When I was a kid, my mom was pretty wary of anything that was dipped in breadcrumbs and fried. To a 5 year old, that was pretty devastating as it meant no chicken nuggets. But as an adult, I get it. It was definitely not healthy and I can now say I’m glad she didn’t let us eat them (Thanks, mom!) But it’s not the 80’s anymore and there are more options out there for us. I have recently been enjoying baking things in panko breadcrumbs which gives baked food a nice crunch instead of a greasy, soggy sadness.

The food you can bathe in a egg-panko-Parmesan crust is seemingly endless. Cauliflower, broccoli and zucchini/squash are great veggie options that you can offer kids, or yourselves, or take as a vegetarian appetizer, with a couple of dips and folks might just not care they’re eating veggies. If serving as an entree, a baked sweet potato would be great alongside.

If you’ve never tried it before, here’s a quick and simple recipe to get you started. It’s really flexible so feel free to mess around with it until you get your best flavor!

Panko and Parmesan crusted cauliflower:

• Olive oil
• 1 head of cauliflower
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp ground mustard powder (optional)
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
• (Tablespoon of fresh herbs or 1/2 teaspoon of dried is optional but encouraged!)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Drizzle some olive oil on rimmed baking sheet
3. Rinse and cut the cauliflower into florets (maybe do this the night before to make your life easier?)
4. gently beat the two eggs and mix with milk
5. in a separate bowl, combine rest of ingredients
6. dip cauliflower florets in egg/milk mixture, letting some of the mixture drip off, then dredge it through the panko/Parmesan mixture, covering the entire floret in panko crumbs.
7. place the cauliflower on baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Using tongs, carefully flip the cauliflower and bake for another 15-20 minutes, until golden brown.

Serve with a few options of dips and don’t blame me of you start crusting and baking all your food.

* for fish and meat, you might want to swap out the egg/milk mixture for a Dijon mustard/butter mixture. (1/4 cup Dijon and 4 tbsp butter mashed together with a fork. You wouldn’t dip, just smear this over the fish or meat and then press into the panko mix.) And obviously, the temp and baking time would vary depending on type of fish or cut of meat.