Betsy Durant of Alexandria, Va., grew up loving the juicy flavor of her family's home-style fried chicken. The problem is that her recipe was too high in saturated fat (4.4 grams per serving) and loaded with sodium (824 milligrams). When she asked that I diabetize her dish, she was looking for a way to retain the chicken's flavor without all of the fat.

My solution was to fake the fried flavor with crispy panko bread crumbs (a Japanese variety of thick-cut bread crumbs that create a crunchy casing). I left the chicken on the bone for extra flavor—and so the result would be reminiscent of real fried chicken. You can substitute boneless, skinless chicken breasts if you prefer.

In the end, Durant became so accustomed to the taste of the diabetized fried chicken that the original variety became too heavy for her. In fact, on her next trip home she plans to share her leaner version with her family.

To view the recipe for Diabetized Fried Chicken, click here.