It’s no secret that I love Buffalo Chicken Wings, especially with Blue Cheese Dressing! But lately I’ve been thinking that at my age it’s a heart attack on plate with extra blue cheese…..sigh Now I know I can’t just give up those lovely coated morsels of pure delight, but perhaps I can find a way to not make them as bad for me.
As many of you know, I’ve been working with Kelapo Coconut Oil for the last few months, and I’ve been trying to cook healthier and let me tell you, It’s not easy! Between my blog, school, and my cooking classes on Chef Hangout I make way to many rich and fattening foods for my own good! So its high time, I started making adjustments to my cooking style to ensure that I’m around long enough to enjoy my golden years, and thanks to Kelapo I’m doing just that!
So when I thought about my famous Buffalo Chicken Sauce I began to wonder how Kelapo Coconut Oil would work instead of butter, and I figured I wouldn’t know until I tried. Guess what, I couldn’t tell the difference. It thickened up nicely, just a tad thinner than a butter sauce, but still very clingy and stable. I must have a sauce that doesn’t break, I hate it when you get wings in a restaurant and there’s a puddle of grease in the bottom of the basket……Yuk!
It’s really very simple, the reason the sauce breaks is because it gets too hot. That my friends is really the only secret to a perfect sauce.
Whether you’re making the sauce with Butter or my new found friend, Kelapo Coconut Oil, all you have to do is let it melt into a liquid state and then add your other ingredients in, using a wire whisk to bring it together. You don’t want to subject the sauce to much heat after you’ve whisked everything together. It can be warm, but overheating is the quickest way to end up with an separated sauce and a puddle of grease!
So now that you know the secret to my Famous Buffalo Sauce, I’m going to share my newest creation with you, A Buffalo Shrimp Po’ Boy! And the best part is I made it without butter and without using Blue Cheese dressing! Woo Hoo!! I can just feel the fat melting away!
Doesn’t that sandwich look delicious?
- 6 oz Franks Buffalo Wing Sauce 180 ml, or hot sauce of your choice
- 6 tbs Kelapo coconut oil 90 g
- 2 oz honey 60 ml
- 1/2 lb peeled and deveined 31-35 count shrimp 230 g
- 2 cups cracker crumbs 300 g, very fine
- 2 large eggs
- 2 oz milk or water 60 ml
- 3 oz Kelapo coconut oil for frying 90 ml
- 1 inches small loaf of good french bread for the sandwiches about 12 long shaped like a baguette but thicker, 30.48 cm
- 1.5 oz gorgonzola or bleu cheese 45 g
- 1 oz arugula or greens of your choice 28 g
- Melt the Kelapo coconut oil over medium heat, allow to get slightly hot
- add hot sauce and honey, using a wire whisk combine the ingredients until all of the coconut oil has been absorbed and the sauce has thickened some.
- Remove the sauce from the heat and set aside
- Fried Shrimp
- Shrimp should be deveined, rinsed and patted dry with paper towels.
- Whip eggs and milk together to make an egg wash
- Set up a bowl with your egg wash and one with the cracker crumbs
- place shrimp a few at a time into the cracker crumb, then the egg wash and then back into the cracker crumbs, pressing the breading into the shrimp so it has an even coating.
- After breading all of the shrimp, place them into the freezer for 15-20 minutes. (this will make the frying process much easier)
- When shrimp are partially frozen, set up your frying pan
- Place 1/2 cup of coconut oil into the frying pan and allow it to heat up over medium high heat
- When the oil is hot, place half the shrimp into the pan and fry on each side until you have a nice golden brown color then turn them over and cook the other side. (You may also stand the shrimp up to cook the underside)
- If you're not sure that they shrimp are completely cooked place them into a 350 degree oven for 7 minutes.
- Slice your long roll almost all the way through and remove some of the inside. Cut the roll into two 6 inches pieces.(15 cm each)
- Place half the arugula on the roll.
- Dip fried shrimp into the buffalo sauce, just long enough to coat
- Place buffalo shrimp onto of arugula, and top with gorgonzola crumbles.
- Drizzle extra sauce over the finished sandwich if you like it extra messy and delicious!
- Serve immediately
My sandwich was amazing! I didn’t miss the butter at all, or all of the unnecessary fat and calories of the blue cheese dressing. The Gorgonzola crumbles were the perfect addition to this sandwich (I’ve been on a Gorgonzola kick lately but feel free to use bleu cheese). And best of all I fried the shrimp in Kelapo coconut oil, so all in all this was the healthiest buffalo type dish I’ve ever had!! The Arugula was a wonderful choice of green for this sandwich, because the nutty flavor of the arugula balanced the slight coconut flavor from frying the shrimp in the coconut oil. Everything came together and any non coconut lovers would be hard pressed to know you had used coconut oil in the cooking process.
I can’t wait to try this sauce with chicken wings between cutting back the butter on the sauce and cooking them in Kelapo, I’ll have wings I won’t feel bad about eating (although I will use bleu cheese dressing for those)!
Thanks so much for stopping by today, and if you don’t already use coconut oil in your cooking pick up some Kelapo and start experimenting. The more I use it, the more I see how easily adaptable it is.
Here’s to better health for all of us!
This has to be one of the best looking sandwiches I have seen in a long time. I am going to be hungry all night…
Great adaptation, Dennis! I love coconut oil and use it all the time. If you google the health benefits, it’s amazing! I think arugula is the perfect choice for greens for this sandwich.
wow. wow. wow. wow. this is a must for me. i’m loving the healthier twist…and was wondering, have you cooked with grapeseed oil? someone has turned me on to it, haven’t tried it yet, but they said it cooked hot and healthier than the others…what are your thoughts??
I’m just starting with coconut oil, I know grapeseed was always something they added to those super vitamin supplements you’d read about, but I’ve never used it. The coconut oil has been fun to experiment with!
ah ok. Someone had been sharing info on grapeseed oil with me, mentioning it can be heated to a higher temperature than other oils w/o burning making cooking time faster and meats juicier with veggies retaining more of their nutrients. Looking into it now. She mentioned a brand from wildtree, and how low it is in saturated fat, even lower than olive oil. I’ll keep you posted.
What a sandwich!
Thanks Dennis for sharing healthy and delicious sandwich with us. I feel so bad not being able to have shrimps anymore, but I will still try your recipe with fish 🙂
Chef Dennis…..that is a good one…love the fact that you have made them healthy too 🙂 I love shrimps with your must be good buffalo sauce..mmmm you are so creative ! 🙂 You really make me hungry with that delicious looking sandwich !
Have a nice day ,
Regards,
Elin
Oh my word! That is the best looking po’boy ever!
Hi Dennis 🙂 I’ve never had a po boy, though I quite enjoyed a shrimp burger I had not too long ago. I’m pretty sure too that your shrimp po boy would knock the burger I had into the middle of next week. It looks wonderful and the list of ingredients tells me it will taste as good as it looks!
that looks INSANE!
buffalo anything is my go-to cheat food!!
Dennis, yes your sandwich DOES look delicious! I, too, swoon over bleu cheese dressing, but your innovation to just add “crumbles” is the perfect way to get the flavor without all the fat. Genius! Thanks for the links to Kelapo, too.
Oh wow, yes, I do think the sandwich looks amazing. I love the idea of using crumbled blue cheese instead of the fatty dressing. It’s perfect.
OK, now I’ve got two sandwiches (this Buffalo Shrimp Po’ Boy and your Philly sandwich) in my “food to make” folder that I never thought I’d make! Blue cheese, brilliant 😉
Looks delicious Dennis and I’ll have to find the coconut oil. I have to, however, believe in your part of the world that sandwich would be called a buffalo shrimp sub 🙂
Such terrific looking sandwich Chef…yummmmmmm……
This looks fantastic, Dennis! I love how you found a healthier version of an old favorite – it’s one of my fav challenges, and you’ve definitely succeeded! I’ll remember your tip about not overheating. I tend to do that because I love using our induction burner, but the burner is not good for low and slow! 😛
Oh my, what a sandwich! I love using coconut oil, but never would have done it here. Great job lightning it up!
i really love coconut oil, i could eat it by the spoonful and i know people that do! this looks great!
Gorgeous, Dennis — love the idea of doing it with buffalo shrimp.
Awesome sandwich! And nice to see shrimp with buffalo sauce..one of my favorites for sure.
This looks crazy good! You just got a new follower!
Thanks Dana!
Buffalo Shrimp Po’ boy and grilled buffalo cheese sandwich…you are singing my tune! Unfortunately I have an intense craving now for buffalo style anything…
That’s one delicious looking sandwich!
I just saw this on Food Porn Daily – congratulations. I wish I could reach out and grab this through the screen because I am now craving a Po’ Boy.