)

I used Chef Paul Prudhomme's Poultry Magic for the seasoning. Almost any seasoning blend can flavor this dish nicely. Chipotle or "southwestern" blend, garlic-herb blend, lemon pepper blend, Mediterranean blend...you name it!

Baked Panko Chicken

Yeilds:3-4 Servings

Ingredients*:

2 lb	Chicken Tenders (or boneless breasts, cut into strips)	Ingredients + Setup
1 cup	Panko Breadcrumbs
4 Tbsp	Mayo
3 tsp	Poultry Seasoning (or just use your favorite seasoning!)

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. Place foil on a sheet pan. Spray lightly with cooking oil.
3. Coat chicken with mayo, then coat chicken with panko. Shake off excess, and place on foiled sheet pan.

Chicken, smeared with mayo

Mayo-ed chicken, firmly pressed into panko+seasoning

Ready to bake!

4. Bake for 15-20 minutes, flipping halfway through. Let cool a few minutes, then serve.

Hot, juicy, crispy, and ready to serve!

*Measurements approximated.




Tip: 
If you prefer to use a knife or spoon to spread the mayo on the chicken, be sure not to stick the utensil back into the mayo after touching the chicken!