Talk about addictive! Once you try one of these crispy Coconut Chicken strips dipped in tangy sweet chili sauce you’re going to want to make them on a weekly basis. Because the chicken is sliced nice and thin and then cooked quickly in hot oil, the chicken stays juicy and tender on the inside, while developing a perfectly golden brown and crispy exterior. Pair that with a bowl of cool, sweet, and tangy Thai sweet chili sauce for dipping and I’m in absolute heaven. So if you love chicken tenders, chicken strips, boneless wings, or anything along those lines, I think you’re going to love these Coconut Chicken Strips.
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What Kind of Chicken to Use
I’ve tried this recipe with both chicken breast (boneless, skinless) and chicken tenders. Chicken tenders ended up being too large when used whole, so while they are an option you’ll probably still want to slice them into thinner pieces before breading and cooking.
Another option would be to use boneless, skinless chicken thighs cut into chunks, so you’ll have something more along the lines of coconut chicken “bites” than strips. I think that would be awesome! The dark meat of chicken thighs will be extra tender and juicy.
Cooking Options
You have three different options when it comes to cooking these coconut chicken strips, frying, air-frying, or baking. Here is how to cook using each method:
Frying – I chose to shallow fry my coconut chicken strips in a skillet because I don’t have a deep fryer and I don’t deep fry often enough to warrant using as much oil as deep-frying requires. Shallow frying will still get you that great super crispy exterior without allowing the inside to dry out.
Air Frying – I do not own an air fryer, so unfortunately I can’t offer suggestions for cooking times and temperature, but I suspect these chicken strips would be a good candidate for air frying. Because this appliance uses hot air, similar to an oven, I would suggest either spritzing the strips with a little spray oil or mixing a tablespoon or two of oil into the panko and coconut mixture to help with browning.
Baking – While you can bake these, the results won’t be as awesome as frying. Baking takes longer and the hot air causes more evaporation, which results in drier chicken. You also won’t get as much browning as you will with frying. To help the browning issue, you can try adding a tablespoon or two of oil into the panko and coconut breading mixture, similar to the technique used in my Homemade Chicken Nuggets. I suggest using the baking temperature and technique used for the chicken nuggets as well, but increasing the bake time by a few minutes.
What to Serve with Coconut Chicken Strips
Don’t skip that sweet chili sauce! You can find sweet chili sauce in the international aisle of most major grocery stores, or you can try making your own with my Homemade Sweet Chili Sauce recipe. For side dishes, you can pair this with something like Crunchy Cabbage Salad with Sesame Dressing, Cucumber Mango Salad, or Savory Coconut Rice.
What Oil is Good For Frying?
It’s really important to use the right kind of cooking oil for frying. Every type of cooking oil has a different “smoke point,” which is the temperature that the oil begins to smoke and burn. And obviously, we want to avoid that because burned oil does not taste good (and it’s a fire hazard!). So, you’ll want to choose an oil that can withstand the high temperature of frying and an oil that doesn’t have a strong flavor of its own. Some good oils to choose from are canola oil, vegetable oil, safflower oil, refined coconut oil, corn oil, peanut oil, soybean oil, safflower oil, refined olive oil, or refined avocado oil.
Coconut Chicken Strips with Sweet Chili Sauce
Servings 4 4 strips eachIngredients
- 1.3 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts ($7.70)
- ¼ tsp salt ($0.01)
- 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour ($0.02)
- 2 large eggs ($0.42)
- 1/4 cup coconut milk ($0.25)
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs ($0.22)
- 1 cup sweetened flaked coconut ($0.56)
- 1/2 cup cooking oil, divided* ($0.32)
- 1 cup sweet chili sauce ($1.43)
Instructions
- Slice the chicken breasts into ½-inch wide strips, slicing diagonally to maintain a more even length among the strips.
- Sprinkle the salt and flour over top of the sliced chicken. Toss the chicken until they're evenly coated.
- Whisk together the eggs and coconut milk in a bowl. In a separate wide shallow bowl, stir together the breadcrumbs and flaked coconut.
- To bread the chicken, dip each chicken strip into the egg wash, allow the excess to drip off, then dip it into the breadcrumb mixture until it's fully coated. Place the breaded chicken strips on a clean plate or tray until they're all breaded.
- Once they're all breaded, it's time to fry. Heat ¼ cup cooking oil in a skillet over medium heat. To test the heat of the oil, drop a breadcrumb into the oil. It should begin to sizzle immediately. If the oil begins to smoke at anytime, remove it from the heat and allow it to cool down.
- Once the oil is hot, add the chicken strips, several at a time, leaving a little space between each one. Cook the chicken strips for about three minutes on on each side, or until they're deeply golden brown. Transfer the cooked chicken to a paper towel lined plate to drain, then repeat with another batch of chicken. Remove any burned pieces of coconut before beginning the next batch, and add more oil as needed, making sure to wait until it is hot before adding more chicken.
- After frying all of the chicken, it's time to serve! Serve hot with a bowl of sweet chili sauce for dipping.
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Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Coconut Chicken Strips – Step by Step Photos
Start with about 1.3 lbs. of boneless, skinless chicken breast. Cut them into ½-inch wide strips. I like to do this sort of on a diagonal to keep them more even in length. If your chicken breasts are very large, you might want to cut the length of the strip in half as well. Cutting the chicken strips thin enough is important because this allows it to cook through quickly.
Sprinkle ¼ tsp salt and 2 Tbsp flour over the chicken strips, then toss until they’re evenly coated.
Whisk together two large eggs and ¼ cup full-fat coconut milk in a bowl. Make sure to use the type of coconut milk that is in a can, not the type in a carton that is meant to be a dairy milk substitute.
Combine 1 cup sweetened coconut flakes and 1 cup panko breadcrumbs in a wide, shallow bowl.
Set up your breading station with the bowl of coconut egg wash, the bowl with coconut and breadcrumbs, and a plate or tray for the breaded chicken. I’m using a parchment lined baking sheet to hold the breaded chicken just for easy cleanup. Dip each chicken strip first into the eggwash (let excess drip off), then into the breadcrumb mixture. Make sure the breadcrumbs and coconut fully coat all sides, then place the chicken strip on your holding tray.
Once all of the chicken strips are breaded, it’s time to start cooking. Add ¼ cup cooking oil to a skillet and heat over medium. Wait until the oil is very hot, but not smoking. If you drop one of the panko breadcrumbs into the hot oil, it should immediately begin sizzling. If it doesn’t sizzle right away, the oil is not hot enough. If at any point during the cooking process the oil begins to smoke, remove it from the heat immediately and wait for it to cool down.
Once the oil is good and hot, add several of the chicken strips, leaving a little space between each. Cook for about 3 minutes on each side, or until they are deeply golden brown on each side. Transfer the cooked chicken to a paper towel lined plate to drain. Scoop out any loose pieces of coconut, add a little more oil if needed, wait for it to get hot again, and then cook a second batch of chicken strips. You should be able to cook them all in 2-3 batches.
Once they’re all cooked, it’s time to serve!
Pour about one cup of sweet chili sauce into a bowl and place that in the center of the coconut chicken strips. I sprinkled the chicken strips with a little cilantro for color, but that’s not needed for flavor. Sliced green onions are another optional garnish idea. Enjoy!
They were amazing and easy!
I normally love every Budget Bytes recipe I try! But I followed this one to a T and my husband and I just thought it had a kind of weird flavor to it. The sauce made it super sweet (too sweet) but without the sweet chili sauce it was just too bland. So at least it wasn’t our favorite! But I see many others have liked it, so maybe it was just not up our alley.
These look amazing, I want to make them, but I don’t have this kind of big flaked coconut only a lot of unsweetened shredded coconut (like the one in coconut macarons and many other sweets). Would those work without having to make modifications?
I think I’d go for the smaller shredded unsweetened coconut, as long as it’s not too dry. When testing this recipe I found that unsweetened coconut tended to be drier because it didn’t have that sugar coating and sugar is a humectant. Because it was drier, it wasn’t quite as flavorful. But this could have just been the brand that I tested. If you do opt for the big flakes, you’ll definitely want to blitz them in a food processor or something first because the larger pieces won’t likely stay on the chicken through frying.
Thanks for the answer, maybe I could add a little bit of honey to the egg wash so that it keeps the coating less dry
OMG! Why have I waited so long to make these!? We can’t stop eating them. We will for sure be making these again, again and again.
I made these in my air fryer at 350 degrees for 10 minutes (several batches so I didn’t crowd them), and they came out great!
This might be my favorite budgetbytes recipe yet! I followed the recipe exactly, except I used an air fryer rather than pan fry (25min at 350). Definitely will make this again!
Thanks for sharing your settings for the air fryer! We’ve been having people asking about that. :)
Excited to try this. Any suggestions on how I can make it Gluten Free? I’m thinking using almond flour?
You could probably find some gluten-free panko crumbs, but I’m not sure about the initial flour coating. I haven’t worked with almond flour, so I’m not sure if it will work the same way. I would lean more toward using something like cornstarch. You really want it to act as a glue and I don’t think almond flour would quite do that.
Not sure what GF flour blend you prefer, but I’ve had good luck using King Arthur’s all-purpose for frying chicken like this :)
Try coconut flour!
These are so delicious. I made them in the oven 375 for 25 minutes instead of pan frying and they came out perfect. So nice and crispy, and a great flavor. I dipped mine in ketchup.
Thank you for sharing oven settings :)
This recipe is also delicious with shrimp–I use fairly big ones, about 21-24 per lb size or larger, and they still cook faster than chicken strips, so keep an eye on them.
I love this idea! Janet, if you check back, I cook with shrimp, but usually not fried. I typically judge doneness by color and texture; do you judge by “c shape” when they’re battered?
I know this recipe has been here for awhile, but I thought I’d add my comments anyway. I have been making these for years, and we love them. I like to warm up the Simply Fruit apricot preserves and use that as a dip. It may sound odd, but it’s delicious!!
I responded to the air fryer comment above but also wanted to rate it. The whole family loved this. I used chicken tenderloins which made it even easier. Yum!
these are so amazing it’s not even normal. i’ve made this recipe 3 times this week…..never would have thought to put chicken and coconut together but it’s so so good
These look amazing!! How do you think they would do in an air fryer instead of fried in oil? I’m thinking about trying it out later in the week and am always afraid of drying out my chicken when I try a new recipe in my air fryer.
Unfortunately I’ve never used an air fryer, so I’m not sure how it will perform. :)
I know your post is kind of old, but I tried half the batch in an air fryer and half in oil tonight. I used the air fryer at 380 degrees (F) for only 4 minutes before I checked on them, and the little pieces of coconut were burnt but the chicken wasn’t done (I planned on cooking them longer). Anyway, I was able to save them by finishing them in the oil on the stove. I don’t think I’d try these in an air fryer again, unless it was a much lower temperature and you ground up the bread crumbs and coconut so it was a finer texture.
By the way, this recipe was SO good! I use Mae Ploy sweet chili sauce, and also made a coconut dipping sauce for the kids using the leftover coconut milk (using a little brown sugar and lime juice). I’ll definitely make it again. :)
Good to know about the air fryer!
making my way through BB back catalogue. The dish was great but the amount of egg/milk and crumbs in the recipe did not yield enough to cover strips from four breasts and I had to add some mid-frying. So next time I’ll just use this amount for four breasts.
Considering the recipe is written for two pounds/two breasts, that seems like a user error on your end.
Could you make ahead of time and put in the fridge, then just reheat for guests in the oven? What temperature and how long? Thank you 😀
No, unfortunately fried foods like this are best served right after cooking. They can lose their crispness during refrigeration.