As every month comes to an end, so does our food budget here at the Herr household. Usually, that just means I have a bunch of ingredients that I don’t have any plans for, and Nick and I throw something together on a whim. Last night, we had a few chicken breasts and a taste for one of our favorites: Panko-Crusted Chicken Bites (Nick prefers “nuggets”). This is the only recipe I’ve made more than once since we’ve moved to Dayton, so clearly, we’re fans of it.

But as I was gathering ingredients, trouble arose. Not enough panko. I wasn’t about to quit on the recipe, so I came up with an alternative: tortilla chips. Nick crushed them up with some good old fashioned elbow grease and we were good to go. The idea seemed pretty genius, and we were excited to find out if we’d like the new version as much as the old one.

Above are the classic panko-crusted bites. They have a great texture: a defined coating of panko, but not too crispy. Great with barbecue sauce (Nick) or ketchup (me).

Pictured here are the tortilla chip bites. These came out with the nice salty flavor of the chip, but were a little too crunchy for our tastes. It’s a great concept, but next time, I think I’ll try them on a full-sized chicken breast. There seemed to be too much chip and not enough chicken – a good tip might be to put them in the food processor instead of crushing by hand. I think they’d be great with some fresh salsa (Nick) or guacamole (me).

So in the end, the originals won out, but that’s partly because we need to perfect the new version. When it blossoms into a new recipe, I’ll be sure to post.

*Find the recipe here.