It is not easy to find a restaurant that will have chicken and waffles on the menu, let alone a gluten-free version of the dish. I have seen it on the menus at IHOP and Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles, and was disappointed to yet again find another dish I wanted to try but could not due to my dietary restrictions.

Since I enjoy experimenting with making new gluten-free dishes, chicken and waffles seemed like the perfect dish to try and make. I walked into the kitchen, grabbed some chicken breasts and a bag of pancake and baking mix, and felt confident that I could create another gluten-free masterpiece.

There are many different ways to make gluten-free waffles with one of the easiest ways being with premade mix. Even though it is premade, making anything gluten-free from scratch takes lots of practice and patience, and if you don’t have much patience in the morning, using a mix like Pamela’s gluten-free pancake and baking mix is a good option.

This pancake and baking mix is great buy for college students on the gluten-free diet because it is easy to use, inexpensive and can be used to make more than pancakes or waffles including shortcakes, pies and cookies. You can find this mix at most grocery stores including Safeway, Raley’s and Whole Foods for about $6.99.

For this recipe I made chicken strips, but you can also fry up chicken breasts or drumsticks to go along with the waffles.

For this recipe I used Ener-G gluten-free bread crumbs as coating for the chicken.

The first bite of this dish was mouth-watering – the chicken was crunchy and tender, and the waffles were crispy with a hint of sugary sweetness from the pancake syrup.

Chicken and waffles is the perfect combination of sweet and savory that makes it an excellent dish to serve at any time of the day.

This recipe was adapted from pamelasproducts.com

Chicken and Waffles

2 skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips

1 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup white rice flour

2 eggs

1 cup gluten-free bread crumbs

1 cup Pamela’s gluten-free pancake and baking mix

2 eggs

3/4 cup water

1 tablespoon oil

Pancake syrup

Preheat oven to 375 F degrees and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Sprinkle salt and pepper onto chicken.

In three small bowls, separate flour, eggs and breadcrumbs into each bowl. Take a chicken strip and toss in the bowl of flour until thoroughly coated. This is a useful trick to ensure that the breading won’t clump or fall apart once you place in the fryer.

Soak chicken in the egg yolk and coat it in the breadcrumbs. It is helpful when coating the chicken to use your left hand when soaking the chicken in the egg yolks and using the right hand to cover the chicken in the flour and breadcrumbs so there will be no clumps on the breaded chicken and also to keep your hands from looking like you’ve suddenly realized a desire to become Mickey Mouse.

Make sure to cover the chicken completely with breading so there is no skin showing. Place chicken on the baking sheet a repeat the previous steps until all strips are coated.

In a large pot, heat oil on medium-high and you can use a candy thermometer to check temperature but oil temperature should be at 350 F degrees.

To check if the oil is ready for frying, sprinkle flour into the pot. If the oil sizzles when the flour hits, the oil is ready for frying.

Fry up to three pieces of chicken for two minutes until chicken looks brown and crispy. Try not fry too many pieces of chicken at one time, otherwise the chicken will not be crispy and will not cook properly.

Once all chicken strips are cooked, place on the baking sheet. You can bake chicken for five minutes in the oven or keep your oven at 170 or 180 F degrees and keep the tray of chicken in the oven while frying other batches of chicken. This will ensure chicken is fully cooked and ready for eating.

Once the chicken is finished, make your waffles. In a medium or large bowl, whisk together the baking mix, eggs, oil and water until combined.

Plug in the waffle maker and let it warm up for two minutes. Once warm, open it up and with a cup or bowl – grab enough batter to fill up the waffle-maker. Close the waffle-maker and flip to the other side. Depending on the type of waffle-maker you have, there are different ways to know when your waffle is ready; it can have a timer or a green light that will flash. Take the waffle out when the green light flashes.

Serve immediately with syrup and butter if desired.

Brittany Lambert can be reached at bl538@csus.edu