Sticky Chicken

I've been eating a lot of chicken on this diet, and no matter how you season up a chicken breast, it gets seriously boring after a little while.  I've been combing the net for some fresh, Dukan diet friendly ideas and came across a recipe for 'sticky chicken' which looked good.

I modified it just slightly, mostly changing the quantities a little.  This was fantastic, lightly sweet tasting, juicy chicken.  You could easily add other flavors to it if you wanted like a citrus zest, or other herbs, too.

This recipe has 2 primary components. The 'breading' for the chicken and the basting sauce.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 pounds Boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Trim the fat!
• 1/2 cup Oat Bran, ground very fine. The closer to flour, the better.
• 4 Tbsp Splenda
• 1 tsp garlic salt or garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp ginger powder or ground ginger
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/4 cup reduced sodium soy-sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• Nonfat cooking spray, a skillet, basting brush and a casserole dish

Before you get going - start heating your oven  up to 350 degrees.

1. Prep the chicken:

• Cut into thick 'chicken tender' type strips
• Use paper towels to pat strips dry, set aside

2. Bread the chicken:

• Mix together the oat bran, garlic salt, paprika and ginger in a soup bowl.
• Coat chicken tenders with the mixture generously by pressing them into it

3. Brown the chicken:

• Heat a skillet at medium temperature on a burner, lightly coat with cooking spray
• Place the breaded tenders in, for about 2 minutes per side to brown. Don't overdo it!
• Place browned tenders into a casserole dish with a little space between each

4. Make the basting sauce:

• Wipe your skillet clean, reduce burner to low temperature
• Pour water, soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce in
• Add the Splenda and gently stir until it is all dissolved into the sauce
• Pour the sauce over the breaded chicken tenders

5. Cook and baste:

• Set a timer for 25 minutes.
• Every 5 minutes or so, baste the chicken. Sauce will seem 'watery' at first.
• Near the end of the 25 minutes, the sauce will be getting thicker
• Some of the breading will come off during the cooking, that's fine.

6. Broil to finish:

• After 25 minutes, switch the over to broil, no need to move the oven rack
• Broil for 5 minutes, basting once halfway through.

Remove these guys from the casserole dish and serve immediately.  Sweet, juicy chicken with a nice tang to the sauce and breading.

They would go great with a side of rice or quinoa, neither of which are allowed on my diet. ;)