I never thought that chicken and waffles sounded very appealing – until I went to Memphis last year. My first night there, I ate at a restaurant called Flight, which allows you to build your own entree by sampling different dishes. I chose three different items to taste, including chicken and waffles, since I’d never tried them before. Oh my goodness! Suddenly, I understood. The chicken was cooked in a sweet syrup that tied it together perfectly with the waffle – it was just delectable.

So when Krusteaz sent me a fun box of goodies and invited me to create a recipe for National Hot Breakfast Month, I looked at their waffle mix and felt inspired to create my own chicken and waffles, since I enjoyed my meal in Tennessee so much. All this month, Krusteaz are denoting Wednesdays as “Breakfast Night”, inviting families to take a night off from cooking a standard dinner and mixing it up with some fun breakfast favorites instead. I can’t be the only one who has sat down with a bowl of cereal at 6 PM and called it a day, right? 😉

I thought chicken and waffles was the perfect “Breakfast-as-dinner” fare because it’s such a hearty, filling dish. Now that I know that preparing the chicken in a sweet sauce is crucial to making delicious chicken and waffles, I thought back to a recipe I tried several years ago for Garlic Chicken and Potatoes, which utilized maple syrup; at the time, Jai told me that it was possibly the best chicken he’d ever had. I took inspiration from that recipe’s slow-cooked hint of sweetness and used two of the ingredients, butter and maple syrup, in this recipe I created.

Since I was using Krusteaz Blueberry Belgian Waffle Mix for the base, I knew I needed to tie the dish together by cooking the chicken with berries. Combining these ingredients in my crockpot resulted in tender chicken with just enough sweetness to pair nicely with the blueberry waffles. This is also very easy to throw together in the morning, ready just in time for a relaxed dinner!

Blueberry Chicken & Waffles

Ingredients:

For the chicken:

4 TBSP butter
2 large, boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 cups frozen Safeway Triple berry Blend – blueberries, raspberries & blackberries
1/4 C maple syrup

For the waffles:

1 1/2 C Krusteaz Blueberry Belgian Waffle Mix
1 egg
3 TBSP vegetable oil
2/3 C water
Cooking spray

Directions:

Cutting the butter block into 4 individual tablespoons, place in the bottom of a crock pot. Layer your chicken pieces* on top of the butter pats. Cover the chicken with the frozen berries and drizzle the maple syrup on top. Set crockpot to low and cook for 7 hours, or until done. Slow cooking this on a low temperature is crucial for getting tender chicken.

Once the chicken is done, turn the crockpot to “Keep warm”. In a large bowl, combine the waffle mix, egg, oil, and water and whisk together until smooth. Allow the batter to stand for 2 minutes.

Turn on your waffle iron and coat it with cooking spray. Once heated up, fill the iron with waffle batter – roughly 2/3 C, depending on the size of your iron. Cook for about 3 to 4 minutes or until the waffle is golden brown.

Place the waffle on a plate and spoon the chicken on top. Eat up and enjoy!

*A note on the chicken: Depending on the size of the chicken cutlets, you may need to use 3 or 4. The chicken should cover the bottom of the crockpot; as the other ingredients liquefy, they will surround (but not entirely cover) the chicken. Although I used boneless skinless chicken, I think this would actually be improved by using bone-in chicken!

This dish brought back good memories from my trip to Memphis, and I served it to four other family members to taste-test. They liked the slow-cooked chicken and commented that the waffle does make a nice bready base for the meat. I’d say it was a hit!

For more Breakfast Night inspiration, don’t miss my recipes for Chocolate Bacon Muffins and Valentine’s Day Pancakes! Keep up with the latest on Krusteaz by following them on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.

Enter To Win:

Would you like to try Breakfast Night in your own household? One reader will win a box of Krusteaz products including 1 box of Buttermilk Pancake Mix, 1 box of Blueberry Belgian Waffle Mix, 1 box of Chocolate Chunk Muffin Mix, and 1 box of Honey Wheat Pancake Mix as well as Krusteaz coupons for free product!

To Enter:

Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter. Giveaway is open to residents to the continental US (Sorry, no PO boxes), 18 years of age or older, and ends on February 18th 2015 at 11:00 PM PST. Winner will be drawn the following day. See the Rafflecopter widget for full details and click here to read our giveaway rules.