This recipe is a spin on the classic “chicken and waffles.” I have always wanted to make beignets. It evolved to include chicken, when I remembered the leftover chicken nuggets I had made for oven fried hot-honey chicken adapted from Half Baked Harvest.
Let me first say that beignets are definitely New Orleans through and through…Do NOT attempt to make these if you’re looking for a quick recipe. They are a process AND they operate on NOLA time. I learned this the hard way. 4 hours and two champagne bottles later, the kitchen turned into studio 54 with two women, who with the assistance of bubbles had developed what I’ll call “Baker Delirium” from our slow as molasses in winter Beignets. There was a lot of Cher impressions and belting The Weather Girls “It’s raining men.” Poor Patrick.
Now that I have experienced beignet making, I learned a few things that would have expedited the process and that wisdom will be sprinkled upon you like sweet powdered sugar.
| Prep Time | 15 minutes |
| Cook Time | 20 minutes |
| Passive Time | 1 hour |
| Servings |
people
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- 1 stick unsalted butter cut into tablespoons
- 2 tablespoons honey plus 1 large pinch salt
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup flour all purpose ( i like unbleached)
- 1/2 juice lemon zest lemon first reserve zest and other half of lemon
- 4 large eggs
- 1+ cup powdered sugar for dusting
- 1 parchment-lined baking sheet
- 1 paper bag for tossing beignets with powdered sugar
- 1 lemon zested
Ingredients
Beignets
Additional materials
Garnish
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- In a sauce pan bring butter, honey, water, salt and lemon juice to boil over medium-high heat whisking frequently.
- Reduce heat to medium and add in the flour. Stir to combine with the butter mixture. I suggest using a heat resistant spatula or wooden spoon to stir. Continue to stir until dough starts to pull away from thee side of pan and form into a ball. about one minute. Remove pan from heat and allow mixture to cool for five minutes.
- Use hand or stand mixer to combine eggs to mixture, adding one egg at a time. Once the eggs are fully incorporated into the mixture, cover and refrigerate for one hour, or place into the freezer for thirty minutes.
- using a 1/2 tablespoon, scoop out dough and shape into round balls. Place shaped dough onto parchment lined baking sheet.
- Using a dutch oven or other deep pan, add neutral flavored oil for frying (vegetable or canola) pour enough oil to reach a depth of 2-3 inches. 3-4 cups.
- Heat oil up to frying temperature over medium-low heat. ** This is important, oil must be hot enough to fry the dough without making it soggy, but not to hot that it burns them.
- Medium-low heat is a pretty safe heat here. You can do the "water test" by sprinkling a little water in the oil to make sure it's ready -- the water should cause a bubbling reaction when added to the water ( just a sprinkle of water or it could get ugly). Using a kitchen spider tool, metal strainer/skimmer or slotted spoon gently lower dough into oil working in small batches. I suggest doing a test run with one beignet to ensure proper oil temperature. Flip the dough continuously to ensure even frying. The dough will puff up and rise to the top - beignet should turn a light golden brown in color. It is ready when a seam has formed -- dough will "burst" and to create a deep seam. I would say this is about 5-7 minutes.
- Place beignets on a plate line with paper towels. Cut a beignet in half to make sure it is cooked all the way through - the consistency should be light and fluffy. If it looks dense or still doughy inside they are not done.
- Add 1 cup powdered sugar to brown paper bag. Add a few beignets to the bag, roll top of bag down to seal and holding seal down firmly shake to coat beignets.
- The result will be soft, airy, powdery beignet bites. You can stop here and eat as is, or you can make chicken and beignets by following the recipe for the oven-fried chicken and hot honey recipe.
- Make oven fried chicken bites and hot honey sauce - recipe linked in "recipe notes" Add 5-6 beignets and 10 chicken bites to bowl.
- Drizzle hot honey over top, garnish with reserved lemon zest and chopped green onions.
This recipe is delicious and well worth the time. I would say to speed up the process, if you know you want to make these in the morning. Consider making the dough the night before. You can even pre-roll them into balls on the lined parchment sheet, cover with cling wrap, and keep them in the refrigerator overnight. Set dough out to come up to room temperature while you are heating your oil and they are all set for frying the next day!
The oven fried chicken and hot honey takes about 25 minutes to prep and bake. You can also make the chicken the day before as I did and hold off on the hot honey part until you are ready to make the beignets. While you are waiting for your dough to fry, preheat the oven to 400 degree. Toss the chicken bites into the hot honey to coat and pop them into oven for 10 minutes. I'd say once you are ready to coat the beignets into the powder sugar is when you should out the chicken into the oven.
Garnish with more hot honey, green onions, and fresh lemon zest! YUM!