Grain free "breading"

[pjs]

In an effort to lose weight/moderate insulin issues/correct hormone imbalance I have gone pretty much grain/gluten free/low glycemic. But, in many of my meat dish entrees, the recipes call for coating chix/beef in flour. I'm still using up some white flour I have, but would this small amount have a huge impact on my efforts? Should I switch to almond flour or something similar (was VERY expensive)?

What do you use to "bread" your meats?

[heidirk]

I can get pecan meal at my bulk foods store for not terribly much, and it makes good breading.

cornmeal is good too. Not cornstarch mind you, but corn meal.

I think even a tiny bit of white flour, especially used as breading where it tends to absorb a lot of high-heated oils, can make a negative impact. Especially if it's in 'most' of your recipes.

I hardly bread anything, I never really have, and there are lots of good meal ideas that don't involve breading anything. I prefer browning and then deglazing the pan for rich sauces, myself!

[deditus]

Almond flour is soooo yummy! It is much more reasonable to buy in bulk online. I buy here: http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/bla...dflour5lb.aspx Pecan flour is good, too, and cheaper. I make chicken fingers for dd w/pecan meal and shredded coconut.

[Juvysen]

I've done just chopped up almonds for sort of a thicker breading, but I'd go with almond flour for just regular thin breading...

[cristeen]

I've used coconut flour, almond flour or one that's not too TF at all (ground pork rinds). Depending on the recipe, I've even mixed almond meal with sesame seeds and shredded parmesan.

[Jennifer Z]

I have heard of people using ground up pork rinds. Take pork rinds and pound them into powder and use it like flour.

[rhiandmoi]

It depends on why you are dredging the meats. In general this is for browning and to help the sauce later. If this is the case, you are just fine leaving it out completely. If it is to make a breading, like a crunching coating outside of the meat, I would go with finely ground nuts. Not quite nut flour, just as fine as you can get it with a few pulses from the food processor.

[blessedwithboys]

last night i made homemade chicken fingers. i cut up 3 breasts in to strips and then dipped them in my lovely orange-yolked local eggs and then in to shredded coconut meat i just bought in bulk from TT. i added dried orange rind to the coconut, plus s&p. it was amazing. i put the leftovers into the fridge last night without a cover and they were still moist this morning.

oh, and the way i cooked them was to take a big rectangle pyrex dish and melt a bit of coconut oil in it and then i just baked the chicken.

[pjs]

Thanks for all of the ideas.

The recent recipes I've needed breading for were chicken piccata and a couple of crockpot recipes. The one crockpot recipe I love has you dredge pork chps in a mixture of flour, dry mustard, garlic powder and s&p and brown them before putting in the crock (and you put the leftover flour in the crock too, I'm sure as a flavored thickener). I'm thinking it wouldn't work so well to dredge directly into the dry mustard and garlic powder, but I haven't seasoned meats with only these things before. I'm thinking the almond/pecan/coconut flour might be the best alternative. I'm really looking to avoid empty calories.

[ursusarctos]

You could also try ground sesame seeds if you have a small grinder. My mom always used them on top of baked salmon and they turned out crunchy and delicious.