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This recipe for Crispy Coconut Chicken is one of my favorite ways to use skinless boneless chicken thighs! Crispy, flavorful, and full of flavor, this chicken is a family favorite!
This is one of those skinless chicken thigh recipes that you’ll come back to again and again, because yes it’s that tasty!
How to use Crunchy Coconut Chicken
I love to find a good crunchy chicken recipe that I can use in a variety of ways. Use it:
- exactly as you make it, either as chicken tenders or whole pieces of chicken
- make a double batch and use it for slicing over salads
- make them for kids for a change up to regular chicken tender
- send them for school lunches
- put them over hot cooked noodles and serve with a kicky sauce
Crispy Coconut Chicken
A Boneless Skinless Chicken Thigh Recipe
I don’t often buy boneless skinless chicken parts, so when I do it’s for a good reason. Crispy Coconut Chicken is one of the best uses of boneless skinless chicken thighs I’ve ever found.
You can, of course, buy bone-in and skin-on chicken thighs and make them boneless and skinless. That’s a lot of work though so I like to pay the extra money for boneless/skinless. But only occasionally because I also like money.
What do I need to make crunchy coconut chicken?
- Desiccated coconut, this is NOT the kind you buy in the baking aisle
- chicken thighs
- ground almonds OR almond flour
- oil
- eggs
- salt
Crispy Chicken Thighs
The flaky, crunchy coating is the perfect counterpart to the tender, juicy chicken it surrounds and it’s totally clean eating too. No gluten, no sweeteners, no breading just nuts, coconut, eggs, and oil.
Feel free to make them full-size thighs or even cut them more like tenders. And if you really only like chicken breast you can use those too. Although sometimes I find that white meat is just too dry.
Crispy Coconut Chicken
This recipe for Crispy Coconut Chicken is my favorite way to make crispy chicken thighs with boneless skinless thighs.
Ingredients
- 6 boneless skinless thighs
- 3/4 cup almond meal or ground almonds
- 3/4 cup dry flaked coconut
- 2 eggs
- 2 TBSP oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- preheat the oven to 400˚
- cut each thigh into 4-6 pieces or leave them bigger for strips
- pat them dry
- set up an assembly line in this order, bowl #1 beaten egg, bowl #2 almond meal, bowl #3 oil, bowl #4 coconut, at the end of this place a lightly greased baking sheet
- dip the chicken in the egg, roll in almond, lightly dip in oil and then into the coconut
- repeat with all the pieces and sprinkle with salt
- bake for about 10 minutes
- turn the pieces over and bake another 5-10 minutes or until baked through and crispy
- if you made bigger strips just cook for a few extra minutes on both sides
Notes
Cut the chicken big for strips or cut them small for nuggets, they're good both ways, you just need to adjust your cooking time accordingly. I like the strips served on a giant salad with a nice spicy mayo chipotle dipping sauce but my kids prefer nuggets and a less spicy sauce.
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I am not always great about commenting but I love your recipes and definitely will try this one out!
I'm not good with commenting either but I LOVE your blog too : ) thanks!! Let me know how you like them?!!
Yum! Sounds and looks amazing!! My husband and I will have to try this!
I just put these in the oven, fingers crossed! I did need more oil and coconut though. Anyone else notice that?
Mine didn’t come out crispy. Any tips on this? It’s hard to lightly dip the chicken in oil? How did you do that!?!? What oil do you suggest?
When I say dip lightly in oil I guess I should give an explanation. I dip one side in oil, then rub it over the whole piece of chicken for full coverage. Then I let any extra drip off.
Maybe increase the heat for your oven that may help crisp them. If you cook in the top third of your oven your baked goods will get browner on top rather that the bottom. Try that to crisp them up. Or run them under a broiler?
Could you do this in an air fryer?
Well, I don’t see why not. I don’t have one but give it a try!
I don’t have an air fryer, so I’m not sure.