Homemade Shake n Bake Recipe

In my attempts to save money and use more natural ingredients, it has been on my list for a long time to try a homemade shake n bake mix recipe but it always got moved back on the priorities.  Now we are really out of the store bought version so we are going to try one recipe at a time! 

The first thing that I did was pull out my Miserly Meals cookbook (no longer available in print but I bought mine used at the library book sale for $1.25).  There was a recipe but I had to flip back and forth to the previous page because it wants you to make seasoned breadcrumbs first and then make the shake n bake coating.  I pulled out the necessary ingredients to see what I had... everything but parsley.

I searched on the internet and found a recipe that used corn flakes but since I was looking to make it with bread crumbs, that idea will have to move down on the list because I don't have any corn flakes currently in the cupboard. 

I found this recipe which looked promising.  But it was stored in the fridge and not the cupboard so I wanted to get one like the original that was stored on the shelf (since I only have so much room left in the fridge right now with the holidays right around the corner). 

Then, I found this website with two different recipes.  The first recipe was using corn flake crumbs again so I skipped over it.  The second one was interesting because it had flour and some other spices added including celery salt.  I pulled that out of the cupboard and continued the search.

I found this blog with a neat recipe (sadly, still using corn flake crumbs) but it added beef bouillon.  Humm, I have that in the cupboard.  If I mix too many recipes, will this be weird??  How will beef bouillon taste with chicken and pork?  Weird or yummy? 

Okay, one more recipe and I will stop looking.  I found another blog with the recipe that includes the oil in the recipe but has a nice mix of seasonings.  This one is also on a blog where the author seemed to be expressing the same idea as me- use homemade stuff to be healthier and cheaper but try to get the same taste.

I started to get internet overload!!  Do you ever search for recipes on the internet?  Well, I always do and I usually end up mixing two but I just added so many different recipes that I don't know what will taste good and what will be weird.  I already set aside two cups of bread crumbs in a resealable container so I was working with two cups to start off.

I had already toasted my bread and made breadcrumbs that were in the freezer waiting for me to use.  Breadcrumbs are the easiest thing to make and it is another one of those things that I wonder why I never made before because they are so much better than store bought.  I will post a recipe with pictures on how to make homemade bread crumbs soon.  Here is the post that I had done before.

I used the breadcrumbs to make the Shake n Bake Pork chops and since it was the first time that I was using the recipe, I tried it two ways.  I shook them plain in the bag and didn't any oil.  The second ones, I sprayed with non-stick cooking spray to see if that would make them different.  It did!  The one of the left had the non-stick spray and the one on the right had nothing.

After reviewing the recipe and the two different preparation methods, I would add more spices to the mix and maybe coat the pork or chicken in either oil or maybe even hot sauce to add an extra flavor.  I am going to do some more experiments but it covered much better than expected and I look forward to using it again soon!!!  Let me know if you have any pointers if you have made this before :)

Alison's First Shake n Bake Recipe

2 cups Shake n Bake
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1/4 tsp celery salt
1/4 tsp minced onion
1/4 tsp Lawry's garlic salt (has sugar and parsley but regular can be substituted)
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp Italian Herbs (if you don't have, add basil instead)

Mix all ingredients and store in resealable container until ready to use.  Can store in cupboard, fridge or freezer.

When ready to use, rinse chicken. 

Option 1:  Coat in oil and shake with crumbs in a bag until coated.

Option 2:  Mix 1/2 c breadcrumbs with 1/2 tbsp oil and shake in bag.  Add chicken and shake until coated.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until done.  Cook shorter for chicken nuggets or chicken fingers (10-15 minutes) or longer for bone in chicken (45 minutes).