Keto Shake And Bake

We eat a lot of chicken in our home, and one of my favorite recipes is chicken deep fat fried in lard without any coating and then lightly brushed with butter and seasoned with salt and pepper (For more information on this recipe, check out Butter Bob's video on Fried Chicken). But it takes a fair amount of time to setup and clean up. One of our favorite alternative recipes is oven baked “fried” chicken using my homemade version 'Shake And Bake' made with ground pork rinds in place of the wheat flour products.

This recipe makes a delicious oven fried chicken that is better than the original Kraft recipes both nutritionally and in it's flavor profile. This low carbohydrate high fat (LCHF) and Ketogenic (Keto) recipe will really amaze you at how well a low carbohydrate seasoned coating can taste. The best part about this recipe is that it is easy to make and it tastes fantastic. In this article, I will be teaching you how to make your own Keto style Shake and Bake that both you and your family will love.

The Recipe

This homemade LCHF / Keto Shake and Bake recipe does include a small amount of cornstarch which adds a total of 4.6 carbohydrates to the overall recipe, but the end result is that each piece of chicken only contains about 1 carbohydrate per piece. Personally I believe that the minimal amount of cornstarch used it an integral part of the coating mix.

1 ¾ cups processed pork rinds (one 5 ounce bag)

2 tablespoon dried parsley

4 teaspoons chicken bouillon

2 teaspoons cornstarch

2 teaspoons paprika

2 teaspoon onion powder

2 teaspoons garlic powder

2 teaspoons salt

Mix all dry ingredients together and store in an airtight container. When ready to use, add 1 cup Keto shake and bake to a medium sized bowl or zip lock bag or container and add the poultry a few pieces at a time and mix until evenly coated. 1 cup will coat about 8 - 10 chicken thighs.

For Chicken – Place on foil lined baking sheet sprayed with a non-stick cooking spray and bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until done, larger thighs or pieces of chicken may take an additional 10 – 15 minutes. Do not cover chicken.

For Pork - Place on foil lined baking sheet sprayed with a non-stick cooking spray and bake uncovered at 425 degrees for 15 to 30 minutes or until done. Do not cover or turn pork chops.

Keto Shake and Bake (Total Recipe: 1 ¾ cups)

Calories – 914, protein 2 grams, fat 50.6 grams, carbohydrates 14.4 grams

Keto Shake and Bake Per Cup

Calories – 522, protein 1.14 grams, 28.9 grams, carbohydrates 8.22 grams

Kraft Shake And Bake Total Recipe (2 pouches)

Calories – 480, protein 0 grams, fat 4 grams, carbohydrates 80 grams

Per Pouch (Coats 6 to 8 pieces of chicken or pork chops)

Calories – 240, protein 0 grams, 2 grams, carbohydrates 40 grams

For nutritional information, one pouch of the original Shake and Bake coats 6 to 8 pieces of chicken per the package instructions. While 1 cup of the Keto Shake and Bake easily coats the same amount of chicken as you can see in the pictures accompanying this article. The big difference here is the caloric and fat intake are quite a bit higher (55% more calories, and 94% more fat) in the Keto Shake and Bake mix while the carbohydrate count is significantly reduced (64% less carbs in Keto Shake and Bake) as opposed to the original Kraft Shake and Bake.

To put this into perspective, if you bake eight pieces of chicken using both the original Kraft recipe versus the Keto shake and bake, you really begin to see the difference when you specifically look at the carbohydrate count. The Kraft original Shake and Bake adds approximately 5 carbohydrates per piece of chicken, while the Keto Shake and Bake only adds 1 carbohydrate per piece of chicken, that's 80% less carbohydrates overall. As for fats, the Keto Shake and Bake adds about 3.6 grams of fat per piece of chicken (28.9 grams / 8 pieces = 3.61 grams per piece), so fat wise, it fits in just fine with our LCHF / Keto diet plan.

The Ingredients

The big advantage to making your own is that you can make this old family favorite LCHF and Keto friendly by substituting ground pork rinds in place of the bread products (carbohydrates). By removing the unwanted carbohydrates (flour, breadcrumbs, and sugar) this seasoned coating is virtually carbohydrate free, and it tastes great. You can go one step further and eliminate the powdered chicken bouillon in this recipe if you are wanted to eliminate the MSG, but personally I like the recipe as it is. Feel free however to modify it to suit your personal tastes.

Shake and Bake Original Chicken Seasoned Coating Mix – Enriched wheat flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate [Vitamin B1], riboflavin [Vitamin B2], folic acid), enriched bleached wheat flour (bleached wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate [Vitamin B1], riboflavin [vitamin B2], folic acid), maltodextrin, salt, partially hydrogenated soybean and cottonseed oils, canola oil, paprika, contains less than 2% of celery seed, spice, high fructose corn syrup, dried garlic, yeast, dried onions, natural flavors.

Keto Shake & Bake – Pork rinds (ground), salt, sugar, cornstarch, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, dried parsley, and powdered chicken bouillon*.

*Chicken bouillon contains quite a few additives including monosodium glutamate (MSG). For further reading on the ingredients of powdered bouillons, see my previous article: 'Restaurants Use Them, So Should You?'

Conclusion

Making your own Keto style Shake and Bake gives you another tool in your arsenal to cook delicious LCHF and Keto meals. You can use this recipe to coat both chicken and pork to add a delicious and crunchy coating that is far easier and less messy than frying. By using ground pork rinds in place of the wheat products it reduces the overall carbohydrate count by 80%, or about 1 gram of carbohydrates per piece of chicken. The great thing about using ground pork rinds is that they are neutral in flavor and when baked, the pork rind coating tastes just like a flour style coating. In fact, I served it to some non-keto friends and when I told them afterwards that the coating was made of ground pork rinds they were amazed.

While I have not made it personally as my wife is not a big fan of hot and spicy. If you want a spicy style coating then try using hot pork rinds. I would advise that you stay away from the barbecue flavor as the have about 3 carbohydrates per serving (added sugar) or about 30 carbohydrate for a 5 ounce bag! I hope you will try this recipe and that you will find it a great alternative to commercially prepared Kraft Shake and Bake. As always, I hope that you have found this article informative and beneficial for you and your family, if so please take the time to share it with your friends so that they can benefit as well. Don't forget to follow our blog, or check us out on our Facebook page 'CulinaryYouLCHF' or add us to your circle on 'Google+' to continue to receive our latest LCHF and Keto recipes.

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References:

Butter Bob's Fried Chicken Video