Breaded Buffalo Chicken with Avocado-Goat Cheese-Jicama Relish
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Blogging for me lately has been a comedy of errors. I’ve been dealing with random kitchen disasters, taking horrible photos, or having some other issue to keep me from blogging as much as I want. I’m sure part of it has to do with me trying to get “ahead” with some posts because I start a new job next week (yay!) and I’m anxious about having time to cook, since I’ll be getting home 10 minutes before our normal mealtime (boo).
Anyway, I debated blogging this. Not because it isn’t great – I really loved it, in fact – but because part of the breading came off the chicken and I wasn’t happy about posting a picture of my patchy chicken (not to mention the photos themselves weren’t great).
But then I decided to blog it. Because I think you’ll really like this dish. Because not everything always goes perfectly for me. Because we really liked this dish. Because I wanted to post something new.
I made this same chicken the week or two prior and didn’t have any issues with the breading (should have photographed that round, clearly). I attribute the flaking breading this time either to using a different pan (my cast iron instead of my standard nonstick), or to the universe setting me up for kitchen failures lately. So, don’t worry too much about the breading staying on – it should. And if it doesn’t, well, you just cover it up with the relish. Or swear a few times and just deal with it. Update: I’ve changed the breading process a bit below, and it sticks on perfectly every time now.
I really like the spiciness of the buffalo chicken paired with the creaminess of the avocado and goat cheese. As you may remember, I’m not a blue cheese fan so although that’s the typical complement to buffalo, I always go for goat cheese. The jicama gives a nice crunch and starchiness, as does the radish (okay, I mostly added that for a little color). The relish is finished with a little lime zest to brighten everything up.
This chicken is fairly healthy, too. Using a nonstick skillet assures you use less oil but keep a crispy crust. Buffalo sauce allegedly has no calories (yeah, I know that’s not right, but that’s what it says on the bottle…). We had these with some corn fritter/cake thingies. Zachary was very upset at the end of this meal because he misunderstood that he was eating the corn cake and not that we would be having cake for dessert. Poor guy.
Buffalo Chicken with Avocado-Goat Cheese-Jicama Relish
4 medium chicken breasts, about 4-5 oz.
1/2 cup flour
2/3 cup buffalo/wing sauce
1.25 cup panko or breadcrumbs
2 Tbsp. canola oil
1 large avocado, diced
1 cup peeled and diced jicama (about 1/2 of a jicama)
3 oz. goat cheese, crumbled
2 radishes, thinly sliced and halved
2 Tbsp. chopped parsley or cilantro
Juice of 1-2 limes
Pound the chicken breasts to about 1/3″ thickness.* In a shallow bowl, add the buffalo sauce. In a shallow bowl/plate, mix the flour with salt and pepper to taste. In a third bowl/plate, mix the panko with salt and pepper to taste. Dredge the chicken into the flour, shaking off the excess. Then, dip into the buffalo sauce until well-coated. Finally, dip into the panko, coating the chicken completely.
Add 1 Tbsp. canola oil to a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Once hot, place 2 of the chicken breasts in the oil. Cook until chicken is done, flipping once, approximately 3 minutes per side. Remove the chicken, add the remaining oil, and cook the second batch of chicken.
Meanwhile, make the relish. Combine the avocado, jicama, goat cheese, radishes, and cilantro. Season with salt and pepper to taste; add lime juice and lightly mix to combine.
Serve the relish on top of the buffalo chicken.
*If you don’t want to pound your chicken, pan-fry it as usual for about 2 minutes per side and then move to a 375° oven to finish cooking. If your chicken is too thick, the coating will burn before the inside is cooked thoroughly.
Sometimes I make something and the picture is so bad but it was just so tasty that I end up posting it anyways b/c I want to share it 🙂
Your chicken actually looks delicious!!! Look forward to giving it a try!
This one got me interested =) it looks yummy and delicious!
Your chicken looks delicious although have never tried buffalo sauce. I have tons of recipes which I have never posted due to really bad pictures. At the end of the morning I am usually so tired that I don’t feel like having to move everything outside on the table where there is good lighting and take out my props and then have to put them back again, while hungry family waiting in the kitchen to be fed:)
Hi there. I really like your recipe and I will give it a try. The only thing that worries me is that here, in Athens, the avocado I can find looks more like a baseball rather than a fruit. I may have to do without it but I understand that the avocado is the key ingredient here. What do you suggest I should do? Thanks.
When you say it looks more like a baseball, do you just mean it’s more round? If so it could be a reid avocado, which is perfectly fine to use. Hmm, it’s tough to think of a substitute because avocado is rich and creamy. You could maybe roast some cubed up squash (like butternut) and use that instead.
I’m a sucker for buffalo anything!
Umm it happens. To the best of us. I have weeks where I fight with my camera and then all of a sudden it decides to agree with me again. And then this week was a week of making mediocre recipes, most of which will NOT make it to the blog. Frustrating. But what can you do?
I love the idea of buffalo paired with avocado. I don’t really like blue cheese dressing (though I like blue cheese itself) so I tend to avoid the two together. But avocado, I adore!
Elly, this looks really good. I know Joey would love it too. I especially love the relish!
It looks perfect to me. Especially the relish… Avocado, Goat Cheese, Jicama… I think I’m in heaven 🙂
Buffalo, avocado and goat cheese sounds like all kinds of good!
oh.my.word. This looks amazing! SOOO up my ally!!! I love buffalo anything! & the relish??? I’ll take a gallon please! 😉
“Or swear a few times and just deal with it…” LOL! I think you’re being too hard on yourself! This meal is perfect Elly! I’m especially in love with that jicama salad! Gorgeous flavours!
mmm, the recipe I’ve been waiting for! Glad you blogged it as the flavors sound delicious. I love the idea of using goat cheese instead of blue, which I think would be too overpowering in this case. Do you have a recipe for the “corn fritter/cake thingies”? 🙂
Brianna, I have a recipe on my blog here, but most of the time I just wing it (yesterday’s version had no masa and no cheese and I just sort of add things based on consistency, hah).
Sounds delicious! You know how I feel about goat cheese, add avocado and buffalo and I am there!
A meal that combines buffalo and avocado?! I’m totally into this. So glad you decided to blog it. I see nothing wrong with some “patchy” chicken that is delicious.
I have to be honest with you, as a fellow blogger that way critical of my own photos, I totally get where you’re coming from. But as a reader that read the post title and saw that gorgeous relish – I didn’t notice the patchy chicken until I read that part! I’m really glad you decided to share this. Now I just need to find buffalo sauce some where in China…
Guess what I am having for dinner tonight?
Hi! Would you mind if I share your blog with my twitter group? There’s a lot of folks that I think would really enjoy your content. Please let me know. Many thanks