Is there any better brunch food than fried chicken and waffles? They may not be as traditional and bacon and eggs or toast and jam, but chicken and waffles definitely go together. Chicken and waffles are the ultimate American breakfast dish and I first had it in LA at the place to go: Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles. I heard of Roscoe’s thanks to Snoop Dogg. Or, well, I guess he’s known as Snoopzilla now. Anyway, any man that can pull off his crazy suits is tops in my books.
If you haven’t had chicken and waffles, take Snoop Lion’s, oops, I mean, Snoopzilla’s advice and have some, now! There’s definitely something about that salty sweet combination that is completely addictive. I love making chicken and waffles, but sometimes frying up bone-in chicken and making waffle batter is just too much early in the morning, so I devised a simpler way: chicken breast tenders coated in panko and pan-fried until crispy and french toast made in the waffle maker.
Trust me, you will fall in love with waffle shaped french toast. I am loving my waffle maker and waffling everything in sight. So of course I thought of waffling french toast. I love making waffles from scratch, but sometimes breaking out the measuring cups or the scale seems like a little too much before that first cup of coffee.
It’s much easier to break a couple of eggs in a dish, stir in some milk, dip some bread in it, stick it in the waffle maker and call it a day. Bonus, you don’t really need to keep an eye on it or flip it! The results are crispy and creamy and all those little waffle indentations perfect for catching syrup.
Waffled french toast is delicious on it’s own, but when you top it with crispy chicken, it’s even better. Again, I didn’t want to bother with making a batter for the fried chicken so I just coated it with flour, egg, then panko. I always use panko (Japanese breadcrumbs, which are super giant and fluffy and made from crustless bread) when breading things – I find the results are so much more crispy.
Don’t forget the syrup when serving – I absolutely love fried chicken with maple syrup. It sounds a little strange, but it’s truly delicious!
Fried Chicken and French Toast Waffle Recipe
serves 2
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup panko
- salt and pepper
- 2 boneless skinless chicken thighs, or 1 chicken breast cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1/4 cup flour
- 4 slices thick cut toast
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1 tablespoon sugar
Preheat the oven to 200°F. Preheat your waffle iron.
Lightly beat the egg in a bowl and set aside. Place the panko in a bowl and set aside. Season the pieces of chicken with salt and pepper and then sprinkle on the flour. Toss to coat. Dip each piece into the egg and then the panko making sure they are evenly coated.
Heat up 1/4 inch of oil in a large frying pan over medium high heat. Fry the chicken until golden brown and crispy, about 4-5 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels and keep warm in the oven while making your french toast.
In a shallow bowl, whisk together the 2 eggs, milk and sugar. Dip slices of bread into egg mix allowing the bread to soak up the eggy goodness. Place eggy bread pieces into your waffle maker and waffle until golden brown and crisp. Serve with fried chicken and syrup.
PS – I’m travelling right now, but I did cook up a storm in anticipation so hopefully I’ll be posting quite regularly. If you’re curious about where I am (Australia right now!) check out my Instagram account, I’m instaobsessed so I post daily.
I love your simplified hangover-cookable version of such an awesome dish! This is totally happening during one of these holiday weekends when we can’t be bothered to cook toooooo much. Love!
Oooh, I love this idea! I am a HUGE chicken and waffles fan, and love the idea of doing it with waffled french toast! Plus, your fried chicken looks way easier to manage than usual recipes. :)
But-I always do my chicken and waffles with syrup AND gravy – sooooooo good, I really recommend it!
LOVE this idea!!! You’re a genius!
French toast waffles! Loo over this. My mom makes crispy French toast and I can never get it like that anywhere. Putting it in the waffle iron would be out of this world.
Looks great!
I wonder if you might be able to use the leftover egg from the chicken tenders step in the french toast step…
That looks wonderful! Can I ask, what brand wafflemaker do you have? You seem happy with it, and the results are beautiful. =)
Hi Missy,
It’s a Chef’s Choice 2 Square Waffle Maker. I really do like it!
Ah! Thank you so much for the information – I’ve been pondering wafflemakers for a while now, and this looks like a great choice for my tiny kitchen.
Nice, but I would have also added some vanilla extract, and cinnamon to that French Toast…