Chicken Planks ( Kinda like Chicken Fingers, ONLY BETTER)
I think my husband married me because of these chicken planks, seriously. They are a hit with kids, teenagers, and grown ups alike so I thought I’d bring it to you today since our Southern Plate family has grown so much since I first posted it. This was back in the day of my little point and shoot camera so I took a new final photo last week to put in here but the other photos are the original ones. Have a great day and I you get to make these soon! Gratefully, Christy
Click here to get my recipe for Comeback Sauce to serve with these!
This was one of my mom’s weekly dishes growing up. They are so good! Our friends would hear we were having chicken planks and conspicuously hang around our house until Mama called us in for supper so they could secure an invite.
After all, aren’t Southerners known for their fried chicken?
The taste and texture of this dish are so amazing, you’d never know the ingredients were so few and so simple.
We were eating these in our family long before chicken fingers made it onto the menu at restaurants and before chicken nuggets were even thought of (Happy Meals were hamburger or cheeseburger back in “the day”). I remember we went to a restaurant once and my dad actually asked the waitress what a chicken finger was. He said “I didn’t know chickens had fingers!”. We were all very young and thought our dad was hilarious.
Give these a try, I guarantee they will knock your socks off and blow other chicken fingers out of the water!
Please don’t get low salt or no salt crackers, just trust me on this.
Place chicken breasts inside two ziplock bags and beat out thin with the blunt end of a meat tenderizer or mallet. I use two ziplock bags because one usually ends up splitting open in the course of my beating. I guess I have a lot of untapped aggression 
.
They will be nice and flat and thin, about 1/4 of an inch. I wonder if I can use that measurement one more time in this tutorial…keep your eyes open, I am setting it up as a personal challenge.
I swear I sing Michael Jackson in my head every time I beat eggs.
“Gunky” is a highly technical culinary term which I learned whilst acquiring my $40,000 degree in home economics. You may not have used that term until now because you were not properly educated on its meaning. However, as a reader of Southern Plate, you are now qualified to incorporate it into your daily vocabulary. Your friends will be impressed, so you must make chicken planks A.S.A.P. in order to have your first opportunity to utilize this colorful term. Can you tell I’m tired?
Okay, so your cracker crumbs will start to get gunky after you use them a bit, this is where you will take the crumbs you had set aside and dump them into your bowl. Just put them right on top of your old crumbs if you like, then continue breading your chicken and putting it in the oil.
If enough of us do it, I bet they’ll start using it on the Food Network!
Turn after they brown on one side and continue cooking
Remove from the pan and place on paper towel lined plate.
Ingredients
- Chicken Breasts
- 1 -3 Sleeves Saltine Crackers
- 2 eggs
- Cooking Oil
Instructions
- Pour oil in large skillet to a depth of 1/4 inch. Heat on medium while you prepare the chicken.
- Place chicken in gallon ziplock bag and beat out until 1/4 inch thick. Crack eggs into bowl and beat with fork. Crush saltines and put in a separate bowl.
- Cut each chicken breast into three strips and dip each piece first in egg mixture, then in cracker crumbs, being careful to coat completely. Drop each piece into oil and cook, turning once, on medium to medium high heat until browned on both sides. Drain on paper towel lined plate.
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Posted by Christy Jordan
on Aug 11 2008. Filed under Chicken, Main Course.
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Christy,
Thank you so much for sharing this fabulous recipie for5 chicken planks, I have made this everyweek since I have gotten this from you.
Every week it gets better and better.
Love these chicken planks so much!!!!!
I didn’t see a category for this but….what kind of camera do you use now?
Looks soooo good Christy can’t wait to try them!!!!!
These are so great…but…use the same receipe for pork chops sometime! My families favorite. I love to make some milk gravy with the drippings to go with the meal. Mashed potatoes…or buscuits. When I have all the chops cooking I dump the left over crackers into the left over eggs and make my own “gunkys”, just spoon into the oil just for me.
Hi Christy-just wanted you to know I make something very similar to your recipe (and will try yours because it looks so good!) What I do is use crushed potato chips (plain or sour cream and onion) and add a little parmesan cheese to it. I make a dipping sauce of honey and dijon mustard or barbeque sauce works well too. Love your website here in Arkansas! Stop by Mena sometime- would love to meet you!
Thanks for this recipe , it really was the best I eve made, and I have tried a lot! It will be the only way I make them from now on. I used Krogers Wheat saltines and fried them in grape seed oil even my son loved them and when I told him I was making them with saltines he wasn’t happy, but when he tried them .he said I should always make them like this . I WILL NEVER MAKE THEM ANY OTHER WAY !! I served them with honey mustard sauce. Your mother knew what she was doing , must have been a great cook . Thanks again for the great recipe !!
I am so glad to hear they were a hit Linda, Mama was a fabulous cook!!
I found your website this morning and I am so glad i did! hehe i already have drop biscuits in the oven! Now i cant decide whether to make these or the cracker barrel chicken tenders tonight! And ive already asked my hubby for your cookbook for christmas=) It is all stuff like my MeMe used to cook!!! Thank you so much!
Welcome to SouthernPlate Jerrica!! I am so glad you found me too. I hope you enjoy the recipes while cooking and making memories for your family!
These are so easy to make and they are wonderful! I love the crunch on the outside and the soft juicy chicken on the inside. I had wanted to make these for a while but I never remembered to pick up saltines. I finally bought some the other day after I saw your recipe to make homemade butter. My daughter made it so I had to have that yummy butter on some saltines. Thank you Christy!
Yummy! I am so glad you enjoyed the chicken planks and the butter!!
Made these for the first time, for lunch for my kids – I asked if they liked the chicken – said I had read good reviews of the recipe – and my 10-year-old son said “well you can stick up another good review ’cause they are AWESOME!”
Happy New Year to you and yours!
[...] Chicken Planks [...]
I use this same coating and cooking method with venison cubed steak. It is delicious.
Anyone ever tried baking these?
Yes =)
I coat mine with the crushed crackers, season salt, garlic salt and pepper (with a little flour) then I fry them for only a minute of two on each side. put them in a cooking dish and cover with foil. bake at 400ish for 15 minutes, then uncovered for 15 minutes. they come out crunchy on the outside, juicy on the inside. GREAT flavor!!!
if your chicken pieces are a bit bigger then I would cook them longer, I use the chicken strips, not chicken breast
These were so good and so easy. I don’t own a meat pounding thing, so I used a frying pan:/ Well, it did something, but not what it should. So I cut the three strips in half since they were so thick. They did not make it to dinner. As I began cooking them while my daughter whipped up the sauce. We ate them as soon as one got cooked (we broke it in half and shared it while we waited for the next one!!) Then she wanted fries, which go great with the sauce as well!! So i sliced a potato and dropped it in after the chicken was done. We literally ate as we stood at the stove, what a shame. Two of my favorite foods–crackers and chicken, absolutely wonderful.
[...] is the original Southern Plate’s Chicken Planks recipe. If you click the link, you may have noticed it calls for egg in the dipping batter. [...]
These are wonderful especially with the Comeback Sauce!
hmmm, these look great but I think you stole my recipe LOL. actually mines a bit different. I crush up the saltines and then I add some pepper, season salt, garlic salt and flour. I don’t use the egg either. but i cut up the chicken breast and place them in the coating then put them in the frying pan until they are brown on both sides, only a minute or 2 on each side. I then bake them at 400ish for about 15 minutes covered, then 15 minutes uncovered and that browns the crust and makes the outside crunchy.
SOOOOOO yummi. See I thought I made this recipe up though, maybe i’m a midwestern girl who’s just a southerner at heart.
We nicknamed this “Diggedy Dang” chicken because it is so good. Thanks Christy for the great recipe and for getting me back into cooking!
HUGS!!
Christy, I just made these for tonight’s dinner. Everybody has taken a taste. They are wonderful! Will definitely be a regular on the menu!
[...] – Made Chicken Planks last night…..delish! And so easy! Apple Dumplings are a favorite dessert….oh and Summer [...]
I normally do this but I use crushed frosted flakes mixed with seasoned flour! It gives it a sweet and salty taste but I will have to try your version also
Ohhh, I love frosted flakes, bet it is wonderful!
These have become an all-time family favorite in my house! My normally picky 8 yr old will eat them until I tell her she has to save some for the rest of the family. The platter is cleaned every single time that I cook them. I’ve shared the recipe with several friends, and they love them as well. Thanks for an awesome recipe!
Oh my goodness, I am so glad to hear that they are so well liked at your house Sharon!! Thank you for sharing too!
can you make these with ritz crackers instead of saltines?
I’ve never tried it but heard of others who have and I can only imagine it’d be heavenly!
OMG so i just came across your blog a couple days ago and have became obsessed with it…I have made the red velvet cake….i used your cupcake recipe for that…it was such a hit my family only left me one slice (still trying to figure that out). Today I made the breakfast pizza which my two year old loved. For lunch i made the chicken planks….I ate 5 big planks and no i am not embarrassed lol. Thank you so much for this site. I love the fact that your recipes are simple and the ingredients are more than likely already in my fridge and pantry. I also want to say thank you for the bacon grease post…I just started my jar today and am super excited to fill it up to the top (I used an old Moonshine jar) lol. THank you so much!
These sound so GOOOOD, will be making these for our Super Bowl party!!
4sure!! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your Southern Plate!!
OMG!! These were SO good that my very picky 7 year old son not only gave me a thumbs up, but a hug and a kiss after the first bite! We loved them. My only regret was waiting so long to make them after I had printed the recipe. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
Oh WOW!! I am so glad to hear that they were such a hit!!
Hey, Christy. I’ve tried this but have trouble regulating the oil temperature on my gas stove. Can this be easily adapted to your “no fuss” oven frying method? I”m not sure what I’d need to do to adapt it! Maybe I need a basic “how to fry” lesson!
When I read your term “gunky” and you thought maybe Food Network would maybe start using it….we.. it reminded me of how on Chopped the judges use the term “clunky”…I never think of food of any kind as clunky! I have a necklace that is clunky…it has big chunky rock looking things on it and it makes a little noise when I walk and the rocky-things hit together…you know… chunky/clangy= clunky! Right? now how does that equal food? and sometimes the judges even use the term to discribe a creamy sauce!
Now, on the other hand, I understand your term “gunky” completely! I use that term in cooking quite frequently myself!
Thanks,
Margaret
In the hilarious words of my dear friend, Karen, “Lawd, Lawd, tastes s’good I hate to swaller it!” Talk about a love/hate relationship! These chicken planks and I are gonna have to come to an understanding! It won’t be fair if I make them all the time…the other chicken recipes might get their feelings hurt! Thanks for ANOTHER great one…you are just the best!