Easy Chicken Fingers
These flavorful homemade chicken fingers are an easy and gluten-free recipe to bake (or pan-fry) for Halloween. However, you can skip shaping these into spooky fingers and serve them any time of the year!
These baked, homemade chicken fingers are made with ground chicken, almond flour, parmesan, a plethora of spices, and dried herbs. When shaped into spooky fingers, they are a fun, gluten-free, side dish perfect for Halloween.
This quick and easy recipe can be easily adapted to suit your preferences.
What are the ingredients needed to make these homemade chicken fingers?
You need the following 12 ingredients to make these tender chicken fingers:
- Ground chicken,
- Salt,
- Smoked paprika,
- Dried Basil,
- Dried parsley,
- Onion powder,
- Garlic powder,
- Parmesan cheese,
- Almond Flour,
- Chili powder or cayenne pepper powder,
- Dried harissa,
- And, almond slivers.
Instructions
These chicken fingers are so easy to make.
Once you gather all the ingredients together, add them all to a large bowl and mix them together. You could use a spoon, but I find that fingers work best. Just make sure to wash your hands well with soap and water, after mixing and shaping these.
Then, divide the ground chicken mixture into 9 parts. Shape each into a long and stubby finger and arrange them on a Silpat-lined baking sheet.
Using a knife, gently “draw” lines where the knuckles and finger joints are. Then, add an almond sliver for the fingernail.
Then, bake these chicken fingers for 22-27 minutes in an oven that has been preheated to 375 degrees, until they are slightly golden brown. It is imperative that these are not overbaked as overbaking these will leave them quite dry.
When they are baked, they are ready to enjoy with some sweet chili sauce or some BBQ sauce for a truly gory, tasting experience!
Variations of these Chicken Fingers
The recipe for these chicken fingers is a versatile one. The main components are the ground chicken, salt, parmesan, and the almond slivers for the finger tips.
5 ingredient chicken fingers
Instead of almond flour, gluten-free panko breadcrumbs could be used. If keeping these chicken fingers gluten-free isn’t a priority, you could use breadcrumbs. Better yet, if you have some seasoned breadcrumbs, use this instead. Your chicken fingers will be so tasty and the seasoned breadcrumb, along with the ground chicken, salt, parmesan, and almond slivers would make these a super easy, 5-ingredient chicken finger recipe!
The spices
The possibilities are almost endless when it comes to the spices. The smoked paprika, chili powder, harissa, onion powder, and garlic powder can be replaced with your favorite spice blend that would work well with the parmesan. You could also just use the dried harissa for a tasty and spicy chicken finger. Or, you could leave them out entirely, especially if you use seasoned breadcrumbs.
Or, you could leave out the chili powder and harissa and keep these chicken fingers packed with flavor from the onion powder, garlic powder, and smoked paprika.
The Herbs
Instead of dried parsley and dried basil, you could use fresh parsley and fresh basil. Usually when substituting dried herbs for fresh ones, the consensus is to use one-third the amount of dried herbs as the amount of fresh herbs. So, 1 teaspoon of dried parsley would be 3 teaspoons or 1 tablespoon of fresh parsley.
However, the parsley and basil can be replaced with some oregano and thyme. Or, some Italian seasoning even.
To Bake or to Pan Fry
If you would rather not bake these, these chicken fingers can also be sauteed in a large skillet greased with some hot oil or butter, over a stovetop set to medium-high heat. For stove-top cooking, let the chicken fingers saute for about 6-8 minutes on one side in a covered pan, then flip them over and let saute another 6-8 minutes. If you have a meat thermometer, use it to make sure that the internal temperature of these chicken fingers reaches 165°F (74°C). Drain these on a paper towel and serve with your favorite dipping sauces.
How to serve these chicken fingers
These chicken fingers can be served with some honey mustard sauce and BBQ sauce. My favorite brand for both of these is Sweet Baby Rays. I must say that I am not being paid to say that – they are just my current favorite brand of BBQ sauce and honey mustard.
A Halloween Charcuterie
These gluten-free chicken fingers can be served as part of a large Halloween spread, set out on a large board or covered table with fries, fresh celery sticks, zucchini slices, carrot slices, cherry tomatoes, some of these equally haunting cheese finger breadsticks, some roasted red pepper dip, ranch dressing, ketchup, hot sauce, and/or some pumpkin chili sauce.
Chicken Finger Sandwich
Make these fingers into a tasty and fun chicken meal by sandwiching them between two toasted buns with some lettuce and tomato.
Salad and Pasta
Or, toss these on top of any of your favorite salads. Or, enjoy eating them on top of a helping of this creamy pumpkin sauce with pasta and beans, like my boyfriend and I did last night.
Leftovers
Leftovers of these chicken fingers can be stored in an airtight container, in your refrigerator for 3-4 days. These can be reheated by placing them in an air fryer set to 375 degrees, for 3 minutes or so. Or, they can be pan-sauteed until they are warmed through. Reheated, these are not as juicy chicken fingers as when they are made fresh.
Thanks so much for stopping by. If you make this recipe, please let me know in the comments below what you think of it, or tag your creation on social media with @savoryspin or #savoryspin. For more fusion, spice-filled, recipe ideas, please subscribe and follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and/or Pinterest!
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground chicken
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp dried Basil
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup almond flour
- 1 tsp chili powder or cayenne pepper powder
- 1 tsp dried harissa
- 9 almond slivers
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Add the ground chicken, almond flour, parmesan, harissa, salt, smoked paprika, basil, parsley, onion powder, chili powder, and garlic powder to a large bowl and mix them together. You could use a spoon, but I find that fingers work best. Make sure to wash your hands well with soap and water, after mixing and shaping these.
- Then, divide the ground chicken mixture into 9 parts. Shape each into a long and stubby finger and arrange them on a Silpat-lined baking sheet.
- Using a knife, gently “draw” lines where the knuckles and finger joints are.
- Then, add an almond sliver for the fingernail.
- Then, bake these chicken fingers for 22-27 minutes in an oven that has been preheated to 375 degrees, until they are slightly golden brown. It is imperative that these are not overbaked as overbaking these will leave them quite dry.
- When they are baked, they are ready to enjoy with some sweet chili sauce or some BBQ sauce for a truly gory, tasting experience!
