Chicken chips (called jerky in English-speaking countries) are a relatively cheap and long-lasting natural snack for beer, which can be replaced with snacks and other store-bought “goodies”. In shape, chicken chips resemble dried fish, but the taste is pronounced meaty with spicy notes of spices. The technology for making jerky has several nuances in terms of drying, without knowing which you will get an ordinary fillet baked in the oven. The choice of meat is not strict – both fresh and thawed chicken breast will do.
Ingredients for portions 3:
- chicken breast fillet – 2 kg;
- soy sauce – 200 ml;
- vegetable oil – 2 tablespoons;
- lemon (lime) – 1 piece;
- smoked paprika – 15-20 g (optional);
- garlic – 4-5 cloves;
- sugar – 10 g;
- salt – 15 of
The composition of the pickling sauce can be changed at your discretion. It is advisable to use sesame vegetable oil – it gives a pleasant persistent aroma. Smoked paprika adds a smoky note. Sugar and salt balance the taste. Lemon or lime juice brings subtle citrus tones, while garlic adds spice.
chicken chips recipe
1. Rinse the chicken breast in running water and pat dry with paper towels. Remove the bones and skin, then cut off all the fat (white parts), it can burn during the drying process.
2. Cut the breast along the fibers into thin strips of the same width – 1,5-2 cm. Fold the strips into a plastic marinating bag (preferably with a zip-lock fastener).
3. In a deep bowl, mix soy sauce, vegetable oil, smoked paprika, sugar and salt. Squeeze garlic and juice from half a lime or a third of a lemon. Mix until smooth.
4. Pour the resulting marinade into the chicken bag. Stir until the meat strips are evenly colored. Squeeze out the air from the bag, seal or tie tightly.
5. Leave to marinate for 4-5 hours at room temperature in a dark place.
6. Cover the bottom of the oven with foil so that the draining marinade does not stain the surface.
7. String future chicken chips on dry bamboo sticks. There should be at least 1-2 cm of free space between each strip. Place the sticks on the oven rack in a suspended state.
8. Preheat the oven to 55-60 °C. If possible, set the convection mode (if provided by the design).
Do not close the oven tightly, leaving a small gap. To prevent the door from automatically slamming shut, insert a screwdriver or any other suitable object into the opening, such as a roll of foil. The size of the gap on top (the distance from the edge of the open door to the oven) is 5-6 cm.
Thanks to the gap, moisture will evaporate from the meat and go into the kitchen; without a gap, you will get not chips, but ordinary baked meat.
9. Bake chicken chips in the oven for 5-6 hours. At the end of the 4th hour, you need to try the dish with a frequency of 15-20 minutes. The finished meat should be dry, but easy to break and chew. Overdried chicken chips are difficult to bite, so you should not overexpose the meat in the oven.
10. Store finished jerky in the refrigerator in a sealed plastic bag for up to 7 days (preferably 2-3 days).
