Chicken Bites

I had some chicken and wanted to try these, from Aaron McCargo, Jr.  But I was thinking that I wanted to bake them, instead of frying them (our deep fryer takes too much oil and it's so messy).  So, from the comments after Chef McCargo's recipe I found these.  I didn't have all the ingredients that either of these recipes called for, so I substituted a bit and came up with a recipe that was a hit with the family.

Kammerman's Chicken Bites:

4-5 cups cooked chicken, buzzed up in food processor
1 3/4 cups shredded cheese (I used half cheddar and half Monterrey jack)
1 small can of green chiles
1/2 can of black beans, drained
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup hot sauce
AND
flour
eggs
corn flakes, buzzed up

Combine the first six ingredients.  I buzzed up the mayo and black beans together to make a paste that would act as a binder.  Next time, I would probably use about 50% more of that paste. I think I only used about 1/8 cup of hot sauce tonight.  And I might even add more cheese.

Taste your filling and make adjustments.  Green onions would have been delicious and added a nice crunch; we just didn't have any and I didn't want to run to the store.  I could see a lot of variations work.  Maybe one with swiss cheese, ham (or bacon) and chicken.  Leave out the hot sauce and make a paste that is more of a honey mustard sauce.  Chicken cordon bleu bite!

Once you have your filling, check that it binds together into a "meatball".  If not, add some more of your binding ingredients.  Then do the dredging process of dipping the balls in flour, then eggs, then corn flakes, finally placing them on a greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

As I'm typing this, Hyrum just said: "Next time make like 45-50 of these!"  The above amounts yielded about 25 chicken bites that fit nicely on one sheet, with about 1 1/2 cups of filling left over.  I could see this filling used in taquitos, too!*

*Now it's the next morning and I uploaded the photo.  Hyrum said to me: "I used some of that filling with a corn tortilla for a taco this morning and it was the best taco ever!"

In the words of Guy Fieri: Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!