You know the great thing about my friendships? They last a long time which I am really thankful for. I am very fortunate to be friends with girls that I have known since we were about 6 years old, we are coming up on 24 years of friendship, amazing! We have been bridesmaids in each other's weddings and we are getting ready to welcome a baby in July with one of them! I am so happy that we still talk and have a strong bond over the many years.
My one friend, Megan, has an obsession with pretzels so when I made this chicken all I could do was think of her. Every visit to Megan's house included a snack with pretzels and mustard. Let's not forget about the big pitcher of red KoolAid that was always in Megan's fridge. I am sure I left her house every time with a giant red mustache. I still crave that stuff, it was always a special treat when going to her house.
At first, I was a little hesitant to coat my chicken with pretzels, how good could it be? Well, I can tell you that it turned out incredible. And if it couldn't get any better, you make a quick honey mustard dressing to dip it in, honey mustard is my absolute favorite. This dish comes together so quickly and I bet your whole family will love it. You end up dividing the honey mustard, half for coating the chicken and half for dipping. There was plenty to go around in our house. The next day I used the leftover chicken and dressing to make a big salad, paired with a hard boiled egg and avocado, it was the perfect lunch. This is definitely going to be a favorite of this year!
Pretzel Chicken with Honey Mustard Sauce
Ingredients:
4 cups hard pretzels (like sourdough), coarsely crushed
1/2 cup neutral tasting olive oil
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
coarse salt and fresh ground black pepper
1 1/2 pounds boneless chicken breasts
What you'll do:
Preheat the oven to 400° F. Set a wire rack over a large rimmed baking sheet, lightly coat with cooking spray. In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the pretzels until coarsely ground, set aside in a shallow bowl or plate. Rinse or wipe out any residue from the pretzels.
Combine the oil, mustard, honey, water and vinegar to the food processor and pulse until smooth. Season with salt and pepper, taste to adjust the flavor. Add more mustard or honey to suit your tastes (I added a bit more honey).
Divide the dressing in half, pour about half of the dressing into a large shallow bowl, reserve the other half for dipping once the chicken has cooked. To one of the dressings, add the chicken breasts. Turn to coat them evenly then dip them in the pretzel crumbs. Press the crumbs into the chicken breasts so that they stick.
Set them on the wire rack and bake 20 - 25 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Let the chicken sit 5 minutes before serving with the remaining dressing.
Source: Food & Wine via Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice