Prep time: 20 min Cook time: 50 min Rest time: 10 mins Total time: 1 hr 20 min
Macronutrients per batch: 235g fat | 369g protein | 0g carbohydrates
Makes: 1.5 lbs chicken strips
Make it Keto: Serve with a fatty sauce/dip like Honey Mustard, Duck Fat Ranch Dressing, or Onion-Free Guacamole
Like the classic fried chicken we all know and love, but without SAD breading and industrial seed oils.
What you need to make Carnivore Fried Chicken Strips
Ingredients:
- Chicken thighs
- Pork cracklings (or pork rinds, but pork cracklings work better)
- Eggs (ASHLEY20 for 20% off)
- Sea salt (ASHLEYR for 15% off)
Equipment:
-
Air fryer (optional)
How to make Carnivore Fried Chicken Strips
To start – make the breading.
Take the pork cracklings* and blend them until they reach the consistency of an oily powder.
*Note: Pork rinds will work too, however, I could not achieve as thick of a breading layer with pork rinds.
Place the pork crackling powder in a medium-sized bowl.
Cut the chicken thighs into strips. I cut mine into strips that were about 4 inches long and 1/2-1 inch wide, but you can cut yours into whatever size you prefer.
Now – make the fried chicken strips!
Beat two eggs in a small bowl.
Dip each chicken strip into the egg mixture. Once fully coated, immerse it into the pork crackling powder and roll it around until it’s fully coated with a thick layer. The powder will be oily and should stick together. Make sure the breading layer is thick.
Place the coated chicken strips onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Salt them liberally.
Bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees, flip, then bake for another 20-25 minutes. The coating should be hard to the touch and crunchy when the chicken strips are finished. I made these in my air fryer and the 20 min-20 min at 400 degrees worked well.
Serve and enjoy! Make some Onion-Free Guacamole, Honey Mustard, or Duck Fat Ranch Dressing for dipping.
If you plan on saving them for later, store them in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days.
Tips to make the best Carnivore Fried Chicken Strips
- When creating the breading layer, make sure it’s thick. The pork cracklings work well because they’re both pork skin and fat, so it creates a thick and oily powder that creates a thick layer of breading. After I dip the chicken strips in the egg and the pork crackling powder, I stick some more pork crackling powder on the chicken strip to form an even thicker layer. Pork rinds will work too, however, I could not achieve as thick of a breading layer with pork rinds.
Some more of my favorite dinner ideas:
Cobb ‘Salad’ with Duck Fat Ranch Dressing
Carnivore Fried Chicken Strips
Carnivore Fried Chicken Strips
Equipment
- Air fryer (optional)
Ingredients
- 1 lb chicken thighs or tenders
- 6 oz pork cracklings (pork rinds are fine, but pork cracklings work better)
- 2 eggs
- sea salt, to taste (ASHLEYR for 15% off)
Instructions
- If you’re interested solely in the recipe, skip this bullet point and keep on reading. For those interested in sourcing nutrient-dense food, low-toxic household products, and discounts on brands that may support your AB journey, you may find value in my product guides. Head over to this page if you’d like to check them out. All are free (and always will be).
Make the breading.
- Take the pork cracklings* and blend them until they reach the consistency of an oily powder.
- *Note: Pork rinds will work too, however, I could not achieve as thick of a breading layer with pork rinds.
- Place the pork crackling powder in a medium-sized bowl.
Prepare the chicken strips.
- Cut the chicken thighs into strips. I cut mine into strips that were about 4 inches long and 1/2-1 inch wide, but you can cut yours into whatever size you prefer.
Make the fried chicken.
- Beat the eggs in a small bowl.
- Dip each chicken strip into the pork crackling powder, then the egg mixture. then the pork crackling powder. Roll it around until it's fully coated with a thick layer. The powder will be oily and should stick together. Make sure the breading layer is thick.
- Note: You can bake these in your oven, use an air fryer, or use traditional deep frying methods. I’ve tried them in both an oven and an air fryer with success. I have never tried to deep fry them, but readers have done so with success. Personally, I prefer to bake them.
- Place the coated chicken strips onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Salt (ASHLEYR for 15% off) them liberally.
- Note: if you go through tons of salt in your household like we do, check out this salt purchasing hack that will save you money + make things more efficient. We started this last year, and I'm so happy we did!
- If using a traditional oven, bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees, flip, then bake for another 20-25 minutes. The coating should be hard to the touch and crunchy when the chicken strips are finished. I made these in my air fryer and the same temp/time (20 min-20 min at 400 degrees) worked well.
- Serve and enjoy! Make some Onion-Free Guacamole, Honey Mustard, or Duck Fat Ranch Dressing for dipping.
- If you plan on saving them for later, store them in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days.
What I used for this recipe:
Looking for other dinner ideas? Try one of these:
Cobb ‘Salad’ with Duck Fat Ranch Dressing
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Ashley Rothstein develops tasty, whole food, animal-based recipes that include a moderate amount of “minimally toxic” plant foods. To fix her own health issues, she bounced around between the carnivore, keto, and paleo diets for a few years. After experiencing and studying each diet philosophy, she learned she feels her best by merging the three and following an animal-based diet. As a glut at heart, she likes to channel her creativity and create meals that are healthy but also satisfy her inner gluttonous spirits.
Better and healthier than all your fast food stops! This recipe allows you to eat a so called cheat meal and avoid the unhealthy ingredients that end up making a high protein meal so detrimental to your body. Couple it with a home made sauce or salve from fresh ingredients and you’ll be quite pleased !
Easy to make and few ingredients. Pork cracklings give such a good flavor and crunch! Barely need any additional salt. Pork rinds work well too, but I dipped and coated the chicken twice to ensure crunchiness. Eat with duck fat mayo or drizzle a little honey on them. Yum!
I have been waiting for a good healthy fried chicken recipe and this did not disappoint! I’ve tried pork rinds before and it just didn’t impress me all that much. I never thought about pork cracklings for some reason since I like those so much better. It’s true that the fat and meat attached to it make a huge difference.
I made mine in the oven with a cooling rack like how I cook my bacon and it turned out amazing.
My husband and I made these using pineapple ancho chili pork rinds and it was so good! We are going to try again with the pork cracklings so it is a little more crunchy. Super easy recipe and a nice variation of you follow the carnivore diet!
Author
Yum! I never thought to make them with flavored pork rinds. Great idea!
How many grams of protein in each serving
AMmmmmmmmazing!!! The house smelled divine while this was cooking. Right amount of crunch! I used a Jalopeno crackling and shredded some parmesan cheese on top and then again when I flipped them over. I paired this with the Honey Mustard recipe. Perfect! Thank you for the recipes!!!
These are insanely good and the texture is out of this world! They’re crunchy on the outside and soft and moist on the inside. They were super simple and easy to make. Give them a try, you won’t be disappointed.
It’s funny that my old school viewpoint would serve us fried chicken probly covered in seeds oils and could have been feeding us this recipe http://ash-eats.com/carnivore-fried-chicken-strips/ which has three ingredients and is very cheap to make. No one would get fat from eating those everyday. The fact is schools everywhere feed our kids what is a toxic byproduct of corn production and other production. It used to be cottonseed oil which was way too obvious now it’s in literally everything u eat. It’s a trap
Are the cracklins linked in the recipe the actual ones you used in these photos? They look amazing! But those cracklins look a bit dry to me on Amazon.
Thanks!
Author
I am not 100% sure, but I think I may have used another brand for the recipe. I remember my brother leaving me with some cracklings around that time and I may have used those. The ones I linked in the recipe are the ones I use consistently whenever I eat/bake/cook with cracklings. They may look dry, but when you grind the cracklings to powder, their moisture comes out.
Can you deep fry these?
Author
Yup!
Is there any substistitute for the cracklins bc I don’t eat pork?
Author
In other baked goods recipes, my pork-free readers have used ground chicken skins in place of pork rinds/cracklings with success. I haven’t tried it, but that could work here.
These were absolutely delicious. I did mine in the air fryer. Perfection. Only thing is they are only good fresh, not good leftover.
Hi! I made these before and they are absolutely amazing! Especially with a keto honey mustard!! I just wanted to know what the serving size is?