Breaded Chicken Breast on the Pellet Grill

I am still going through the paces on my Louisiana Grills pellet smoker. The ability to set and hold a temperature is a real plus as you can use the smoker like an oven. So, I decided to one of my oven standbys in the pellet grill, Breaded Chicken Breast.

She Who Must Be Obeyed buys boneless skinless chicken breasts because they are lower fat. However, bone and skin equals flavour. So, I try and do the best I can with the boneless skinless breasts.

I started by putting 50 ml of flour in a plastic bag. I added 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. I put two chicken breast halves in the bag and shook them to coat with the flour.

I beat an egg and 2 tablespoons milk in a flat casserole dish.

I put 2/3 cups of bread crumbs on a plate and mixed in 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese and 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning blend.

I took the chicken breasts out of the flour, dipped them in the egg mixture and then rolled them in the breadcrumb mixture.

I sprinkled 2 teaspoons of grated Parmesan on top of each breast.

I heated the pellet grill up to 400 F and put the chicken on.

The Louisiana Grills pellet smoker has a probe that you can put in the chicken to keep track of the temperature. You can also set a temperature for the probe. When the meat reaches that temperature, the grill lowers it temperature to 180 F to keep the chicken warm.

As it takes a while for the grill to cool down, I set the target temperature for 155 even though I wanted to cook the temperature of the chicken to 165.

The grill did exactly what it was supposed to do. When the internal temperature of the chicken got to 155, it started to lower the heat. By the time it got to 180 F cooking temperature, the internal temperature of the chicken was 166 F and was therefore food safe. It would have kept the chicken warm nicely but I only had a couple of minutes for dinner.

We served it with garlic bread and stir fried vegetables.

The Verdict

This is a basic baked chicken recipe I have made many times. It gives a crispy crust on a boneless skinless breast and is very nice. However, the Louisiana Grill actually made it better. The chicken seemed to be crisper on the outside and was definitely moister than usual. I suspect it is because the pellet grill uses a fan that means there is hot air being forced around the chicken.

Although this dish could be done in the oven, it will be nice to be able to make it outside in the heat of summer.

The Old Fat Guy