Jalapeno Kettle Chip Crusted Chicken with Jalapeno Ranch

Cruising around the now wildly popular site Pinterest, I found this recipe that I thought might be nice to make for my husband. I thought it might be too spicy for my preschooler so I decided to skip making him the chicken tender version.

I read that the jalapeno ranch dipping sauce might be too hot, in combination with the chicken, for some people so I decided to make the sauce without the pickled jalapenos. I should've put them in. My husband enjoyed the chicken but didn't feel it had the jalapeno-kick that the title would imply. He thought it needed a little something extra. The chicken was moist on the inside and the coating was crunchy on the outside, but the unique flavor of the ingredients used were lacking. This is a recipe that I will try again, but I'll kick up the cayenne and include the pickled jalapenos next time.

Ingredients

For the Jalapeno Ranch Dipping Sauce:
1/4 cup mayo
1/4 cup lowfat sour cream
1/4 cup (plus 2 tablespoons) lowfat buttermilk
1 tablespoon Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing (the powder)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
dash of cayenne
5-6 hot pickled jalapeno slices, finely chopped

For the Chicken:
4 chicken breasts (about 1 3/4 - 2 pounds total)
1 bag Jalapeno Kettle Chips, crushed
1 cup low fat buttermilk
1 teaspoon salt
dash cayenne

Directions

For the Jalapeno Ranch Dipping Sauce:
Mix ingredients together (adding additional buttermilk until desired consistency). Refrigerate until ready to use.

For the Chicken:
Preheat oven to 375º. Place an oven safe cooling rack in a large jelly roll pan and spray with non-cooking spray. In a bowl, whisk together buttermilk, salt, and cayenne. As needed: pound out chicken breasts to roughly 1/2" thickness and add to buttermilk mixture (toss to coat well).

Place crushed Kettle chips in a shallow baking dish. Pull one piece of chicken at a time out of the buttermilk and gently shake to remove some of the excess. Dip into the chips and coat thoroughly on both sides. Place on prepared baking sheet. Repeat until all chicken breast are thoroughly coated.

Place into oven and bake for 25-35 minutes, until cooked through (cooking times vary based on chicken thickness and actual oven temperature). Serve hot with jalapeno ranch dipping sauce.