Viral Recipes

I Saw This Viral Recipe. Now What?

How I’m learning to steal the good idea without necessarily following the whole recipe

I have discovered something dangerous. Recipe videos. You know the ones. You’re innocently scrolling when suddenly somebody is standing in a spotless kitchen holding something crispy and cheesy directly in front of the camera.

“You HAVE to try this!”

Do I?

Apparently I do.

Because now I’m watching.

Recently I came across a viral recipe for a crispy chicken sandwich, except there was no bread. The creator mixed canned chicken with cheese, egg and seasoning, formed the mixture into two patties and baked them until crispy.

Then she used the chicken patties as the bun. Wait.

The chicken is the sandwich AND the bread?

You have my attention.

This Is Why I Actually Like Viral Recipes

There are foods I would never think of making on my own. I would not have stood in my kitchen one afternoon, looked at a can of chicken and announced:

“Today, you become bread.”

😂

But somebody else did. That’s what I enjoy about recipe videos. They give me ideas.

Some are probably terrible. Some are completely impractical. Some appear to require seventeen ingredients, three appliances and a small blowtorch.

But every once in a while I see something and think:

That could actually work for me.

The trick I’m learning is that I don’t have to make it exactly the way they did.

First Question: What’s Good About the Idea? This particular recipe had a lot going for it. Chicken provides plenty of protein. There wasn’t a refined-flour bun. The patties looked crispy. There was lettuce inside and perhaps most importantly for me:

I would actually have something to CHEW. I’ve learned that texture and structure matter enormously to how satisfied I feel after eating. So I didn’t want to turn this recipe into steamed chicken sitting sadly beside a lettuce leaf.

I wanted the crispy sandwich. The good idea stays. Then I Looked at the Ingredients

The original recipe called for:

• 1 can chicken
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 egg
• ranch seasoning or garlic powder
• lettuce
• mayonnaise

None of those ingredients is inherently terrible, but I’m currently paying attention to my blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol.

So instead of asking:

“Is this recipe healthy or unhealthy?”

I’m learning to ask:

“Is there anything here I could adjust?”

That’s a much better question. Hello, One Cup of Cheese The original recipe used one full cup of shredded cheddar.  I like cheese. Cheese and I have no personal disagreement. But a cup of cheddar for two patties seemed like an excellent place to make an adjustment. So we changed it to ½ cup of part-skim mozzarella.

There’s still cheese. It can still help bind and brown the patties. It still tastes like actual food. We’re simply not constructing a dairy monument.

Cheese Mountain has been denied.

🧀🏔️

Then We Found the Sodium This is something I’m getting much better at noticing. Canned foods can contain a surprising amount of sodium. Cheese contains sodium. Seasoning mixes can contain sodium. Mayonnaise may contribute some too.

Each ingredient may seem perfectly reasonable by itself. But put several of them together and suddenly the recipe has assembled the Sodium Avengers.

So I started looking at labels. The regular canned chicken I found contained more sodium than I wanted. Then I found a 25% less-sodium version. Same basic chicken.

Better fit for me. That went into the cart. Next, instead of using ranch seasoning—which could add still more sodium—we decided to use garlic powder, onion powder, paprika and pepper.

The sandwich hasn’t been punished. It has simply undergone negotiations.

Then Amazon Tried to Sell Me Five Pounds of Cheese

This deserves documentation. I searched for part-skim mozzarella. Amazon showed me exactly what I needed:

Low-moisture.

Part-skim.

Shredded mozzarella.

Excellent!

There was only one minor issue.

IT WAS FIVE POUNDS.

For four chicken patties. Apparently Amazon believed Aleta’s Favorite Pan had quietly expanded into commercial food service.

No. Eventually I found a perfectly normal 7-ounce bag of Kraft 2% milk, low-moisture, part-skim shredded mozzarella. Cheese Mountain was officially canceled.

Although I remain slightly disappointed that I never got to explain to my husband why our refrigerator contained an industrial quantity of mozzarella.

Greg: “Why did you buy five pounds of cheese?”

Me: “ChatGPT told me to.”

Meanwhile, ChatGPT:

“THE TRANSCRIPT CLEARLY SAYS HALF A CUP.”

😂

This Is Becoming My New Recipe Rule I don’t want to look at recipes and immediately decide: I can’t eat that. That’s miserable. Instead, I’m trying something different. When a recipe catches my attention, I can look at what makes it appealing.

Is it crispy?

Creamy?

Savory?

Cheesy?

Easy?

Does it have an interesting texture? Would it actually satisfy me?

Keep that part.

Then I can look at the ingredients and decide whether anything needs adjusting. Maybe there’s too much sodium. Maybe there’s a lot of added sugar. Maybe the saturated fat is higher than I’d like. Maybe the portion is enormous. Maybe there’s hardly any protein or fiber.

Those things don’t necessarily mean:

RECIPE REJECTED.

They might simply mean:

Recipe needs editing.

Fine-Tuning Is Not the Same as Ruining

We’ve all seen this happen. Someone takes a delicious recipe and announces they’re going to make it healthy. First they remove the cheese. then the sauce, then the salt, then the carbohydrate. Then anything remotely crispy. Finally they place three steamed vegetables on a plate.

“It tastes exactly the same!”

No.

No, Susan.

It does not.

😂

I don’t want to do that. If the reason I wanted the recipe was because it looked crispy and cheesy, my version still needs to be crispy and cheesy. Otherwise I haven’t modified the recipe.

I’ve replaced it with something else.

The Goal Isn’t Perfect Food

This may be the biggest change in how I’m thinking. I’m not searching for foods with perfect nutritional résumés. I’m trying to build an eating pattern I can actually live with. That means some meals will contain cheese. Some will contain carbohydrates.

Some will have more sodium than others. Some restaurant meals won’t fit neatly onto a diabetes plate.

That’s life.

What I’m learning is that little changes can add up without requiring me to remove everything I enjoy.

Use the lower-sodium chicken.

Use half the cheese.

Choose part-skim mozzarella.

Use seasonings instead of a salty seasoning packet.

Mix a little light mayonnaise with Greek yogurt for the sauce.

Keep the crispy edges.

Keep the lettuce.

Keep the sandwich.

Keep the fun.

And Sometimes the Original Recipe Might Be Fine

I also don’t want to develop the habit of believing every recipe needs to be “fixed.”

Sometimes I’ll look at a recipe and realize: This is perfectly reasonable as written.

Wonderful.

Cook it.

Other times I may decide I’d rather have a smaller portion of the original than an altered version. That’s okay too.

And sometimes I’ll make several little changes because they don’t take anything away from what made me want the food in the first place. I’m learning. That’s the point.

So Now When a Viral Recipe Finds Me…

I’m not automatically scrolling past because it doesn’t look like “health food.” And I’m not automatically making it exactly as presented.

I’m asking:

What do I love about this idea?

What would I keep?

What could I change without ruining it?

Can I reduce some sodium or saturated fat?

Does it have enough protein, fiber or vegetables to satisfy me? And will I still be excited to eat it afterward? Because that last question matters.

A lot.

I’m trying to improve my blood sugar. I’m paying attention to my blood pressure and cholesterol. I’m learning how food affects me. But I still want dinner to be something I look forward to. And if the internet wants to keep inventing ridiculous ways to turn chicken into sandwich bread?

Fine.

I’ll keep watching.

We’ll just check the nutrition label before anybody gets carried away.

Viral Recipe: “One cup cheddar.”

Me: “Let’s discuss that.”

Amazon: “Five pounds mozzarella?”

Me: “Absolutely not.”

Greg: “What’s for dinner?”

Me: “Chicken sandwich.”

Greg: “What’s the bun?”

Me: “Also chicken.”