Allergen-Free Fried Chicken

     Commercial fried chicken is awash in common allergens: it is dipped in eggs and dairy products, rolled in bread crumbs full of wheat and yeast, fried (typically) in a mixture of corn and soy oils, and exposed to traces of everything that preceded it into the fryer. The stuff is off limits for a lot of allergy sufferers. Fortunately, it is not difficult to make an excellent allergy-free version at home.

     The classic, foolproof way to bread a piece of chicken involves three steps: 1) dredge it through flour, 2) dip it in an egg wash, and 3) coat it with bread crumbs. The flour sticks to the wet chicken, the egg wash sticks to the dry flour, and the bread crumbs stick to the wet egg wash. 

     The egg wash can be thought of as an edible glue: it sticks to both the flour coating and the bread crumbs, holding the whole thing together.

     To reconstruct breaded chicken, we need to follow, scrupulously, the two basic principles of breading chicken: 1)  we need to use three layers (dry-wet-dry), and 2) the middle layer has to function as glue. As long as these principles are met, we are free to swap out ingredients. I use tapioca flour for the first layer, but arrowroot works too. Flaxseed has gluey tendencies, and I rely on it for the second layer: the egg wash substitute is simply flaxseed meal and water.  The "bread crumbs" are based on unsweetened cereal to which you are not allergic. Note that the waxy coating on the bags most cereal comes in contain corn, soy or dairy derivatives..

     tapioca flour

     flaxseed meal 

     Unsweetened cereal (See Bread Crumbs in the Glossary)

     salt (See Salt in the Glossary)

     black pepper (See Spices in the Glossary)
     thyme (See Spices in the Glossary) 

     oil (See Oil in the Glossary)

     Set up your chicken-breading assembly line:

     The flaxseed mixture is simply 1-1/2 Tb. flaxseed meal stirred into 1/2 cup of water and allowed to sit for 15 minutes. 

     To make the cereal mixture grind 2 cups of the cereal in a food-processor until you obtain the texture of bread crumbs. Stir in 1/2 tsp. of salt, 1/4 tsp. of black pepper and a sprinkle of thyme.

     Dredge each piece of chicken in tapioca flour, dip it in the flaxseed mixture, and roll it in the cereal mixture until it is thoroughly coated.  Heat some oil you are not allergic to up to a moderate temperature in a skillet, place the chicken pieces in the skillet and cook until nicely browned on the bottom.  Flip and cook the other side. The best temperature will depend partly on the size of the pieces of chicken.  You want them to turn golden brown on both sides about the same time the chicken is cooked through.