When I was little and my parents wanted me to help cook dinner, they would create a kid-friendly component for me. Usually this consisted of buttering pans or mixing sauces, but when I was really lucky, I got to crush things. Potato chip chicken went against many of my family’s desires to eat “healthy,” but the baked component was somehow enough to let the fact that we would consume multiple family-sized bags of chips in one sitting fade away. To this day, creating a potato chip shell on my baked chicken is one of my favorite meals. It is also incredibly easy to make, takes very little time, has the potential to be versatile and, best of all, is relatively cheap­—all things I look for when trying to plan a busy week of meals.

When I first moved off-campus and started cooking for myself, it became clear that I needed to find my staple food, that one thing that I could revert to when I was absolutely swamped with work. In an effort to recreate the meal of my childhood, I searched the internet for a recipe that sounded most like what I knew. I ended up combining components and steps from a variety of sources into my own take on this dish.

The idea behind potato chip baked chicken is that you are switching out breadcrumbs for potato chip crumbs, which in itself creates a ton of possible variations. I grew up with coating my chicken in barbecue chips, which adds a subtle hint of barbecue and salt. But for a less in-your-face flavored taste, lightly salted or plain chips can easily be substituted.

The steps to put together this dish are simple, as eight-year-old Kate would attest, and the entire process takes about 30 minutes from start to finish. Although I have included the recipe that I generally follow, there are numerous adaptations to this dish that one can try, and the amount of each ingredient used can vary based on preference.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons of butter, melted

• 1 clove of garlic, minced 3/4 large

• bag of potato chips (flavor up to you)

• 2 large chicken breasts, sliced into inch-thick strips

Directions

• Using a food processor, crush the chips so that they are as fine as possible

• Melt the butter and mix in the garlic

• Dip the sliced chicken breasts into the butter and garlic mixture and then transfer to the chip powder. Once well covered in chip powder, put on a greased tray

• Put into the oven, set at 425F for 12-15 minutes, or until chicken is white throughout

• Let sit for five minutes then serve