There is nothing better than some good ole comfort food! When I think of comfort food, I'm thinking fried chicken, mac n cheese, mashed potatoes and gravy, biscuits, country fried steak, chicken and dumplings and the list just keeps going. We call these stick to your ribs kinda meals and they just make you feel all warm and cozy inside. So we decided to combine a couple of my favorites and kick it up a notch! Stick around and I'll show you what we created!
Comfort Food at it's Best!
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Hot Honey Fried Chicken Tenders with Creamy Mac N Cheese!
Rated 5.0 stars by 1 users
Category
Comfort Food
Cuisine
American
Author:
Tim Van Doren
Servings
6
Prep Time
20 minutes
Cook Time
45 minutes
High Guys!! We are talking comfort food today and too me, it doesn't get any more comfort than fried chicken and mac n cheese! So we decided to combine the two and kick it up a few notches! Just image a hot honey drizzled chicken tender piled on top of a luscious bed of creamy mac n cheese and topped with a homemade special sauce! Yep just sit there and wrap your head around that while we dive into how we made it! Now let's go!!
Ingredients
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2 - Cups of Elbow Macaroni
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8 - Ounces of Smoked Gouda Shredded
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4 - Slices of American Cheese
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2 - Tbsp of Unsalted Butter
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2 - Tbsp of All Purpose Flour
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1 ½ - Cups of Heavy Whipping Cream
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¼ - Cup of Whole Milk
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1 - Tsp of Salt
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12 - Chicken Tenders
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1 - Quart of Whole Cultured Buttermilk
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⅓ - Cup of Lane’s BBQ One Legged Chicken Hot Sauce
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1 ½ - Cups of All Purpose Flour
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¼ - Cup of Corn Starch
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Blazing Star Scorpion Rub and Seasoning
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Canola Oil for Frying
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Hot Honey
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½ - Cup of Blue Plate Mayonnaise
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3 - Tbsp of Ketchup
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1 ½ - Tbsp of W Sauce Fireshire
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1 - Tsp of Garlic Powder
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Blazing Star Scorpion Rub and Seasoning
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2 - Tbsp of Lane’s BBQ One Legged Chicken Hot Sauce
Mac N Cheese
Fried Chicken
Special Sauce
Directions
Special Sauce
Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix well. Add as much Scorpion seasoning to it until it tastes right for you.
Mac N Cheese
Boil your elbow macaroni according to package and set aside. (I like to add a little butter to my macaroni so it doesn’t stick together).
In a medium sauce pot over medium/medium high heat, add butter and flour, mix well and cook for a few minutes stirring constantly.
Whisk in milk and heavy cream and bring to a low boil.
Turn off heat and stir in Gouda and American cheese. Keep stirring until all cheese is melted and smooth.
Season cheese mixture with salt and stir in your elbow macaroni until well combined.
Fried Chicken
Marinate chicken with buttermilk and hot sauce. I used my FoodSaver marinating container and handheld vacuum sealer for mine and it only takes about 12 minutes.
Add flour, corn starch and Scorpion seasoning to a bowl and mix well.
Preheat your cooking oil to 365 degrees.
Pull chicken tenders one by one out of the buttermilk and dredge into your flour and corn starch mixture coating each one very well. Once coated, place on a wire rack and allow to sit for a good 20 minutes.
Place breaded tenders into preheated cooking oil and let them fry until golden brown and an internal temperature of 165 degrees. Flip the chicken as often as you see fit. Once chicken is done, place on a wire rack to drain and immediately season with more Scorpion rub.
Place chicken on a cutting board and cut into bite size pieces. Drizzle chicken with hot honey and more Scorpion rub.
Time to assemble! I plated mine in a small cast iron skillet, but you can use whatever you like. Start off with a layer of that creamy mac n cheese followed by a good drizzle of Special Sauce, more Scorpion rub, add the hot honey chicken bites on top, drizzle with more Special Sauce and finally one last sprinkle of Scorpion rub.
Time to go in for that bite! Dig in and enjoy!
Recipe Video
Recipe Note
If you don't like a lot of heat, choose a different seasoning that is not so hot!