Chicken Bombs

Fried chicken is good, right? And why is that? It’s because of the crispy, breaded chicken skin. Okay, hear me out. I know this is going to sound a little unconventional but… what if you got rid of the meat? I know that’s a fat girl move. I know that Twitter sensation, @shitfatgirlssay would be loving this. But why not? Bacon and Legs isn’t really about fabulous healthy food. It’s about down-home deliciousness, lets give it a shot.

Now, I know we can just bread the chicken skins by themselves and fry them. I kind of want to go all out here. I mean, if I’m removing the one element of fried chicken that has nutritional value, I need to make this over the top and absurd. Otherwise, it’s just like pork rinds, no? I think they need to be stuffed. I think they are missing bacon, carbs and cheese grease.

That’s it, let’s stuff these chicken skins with bacon, mashed potatoes and cheese, then bread them and fry them.  I mean, make sure you’re within reasonable proximity to a hospital, then go wild… Chicken Bomb wild.

Chicken Bombs: Carb and cheese-stuffed chicken skin… fried.

Chicken Bombs
chicken skins from 2 lbs of thigh meat
6 slices of bacon
2 cups prepared mashed potatoes
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups Italian breadcrumbs
2 eggs
¼ cup milk
1 cup flour
oil, for frying
salt and pepper

Trim your chicken skins so there isn’t a lot of excess fat. You’re also not going to need a lot of extra skin flaps hanging around, so you can trim off anything that doesn’t really make it a square-ish shape.

Pour oil into pan and start heating over medium heat. Make sure that there is at least five inches of oil, you’re going to want the chicken bombs to be completely submerged.

Meanwhile, start prepping a massive amount of bowls. In one large bowl, mix together mashed potatoes, cheese and bacon. Set aside. Next, set up your breading station. One bowl with the flour (you may season it with a little salt and pepper or seasoned salt if you like). One bowl has the eggs and milk, whisked together. One bowl has the breadcrumbs.

Begin assembling your bombs. Lay out a chicken skin. Put a scoop of the mashed potato mixture in the center. (The size of scoop will depend on the size of the chicken skin, but make sure none will squeeze out when you are folding them up.) Stretch the four corners of the chicken skin around the potatoes so that they are completely wrapped up. The skin should stick to itself fairly well, but use toothpicks to secure it if you need to. Repeat until they are all filled.

Bread your bombs. Dredge them in the flour, followed by a quick bath in the milk and eggs and then roll them around in the bread crumbs.

Fry until the skin is a crispy golden brown. This should take about ten minutes. You also may went to turn them over once in the middle of the cooking time.

Remove them from the oil to a paper towel-lined plate.

Serve hot, garnish with bacon and if you’re feeling extra heart attacky, add a side of ranch dressing.