Nacho Chicken — When the Kitchen Becomes Your Passport

Two months of lockdown. The world has settled into the strange new normal — masks, distance, the constant hum of anxiety underneath everything. At school (virtual school, the screen-shaped school), my caseload has tripled. Kids who were managing before the pandemic are not managing now. The ones with unstable homes are in crisis. The ones with food insecurity are hungry. I keep a list of families who need help and connect them with resources that are themselves overwhelmed, and the gap between need and provision is a canyon and I am standing at the edge of it with a phone and a prayer.

But the kitchen. The kitchen saves me. Every evening, no matter what the day held, I stand at the stove and I cook and the world shrinks to the size of a pot and inside the pot is something I can control. The pandemic took the house closing. The pandemic took Set the Table. The pandemic took hugging Curtis. But the pandemic cannot take the stove. The pandemic cannot take the Folgers can. The pandemic cannot take the cast iron skillet or the cornbread or the dinner table at 6:30 with six people and no phones. The kitchen is the last free space. The kitchen is where the virus stops and the living begins.

Derek and I have been in the same house for two months now. Two months of shared space, shared meals, shared bathroom schedules. And here is what I know: it works. Not perfectly — the townhouse is too small and Marcus still takes twenty-minute showers and Isaiah's half of the bedroom looks like a natural disaster — but it works. We eat together. We clean together. Derek brings me coffee every morning. I pack his lunch even though his commute is ten feet from the bedroom to the kitchen table. The small stuff. It was always the small stuff.

Made chicken tikka masala — the recipe from year two, the one Marcus closed his eyes for. In the pandemic, the world-cooking continues. The kitchen travels even when we can't. India tonight. Jamaica tomorrow (Claudette's jerk chicken, via FaceTime instruction, Derek as sous chef). Mexico on Thursday (Marcus's tacos, obviously). The table is a passport. The spice rack is a map. We are going everywhere without leaving the house.

The night we had India—the tikka masala Marcus closed his eyes for—Derek looked up from his bowl and said, “Where are we going Thursday?” and just like that, Mexico was on the calendar. This Nacho Chicken is the dish that answered that question: crispy, cheesy, bold with cumin and chili, the kind of thing that makes a table of six go quiet in the best possible way. When you can’t travel, you cook—and this one travels.

Nacho Chicken

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 25 min | Total Time: 40 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 cup crushed tortilla chips
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese
• 1/2 cup jarred salsa
• 1/4 cup sour cream, for serving
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Fresh cilantro and sliced jalapenos, optional for serving

Instructions

1. Preheat oven. Heat oven to 400°F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with foil and drizzle with olive oil.
2. Set up a dredging station. Place flour in one shallow bowl, beaten eggs in a second, and combine crushed tortilla chips with chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper in a third.
3. Coat the chicken. Working in batches, dredge each piece of chicken in flour, shaking off the excess. Dip into the beaten egg, then press firmly into the seasoned chip mixture to coat all sides.
4. Bake. Arrange coated chicken pieces in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 20–22 minutes, flipping once halfway through, until golden and cooked through (internal temperature of 165°F).
5. Add cheese and salsa. Remove baking sheet from oven, spoon salsa over the chicken, and sprinkle evenly with shredded cheese. Return to oven for 3–5 minutes until cheese is melted and bubbling.
6. Serve. Transfer to a platter and top with fresh cilantro and jalapeno slices if desired. Serve with sour cream on the side and extra salsa for dipping.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 380 | Protein: 38g | Fat: 16g | Carbs: 18g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 610mg