Paleo Spicy Chicken Sandwich – Whole30 and Paleo friendly! A great recipe that can be made any day of the week, and is a great alternative to anyone who’s been hankering for some fast food sandwiches. No deep frying or heavily coated chicken here!
Remember when I said I was a picky eater and would basically just eat chicken fingers and fries anywhere I went? Same thing with spicy chicken sandwiches. They’re basically chicken fingers but the chicken isn’t cut up into strips. So obviously they were another go to.
In high school, my best friends and I would sometimes skip last period to go to Wendy’s because school lunch was gross, and honestly who uses calculus in real life? (Mom if you’re reading this, sorry!)
Anyway, I would always order the spicy chicken sandwich (no tomatoes) from Wendy’s with fries and a coke. What I would do to be a teenager again and not care about what goes into my body and not really have any repercussions because of it. Those were the good ole days, right? We’d sometimes go two to three times a week. How I managed to get an A in calculus and never get caught skipping is beyond me, but I digress.
Moving along, I recently saw a Wendy’s commercial and really wanted a spicy chicken sandwich. My fast food days are long gone, but that doesn’t mean I can’t recreate some of my favorites to fit my diet. Obviously I had to pay homage to my teenage self and made a paleo spicy chicken sandwich (no tomatoes because 17 year old Dolly would not have approved tomatoes in her sandwich)!
For all of my egg free folks, I kept the eggs out and used Frank’s red hot and ranch dressing in place of eggs. I’ve slowly reintroduced eggs back into my diet but that’s another story for another day.
As always, you can make this sandwich your own. Top it with whatever you want. Use any type of “bread” you want to use. I used red bell peppers that I charred a bit to give it a smoky flavor, but you do you.
You can use lettuce, collard greens or turn it into a paleo spicy chicken sandwich bowl. Possibilities are endless and the world is your oyster –I think that’s the saying. Whatevs. You get it. Do you boo!
Paleo Spicy Chicken Sandwich
Ingredients
- 1 lb chicken thighs or breast boneless & skinless
- ½ cup Frank’s red hot or any kind of hot sauce
- ¼ cup ranch dressing
- ½ cup almond flour*
- ¼ cup arrowroot flour
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ½ - 1 tsp cayenne pepper more or less depending on spice tolerance
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp avocado oil or any cooking fat of choice
Instructions
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Preheat skillet over medium heat with avocado oil.
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Pound chicken so it’s even and about ¼ inch thick. Season with kosher salt and black pepper on both sides.
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In a shallow bowl, mix together Frank’s red hot and ranch dressing. Dredge chicken making sure all sides are coated.
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In another shallow bowl, mix together almond flour, arrowroot flour, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and onion powder. Place dredged chicken into almond flour mixture and lightly coat on both sides.
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Shake off excess flour and place chicken in skillet. Cook on both sides for 6-8 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through. This will depend on thickness of your chicken.
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Let rest and then assemble sandwich however you like. I did charred red bell peppers, romaine lettuce and mayo.
Recipe Notes
*I use super fine almond meal because you really want to just lightly coat the chicken. It also helps prevent the "breading" from coming off while cooking.
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