Chicken and Waffles with Spicy Honey Sauce

Who doesn’t love this classic American dish? It’s salty, sweet, crunchy, and savory, and you can enjoy it for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. We’ve added an extra kick to ours with some delicious cheddar cheese and sundried tomatoes in the waffles and a spicy sweet honey sauce to top it all off. We recommend enjoying this recipe with your favorite Temecula Valley Chardonnay.

Ingredients

For the Waffles:

• 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 2 large eggs
• ¼ cup melted butter
• 2 cups milk
• 2 Tbsp. Sugar
• ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese (medium or old)
• 1 tbsp minced sundried tomatoes

For the Chicken:

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

For the Brine:

• 2 cups buttermilk
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 Tbsp fresh chopped rosemary
• 1 tsp cracked pepper

For the Batter:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• tsp corn starch
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp sea salt and black pepper mix

For the Sauce:

• 1 cup honey
• 2 Tbsp chili flakes
• ¼ cup fresh orange juice (save some zest before juicing for a beautiful garnish!)

4 Servings

• If you have the time, start the night before you want to make this dish by combining all the brine ingredients in a bowl and adding the chicken.
• Cover and place in the refrigerator overnight. Otherwise, even an hour of sitting in the mixture will impart awesome flavor!
• Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F.
• Start by taking all the dry waffle ingredients and mixing together in a large bowl, making sure there are no lumps.
• Add the wet ingredients to the bowl and mix until fully incorporated.
• Preheat your waffle iron and oil it lightly to prevent sticking.
• Pour the batter into the waffle iron and cook until golden brown (around 4-6 minutes, depending on your device).
• Place cooked waffles on a baking sheet and into the oven to keep warm, but don’t stack them yet.
• Once your waffles are ready, preheat your oil or air fryer to 375 degrees F. Combine all the batter ingredients in a bowl.
• Place the pieces of your brined chicken in this mixture, first allowing it to drip off the excess brine.
• Pat on both sides until covered. Shake to remove excess.
• If you are cooking using oil, carefully place chicken into the preheated pot using long tongs. If using an air fryer, arrange the pieces of chicken so they do not overcrowd.
• Fry each side until golden brown (about 4-6 minutes a side) and the internal temperature is at least 165 degrees F.
• Our favorite way to enjoy this dish is by layering the waffles, followed by the chicken, and drizzling the sweet and spicy honey syrup over all of it.
• Notes: if you don’t have a waffle iron, cook the waffle batter in a pan and make pancakes.

Suggested Wines:

Vitagliano ~ NV Chardonnay – This wine offers full-fruit-forward flavors, round in the mouth with a hint of pear, lemon peel, and apple (crisp).

Ponte Winery ~ 2021 Chardonnay – This wine has notes of luscious ripe peach mid-palate, citrus entry, and a beautiful pineapple finish.

Europa Village ~ 2020 Late Harvest Chardonnay – This wine delivers intense grapefruit essence, candied white peach, and sweet marmalade.

Recipe and photo courtesy of the Wine Institute of California