French Fried Onion Chicken

You guys.  I do not believe that no one has told me about French Fried Onions.  You know - the ones in a can that you use to make green bean casserole?  They are SO GOOD!

I volunteered to make a veggie dish for the Toddler's Thanksgiving feast at daycare.  I decided to make the green bean casserole since I had heard it was easy.  I had never actually made it before and had actually never even tried it.  Well, when I was making the dish I decided to sample some of the onions.  And I was hooked.  I couldn't stop eating them.  Right out of the can!

I had bought the bigger "stay fresh" pack of onions since I really didn't know how much I would need.  I used about half the container for the green beans and decided to use the remaining half to crush and put on chicken.  So I just whipped this together in a few minutes.  It is simple and, as the Husband said, "it has a good taste."  But I think I will eventually tweak the recipe to get even more flavor and depth.  Let me know if you have any suggestions!

French Fried Onion Chicken
Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts
1-2 C crushed french fried onions
salt and pepper
1 T dried parsley (AFC note: I added this for color!)
optional: 1 package sliced mushrooms and 1 sweet onion sliced into rings

Instructions:

• Pre-heat oven to 350 F and spray a baking dish with a non-stick spray.
• Spread the crushed onion onto a plate or parchment paper.  Season the onion with salt and pepper and parsley. 
• Wash the chicken in cold water and leave chicken damp.  Alternatively, you can wash the chicken and then dip the chicken in a beaten egg or an egg white.  The goal is to have the chicken damp in order to have the crushed onion stick to it.
• Roll the chicken in the crushed onion on both sides so the crushed onion sticks to the chicken breast.
• Place the onion covered chicken into the baking dish and cook the chicken for about 20 mins or until done (will vary depending on how thick your chicken is).  
• To get a golden brown color, I stuck the chicken under the broiler for a few minutes after it had baked and was almost done.

Optional: spray a skillet with non-stick cooking spray (or add 1 T of olive oil or butter) and add onion rings to saute.  After a few minutes, add the mushrooms to soften and brown.  Add spray, oil or butter as needed to prevent sticking and burning.  Top the chicken with the mushroom and onion mixture.

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