Chicken Strips — The Batter That Brought the Patio Back to Life

The RecipeSpinoff piece goes live next week. The editor sent me the final layout — my words, my photos, on a real food website with real traffic. I stared at it on my phone for twenty minutes. Then I made pierogi, because that's what I do when I don't know how to process feelings. The Lakefront taproom reopened this week — outdoor seating only, twenty tables, socially distanced. Marcus and I set up the patio on Monday: tables six feet apart, hand sanitizer stations, a one-way entrance/exit system. It felt like opening night at a theater — the anticipation, the hope that people would come. They came. Wednesday's first outdoor service was sold out in an hour. People wanted to be out. People wanted beer. People wanted normalcy, even a version of normalcy that includes masks and plexiglass and checking temperatures at the door. I poured Kowalski Lager for a guy who said, "This is the first beer I've had in a restaurant in three months," and he drank it with the reverence of a man performing a religious rite. Helen's Wheat is back on the board for summer. The seasonal rotation continues, pandemic or not. Beer doesn't know there's a virus. Beer just does its job: fermenting, conditioning, being poured into glasses for people who need it. The deliveries continue, though I've scaled back slightly now that some restaurants are doing takeout. Mrs. Wojcik still gets Monday and Thursday. Mom and Dad still get Wednesday. But some of my building neighbors are cooking for themselves again, which is the point — the Lockdown Kitchen series was always about teaching people to feed themselves, not about making them dependent on me. Made something celebratory for the taproom reopening: a batch of beer-battered fried pierogi, served at the outdoor patio as a special. Babcia's dough, potato and cheese filling, battered in a light Helen's Wheat batter, deep-fried until golden and crispy. Served with sour cream and chive dip. They sold out in forty-five minutes. A customer said, "You should open a restaurant." I smiled. I said, "I'm working on it."

The pierogi sold out in forty-five minutes, and the technique that made them work — that light, airy Helen’s Wheat batter — is the same one I reach for whenever I want something golden and celebratory coming out of hot oil. Chicken strips are the version I make when I want to share that batter with people who haven’t grown up folding dough with their grandmother; they get it immediately, no explanation required. After a week of patio tables and first beers and a guy drinking Kowalski Lager like it was communion wine, I needed a recipe that carried that same energy — something you dip, something you share, something that tastes like things are going to be okay.

Chicken Strips

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 20 min | Total Time: 35 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch-wide strips
• 1 cup all-purpose flour, divided
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 3/4 cup wheat beer (a light hefeweizen works perfectly)
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• Vegetable oil, for frying (about 3 cups)
• Sour cream and fresh chives, for serving

Instructions

1. Season the chicken. Pat chicken strips dry with paper towels. Season lightly on both sides with salt and pepper. Set aside on a plate.
2. Set up your dredge. Place 1/2 cup of the flour in a shallow dish. In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining 1/2 cup flour, garlic powder, smoked paprika, onion powder, salt, and baking powder.
3. Make the beer batter. Add the wheat beer and beaten egg to the spiced flour mixture. Whisk until smooth — a few small lumps are fine. The batter should coat the back of a spoon. Let it rest for 5 minutes while the oil heats.
4. Heat the oil. Pour oil into a heavy-bottomed pot or deep skillet to a depth of about 2 inches. Heat over medium-high to 350°F. Use a thermometer if you have one — temperature control is the difference between golden and greasy.
5. Dredge and batter. Working in batches, dredge each chicken strip in the plain flour, shaking off any excess, then dip into the beer batter, letting any drips fall back into the bowl.
6. Fry until golden. Carefully lower battered strips into the hot oil, 3 or 4 at a time — don’t crowd the pot. Fry for 4 to 5 minutes per side, turning once, until deep golden and cooked through (internal temp 165°F). Transfer to a wire rack set over a sheet pan; season immediately with a pinch of salt.
7. Repeat and rest. Bring oil back to temperature between batches. Let finished strips rest on the rack for 2 to 3 minutes before serving — this keeps the crust from steaming itself soft.
8. Serve. Pile onto a platter with sour cream thinned with a splash of lemon juice and a handful of sliced fresh chives. Cold wheat beer alongside is not optional.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 420 | Protein: 38g | Fat: 16g | Carbs: 28g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 610mg