Chicken – Egg replacement for fried chicken

chickendeep-fryingeggsfryingsubstitutions

I often make fried chicken fingers the traditional way with an egg and milk covered cutlet dredged in seasoned flour, however my girlfriend is now on not only a gluten-free diet, but also a hypo-allergenic one which excludes eggs and dairy as well.

My questions is, what are some ideas for an egg-less batter for fried chicken?

For the dry mix, I'm mostly using rice flour as a GF alternative to standard all purpose flour, which is okay.

My concern is with the wet mix, some things I have already tried for the wet potion of the mix:

  • 3 parts cornstarch to 1 part water to replace the same quantity of eggs: This resulted in a good flavor, but lacked the flaky texture I was going for, the batter was very crunchy but smooth on the outside.
  • A mixture of prepared mustard and water thickened up a bit with some of the dry mix: This resulted in the perfect flaky texture that I wanted, but I dislike the taste of the mustard in the batter.
  • A mixture of apple sauce and water, thickened up with some of the dry mix: This resulted in a flavor that was better then the mustard, and a texture that was better then just the cornstarch, but I feel as though the apple flavor makes this option better suited to something like a pork schnitzel than a chicken cutlet.

I do have gluten free bread crumbs as a last resort to help get the texture I want, but I usually prefer to have a bread crumb free batter in my chicken fingers.

What might be a good egg alternative or a good wet mix substitute that will allow for a flaky texture with either a neutral flavor, or one that lends itself well to chicken.

Best Answer

It is not necessary to have any egg to make a breading.

You should instead take a step back: rather than trying to create a substitution for egg in a breading which relies on their unique properties, instead use one of the many breading methods which does not.

Among them are:

  • Simply dredging in an acceptable starchy flour (such as corn meal)
  • Using a (gluten free) tempura type batter
  • Using a (gluten free) beer batter without egg

All of them can be enhanced with spices or seasonings that you prefer such as chili powder, garlic powder, and so on. The latter two can even accommodate wet prepared condiments (in reasonable quantities) like prepared mustard or soy sauce.

While the result will not be identical to the classic triple-layered French breading, it can be very good in its own right.

Related Topic