Tips & Techniques - Potato Crusted Chicken

You know how people talk about how they are meats and potatoes kind of people? There's something just so delicious and hearty-feeling about stuffing one's face full of chunks of meat and creamy, smooth mashed potatoes. What if I told you that you could have them both in one? You wouldn't have to prepare two different dishes (a meat entree and mashed potato side dish). I actually came up with this concept back in college when I wanted to fry some chicken but had no breadcrumbs.


The solution? Instant mashed potato flakes! I'm serious. I experimented a bit with this and found that chicken breast was the best type of meat for this technique but you can give others a try too if you'd like. You basically just cover thinly sliced chicken breast or chicken breast chunks in instant mashed potato flakes. Here are some pictures of a mix I did with the flakes, garlic salt, and Parmesan cheese. You would then fry in oil until a golden brown (olive oil for healthier frying).


So what's it taste like? The crispy exterior is created by the frying and flaky nature of the instant mashed potatoes. Once you pass that, there is a layer of mashed potatoey goodness! It's smooth, it's creamy, it's awesome. Then you get to your meat. It's actually quite a strange experience at first because you have a crunchy outside with a mashed potato inside before the meat. I recommend it a lot - give it a shot and let me know what you think!

Pictures provided by Duc Duong.