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Chicken Tenders and Waffles with Vietnamese Caramel Sauce and Pickled Veggies is not your typical Southern fried chicken. It’s baked not fried and is spicy, sweet, and savory with a cool and crisp bite. And it’s a perfect savory option for a waffle bar. Jump to Recipe
Chicken Tenders and Waffles
During Restaurant Week in Oakland, I went to Clove & Hoof. It’s a cool butchery and restaurant in one. I had a Fish Sauce Caramel Fried Chicken Sandwich. As soon as I saw it on the menu, I had to get it.
I’m a huge fan of Vietnamese caramel sauce, which is made by melting palm sugar and fish sauce together. It is a thick sauce that’s equally savory (HUGE umami-packed flavor) and sweet.
When I was brainstorming recipe ideas for my sister’s bridal shower, it popped into my head as the perfect savory waffle option.
The Waffles
These waffles are almost the same as Monday’s Multigrain Waffles. I replaced the oat flour with cornmeal and added in some crushed peppercorns, Sriracha, Parmesan cheese, and smoked salt.
They can be made, frozen, and reheated in the waffle iron as well.
The Chicken Tenders
Frying a whole bunch of chicken on the same day as the bridal shower is my definition of hell. I decided to go with oven fried chicken to make life easier for me.
There is no grease and no standing over the hot stove frying chicken strips in small batches.
Vietnamese Caramel Sauce
To my knowledge, you can’t buy this stuff. Searching for it has gotten me no results. Vietnamese caramel sauce is similar to stir-fry sauces and that’s how it’s often used in Vietnamese cuisine.
I first attempted to make Vietnamese caramel sauce from Charles Phan’s cookbook, The Slanted Door: Modern Vietnamese Food (that’s an affiliate link) and it turned out horrible. Eventually, I found a video of him making it and it was so much easier than what was described in the cookbook. Just to let you know though, that cookbook is still awesome, that was the only recipe so far that hasn’t turnred out.
It’s like making simple syrup but you use solid pieces of palm sugar and fish sauce. You have to heat the sugar and fish sauce over medium-low heat until the sugar dissolves and the sauce reaches your desired thickness.
Pickled Veggies
I went with carrots and cucumbers because they’re easy but you could use any veggies you wanted. You can pickle them separately or together, whatever you want.
Some other options I’m thinking of adding on top of the carrots and cucumbers is chilies, radishes, and zucchini.
Spring Sucks
A lot of people love spring. And I want to love spring. I would LOVE to love spring. But allergies do their best to kill me every year. I’m on my third cold (it’s my second head cold) and I’ve coughed so much my ribs and chest hurt.
I get intermittent joint aches throughout the day and I can’t taste or smell anything. Which makes food blogging and planning a bridal shower really hard. Time is flying by and my knees are beginning to shake. I think I need a cheer squad to help me get pumped up.
It’s also my birthday tomorrow and I can’t bring myself to get excited. I’m feeling better but I’m still sick, my allergies are still horrible, and I didn’t have time to create a birthday cake for myself like last year. But maybe I’ll rally and try to invent something tonight? Here’s what I made for myself last year:
It’s a Cayenne Chocolate Cake with Goat Cheese Buttercream, Roasted Cherries, and Coffee Ice Cream.
Chicken Tenders and Waffles with Vietnamese Caramel Sauce and Pickled Veggies
Ingredients
Vietnamese Caramel Sauce
- 1 and 1/3 cups pure palm sugar pieces, chopped
- 2/3 cup fish sauce*
Pickled Veggies
- 1 cup distilled white vinegar
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup carrots, peeled and shredded
- 1 cup cucumber, peeled and julienned
- 1/2 cup red onion, thinly sliced
Waffles
- 2 eggs, whites and yolks separated
- 1 teaspoon Sriracha
- 1/3 cup whole spelt flour
- 1/3 cup millet flour
- 1/3 cup cornmeal
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated feel free to use whatever cheese you want
- 1 to 1.5 teaspoons freshly ground peppercorns you can use black or you can mix it up with black, white, and green, etc.
- 1/4 teaspoon Yakima Applewood Smoked Salt or other smoked salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
Chicken Tenders
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/4 cup potato starch, tapioca starch, or cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons gochugaru (Korean hot pepper flakes) or cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1/4 teaspoon Yakima Applewood Smoked Salt or other smoked salt
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1 egg
- dash Yakima Applewood Smoked Salt
- dash Sriracha sauce
- 1 to 2 cups panko
- 1 cup Vietnamese Caramel Sauce or to taste
Instructions
Vietnamese Caramel Sauce (2 minutes prep, 10 minutes cook)
- In a medium saucepan, cook sugar on medium-low for 6 to 8 minutes until melted. Add the fish sauce and stir until the sugar has completely dissolved and the liquid is no longer cloudy.
- Or you can combine the sugar pieces and the fish sauce in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook until all the sugar has dissolved. Either way you make the caramel sauce, the longer you cook the sauce, the thicker and more concentrated the flavor will be.
- Strain the sauce and pour into a mason jar. Let it come to room temperature before covering and storing in the fridge.
Pickled Veggies (10 minutes prep, 30 minutes to 8 hours rest)
- Add the sugar and salt to the vinegar in a large bowl and stir until fully dissolved.
- Toss in the carrots, cucumbers, onions, and any other vegetable you’d like to have. Consider radish, beets, zucchini, peppers, chilies etc. You don’t have to just do carrots and cucumber. Cover and let sit for at least 30 minutes. You can also leave them overnight in the fridge.
Waffles (10 minutes prep, 10 minutes rest, 10 minutes cook)
- In a glass or stainless steel bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and hot sauce until smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients and whisk until just combined. Gently fold in the egg whites. Don’t worry if the batter is lumpy, that’s a good thing.
- Let the batter sit for 10 minutes while you let your waffle iron preheats.
- How much batter you use will depend on the size of your waffle maker. I have an American-style waffle maker that makes four squares at a time. I drop a 1/4 cup batter into the center of each square. Close the lid and remove the waffles when the timer goes off or the waffle appears golden brown across the top and steam stops streaming out from the sides of the waffle maker. Serve immediately.
- To freeze the waffles, first, let them cool completely. Once cool, wrap each individual waffle in plastic wrap. Then either wrap two in foil or place them in freezer ziplock bags.
- Take a waffle out of the freezer when you want one and reheat it in the waffle iron for 3 to 5 minutes or until it's crispy again and warmed through.
Chicken Tenders (20 minutes prep, 12 minutes cook)
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Cut the chicken strips into 1-inch thin pieces.
- Mix the flour, cornstarch, hot pepper flakes, turmeric, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a shallow bowl.
- Mix the buttermilk, egg, Sriracha, and a dash of salt in another shallow bowl.
- Pour the Panko crumbs into a shallow bowl. Start with 1 cup and then add more when that gets low or soggy.
- Dredge the chicken strips in the flour mixture, then the buttermilk mixture, and then the Panko. Place on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until crispy on the outside and lightly browned.
- If you just made the caramel sauce and it's still warm, skip this step. If you've stored it in the fridge, it will be really thick and hard to spread. While the chicken cooks, heat the caramel sauce in a small saucepan over low heat. This will make it a little easier to spread on the chicken.
- Brush or drizzle the chicken strips with the caramel sauce. And serve immediately.
Assembly
- Take fresh waffles or freshly reheated waffles and drizzle a little caramel sauce on top. Add a chicken tender and top with the pickled veggies. Serve with a drizzle of more Vietnamese Caramel Sauce or a little Sriracha sauce if desired.
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Mmmm yum There’s nothing I don’t like in this awesome recipe, pickled veggies, Vietnamese caramel sauce oh YES! Totally agree with you oven baked chicken tenders, I want to make your recipe right now! Finally I hope you feel better from your allergies, that really sucks! And Happy belated Birthday!
Oh my-lanta!!! Vietnamese Caramel sauce?! Where has this been all of my life?! It sounds like the perfect combination of sweet and salty and I am dying to try it. Add waffles and chicken and pickled veggies and whoa. Whoaaa I need all of this. Sending it to my husband now to add to our must make brunch list!!
I can never say no to chicken and waffles of any kind! I’ll have to try to make the vietnamese caramel sauce ASAP – I’ve never attempted it at home before. I’ll have to check out the video instead, it’s probably easier to learn to make a syrup via video instead.
Well, hello, gorgeous! What a creative and phenomenal take on chicken and waffles. The pickled veggies, the Vietnamese caramel sauce…completely and totally drooling over here! I hear you on the spring allergies, too. They have been particularly killer this year. I hope you had a great birthday! 🙂
First, Happy Birthday. I hope you save room for cake — the one from last year looks amazing. Second — Your photos are absolutely mouthwatering. Curious what lens you’re using and what your set up looks like for shooting. How much light do you have? Third — This recipe sounds incredible… The waffles with peppercorns and cornmeal sound right up my alley, those crispy baked chicken tenders look outrageously good and I love the pickled veg on top — but I am dreaming about that caramel sauce. The interplay of sweet and savory with that funk of fish sauce just sounds outrageous. Can I come to the shower, please?
What great and inventive spin on chicken and waffles! I love the flavors you’ve used – the Vietnamese caramel sauce and the pickled veggies and then the spicy, smokey waffles. That just looks and sounds amazing. (And *hugs* on not being able to enjoy spring. It’s my favorite season, but I know how allergies can knock you over.)
I certainly wish I had a waffle maker. What an amazing recipe so packed with flavor. We love unusual and this is right up there. Chicken tenders on waffles with pickled vegetables and a sauce. YUM!! Will have to purchase my waffles but this is a definite must try.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I hope you feel better!
That chicken and waffle dish looks restaurant-worthy! Such an amazing combination of flavours and textures. And that vietnamese caramel sauce sounds intriguing and fantastic. I’ve never tried it (nor have I ever heard of it) but I’d love to try it. I love that the waffles can be made ahead of time and re-heated. Excellent way to get ahead and prep things for the bridal shower in advance.
The flavor profile in this sounds amazing! Fresh pickled veggies are the best, I love the contrast between sour and sweet. They keep well in the fridge too. The classic chicken and waffles plus the contrasting flavors in the sauce and pickled veggies is brilliant! Saving this, thanks for sharing your recipe!
I seriously thought chicken and waffles were the nirvana of food pairings. Then I tried your version with the Vietnamese caramel sauce… and I realized I have been missing out! Holy wonderful flavor combos! Im definitely making this again!
Chicken and waffles is such a classic brunch meal! I love this spin on it- the caramel sauce sounds perfect. And yes, I’m pretty sure that frying chicken and making waffles from scratch for a bunch of people at a party would be AWFUL- I love that you made it easier!! It looks fabulous 😀
Wow…what an upscale chicken and waffles dish. Love the sound of this tasty recipe. Those pickled veggies are the icing on the cake. What a fun dinner for the weekend.
Girl, I die a little each year in Spring too! I still love spring.. I think mainly because I hate winter so much (living in the midwest, winters suck!).
Your birthday cake from last year is EVERYTHING! That is my kind of cake.
I have not had Vietnamese Caramel Sauce. What an awesome and unique recipe. I will have to make these next time I entertain, I think these would be a show stopper!
Wow, you have come up with a recipe that is beautiful, unique and looks so delicious. I LOVE Vietnamese caramel sauce, and I’ve seen Phan’s recipe for it, but have never made it. Well, now I must. Beautiful shots of. beautiful food. Thanks for the recipe! Look forward to making this.