Wednesday, April 13, 2011

What I'm cooking Wednesday: Pretzel-Crusted Chicken

On Tuesday I had a lot of things to get done, plans in the evening, and not much time. So I had to come up with something quick and easy to make for dinner. I wracked my brain trying to think of easy meals with the ingredients I had on hand. I realized I had a lot of chicken, and a bag full of pretzels. Perfect...
This recipe actually came from Rachel Ray. My mom made it a few years ago, and I loved it so much I've been meaning to try to make it myself for a long time! I found the recipe online and went to town.

Here is the recipe (found here). It is for the chicken and a cheesy/mustard sauce to go with it. I was definitely more of a fan of the chicken than the sauce, just for the record. I thought a simple honey mustard sauce would have been better, but the chicken itself was good enough that it made up for it.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients

  • 4 quart-size plastic food storage bags
  • 4 small, boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 1 5-ounce bag of salted pretzels, any shape
  • 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 eggs
  • Vegetable oil, for frying
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 2 cups milk
  • 3/4 pound, about 2 1/2 cups, sharp yellow cheddar cheese, shredded
  • 2 heaping tablespoons spicy brown mustard
  • 1/4 cup flat leaf parsley leaves, a generous handful, chopped
  • 1/4 small yellow onion, finely chopped
  • 1 large sour dill pickle, finely chopped
  • 1 lemon, cut into wedges

Directions:

1. Preheat a large non-stick skillet with a 1/4-inch of vegetable oil over medium-high heat.

2. Sprinkle a little water into four medium food storage baggies. Place 1 chicken breast in each bag and seal it up, pushing out excess air. Use the bottom of a heavy pot or pan and pound each breast until flat, just shy of busting out of the bag. Repeat with the other 3 chicken breasts.

3. Place the pretzels in a food processor or blender and grind until fine. Transfer the ground pretzels to a shallow dish, add the thyme and some salt and pepper. Crack and beat 2 eggs in a second shallow dish with a splash of water. One at a time, coat each chicken breast in the egg and then the ground pretzels.

4. Add the pretzel-coated chicken breast to the hot oil. Cook in a single layer, in 2 batches if necessary, about 3 or 4 minutes on each side, until the juices run clear and breading is evenly browned.

5. While the chicken is frying, in a medium saucepot over medium heat, melt the butter and add the flour to it. Cook flour and butter for 1 minute and then whisk in the milk. When the milk comes to a bubble, stir in the cheese and mustard with a wooden spoon. Season with a little salt and pepper, and remove cheese sauce from the heat.


6. Transfer the fried pretzel-crusted chicken breast to a serving plate, drizzle with the mustard cheddar sauce, then sprinkle with a little parsley, finely chopped onion and sour dill pickle. Serve lemon wedges alongside.

The verdict? It was delicious. I think Luke liked it too! I will definitely be making this again. It was very easy, and contained normal, staple ingredients that I have in my fridge and cupboards all the time.

Try this soon! You won't regret it!

3 comments:

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