Meet Crunchy Munchy Chicken: The Grandma-Approved Recipe So Good I Had To Put It on a Dish Towel

Two plated servings of crunchy munchy chicken, served with a mixed green salad — Photo:
Allrecipes/Qi Ai

My husband grew up in small town Pennsylvania in a community so close knit that, in the 1970s, his newly married parents purchased a house a few doors down from the home my mother-in-law grew up in. When we were dating, he described his family dynamic as “matriarchal,” as evidenced by the fact that his mom’s mom lived a few doors down and his dad’s mom lived in a modular home in his parents’ backyard. A visit home to Clearfield wasn’t just a trip to see my husband’s mom and dad, it was an opportunity to spend time with both grandmas, since seeing them was simple thanks to their close proximity.

Both grandmas have since passed away, but one of my most cherished belongings is a collection of handwritten recipes, gifted to me by my mother-in-law as a bridal shower gift. Inside the recipe box is a treasure trove of handwritten family recipes, contributed by a list of home cooks that includes both of my husband’s grandmothers. From pineapple upside-down cake to baked beans, there are some delicious dishes inside the box. One of them, Crunchy Munchy Chicken, is scrawled in Grandma Peters’ infamous messy hand and has become a favorite way to prepare golden-brown, oven-baked chicken in my home.

What Is Crunchy Munchy Chicken?

Crunchy Munchy Chicken has just six ingredients: chicken breasts, margarine, cornflakes cereal, potato chips, salt, and pepper. Making the dish is incredibly simple: Crush one cup each of potato chips and cereal in a bowl, add a bit of salt and pepper, then coat the chicken breasts first in melted margarine then in the chip-cereal mixture. After placing the coated chicken breasts in a baking dish, the remaining crunchy mixture gets patted on top of each breast and the rest of the melted margarine gets dumped over top. The whole thing bakes for about 45 minutes at 350°F.

The result? Crispy, salty chicken that mimics battered-and-fried versions and tastes amazing. In my house, we serve Crunchy Munchy Chicken with mashed potatoes and chicken gravy along with some roasted vegetables. Leftovers often get used as a salad topper or quesadilla filling, or tossed on top of pasta the following night for some added protein. It’s a goof-proof, easy way to cook up some breaded chicken and, while it’s heavy on the margarine, it’s not something we make weekly, so we never feel bad indulging in some carb-covered, margarine-browned chicken goodness.

My family loves this recipe so much that I ordered the image of Grandma Peters’s handwritten Crunchy Munchy Chicken recipe card printed onto a dish towel at Etsy. Hanging in my kitchen, the towel is a sweet reminder of a woman I didn’t get nearly enough years to know, and a dish she made for her own family many years ago. Recently, while listening to The Bright Side podcast on my morning walk, Food Network star Molly Yeh talked about these family, index-card-written recipes and said, “Hand-written recipes taste better — there’s that love in there and I think, if you’re talking about the story [of your family member] when you’re eating it, heck yeah it’s going to taste better.”

I know exactly what Yeh means. While I spent less than a decade getting to know Grandma Peters, whose first name was Marian, before she died in 2011 at age 98, I love knowing I can help her memory live on every time I make her Crunchy Munchy Chicken recipe. My kids, who were just a toddler and an infant when she passed away, are teenagers now. When we eat their great-grandmother’s chicken recipe and share our memories of her, they get to know her in a new way and, for that, I’m grateful.