the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Crunchy Oven Nashville Picken (Pork Rind Crusted Chicken)

Years ago, long before getting our heads around healthy eating, and during the years we were running an equine boarding and training farm up north of Kalispell, Montana (and I was still grinding away in my spine-focused medical practice), a little Japanese place opened up on the north side of Kalispell. For a little town in that part of the far-northern Rockies, they served decent sushi and a pretty damned tasty katsu platter (panko-crusted pork or chicken typically).

Some days after chores were done (if you’ve ever actually run an agricultural or animal oriented operation, you know that chores are truly never really done), we’d pop over to Midori for a quick meal.

Inspired by the katsu at Midori, we played with making katsu at home, almost always breading very traditionally with an egg, flour, egg, and panko coating, then sautéing in (deep sigh followed by an involuntary shudder), whatever franken-oil we had in the pantry back in the day.

Back about four years ago, when my wife and I were beginning our low carb, healthy eating journey, we started making a version of this recipe, browning panko in bit of rendered lard (bacon fat) and breading chicken breasts or boneless thighs that had been pounded thin and dipped in a mayo, grainy mustard, and egg wash, to then be browned further as the chicken cooked in a hot oven.

That was a very tasty, and delightfully crunchy prep, though as we eventually purged all process grains and flours from our diet, the recipe fell by the wayside. There are host of decent recipes that mimic a panko-coated or fried chicken made from various nut flours, but candidly, despite a number of attempts, they simply don’t turn out as crunchy as we remembered, and the recipe fell out of our rotation.

Dining with friends a few months back, we enjoyed a version of this recipe featuring crushed pork rinds that had been browned in a rendered bacon fat before breading the oven-baked chicken. It was delicious, satisfying crunchy, and coated with a mouth-tingling spicy drizzle (or sauce), concocted as a primal or paleo version of the very popular Nashville style chicken you read about these days. Turns out, the wife of the pair we were dining with grew up in Sparta, TN, about an hour from the heart of Nashville.

When I prepare this dish at home, I like to crush the pork rinds (make sure you grab some that have been prepared with acceptable oils) with a rolling pin ‘by hand’ instead of using the food processor to give the coating a bit of texture. And pounding the chicken breasts or boneless thighs is much easier if you slide the pieces into a quart resealable bag first, then pound away with your favorable rolling pin or meat mallet.

You don’t have to brown the pork rind breading first, but it does add crunchiness and color to the end result. And while the Optional Nashville Sauce/Drizzle is spicy, it’s amazingly tasty and very, very close to the best Nashville Chicken eatery we’ve seen in the DFW metro.

2 cups crushed pork rinds (see above)
2-3 tbsp rendered bacon fat, butter, or oil of choice

2 large chicken breasts, each cut into 2 pieces, and pounded to 1/4-inch thickness OR
6-8 boneless thighs, pounded to 1/4-inch thickness

3 tbsp avocado or olive oil mayo
1 large egg yolk
1 tbsp grainy mustard
1 tsp good salt
1/4-1/2 tsp cayenne (optional)
Fresh ground pepper

Optional Nashville Glaze/Sauce/Drizzle
6 tbsp butter
2 tbsp honey or maple syrup
1-3 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 to 1 tsp good chili powder
1/2 to 1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Good salt to taste

Crush the pork rinds, and sauté over medium in the melted fat of choice until golden brown, remove from heat and set aside.

Heat your trusty oven to 425, foil-line a baking sheet and place a wire rack over the foil.

Combine the mayo, egg yolk, mustard, salt, pepper, and cayenne if using in a small bowl, whisk to combine and set aside.

Prep the chicken as per above, it doesn’t have to be perfectly flattened to 1/4-inch; place the pounded chicken in the mayo egg mixture, and stir to coat all the chicken well.

Gather the browned, crushed pork rind into half the skillet, and then take one of the chicken pieces and place it on the breading, pressing lightly to adhere the crushed pork rinds. Turn the chicken to repeat on the other side, gently shake off the excess, and place the chicken on the wire rack. Repeat with the remaining chicken pieces; they’ll look something like this when you’re done with the breading.

Throw it into the oven when you’re done, cooking for 15-20 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and the coating is a deeper, richer brown.

While the chicken is in the oven, consider stirring together the Optional Nashville Glaze/Sauce/Drizzle – go easy on the cayenne at first, you can always add more.

Enjoy.