The idea of covering a chicken breast in a pretzel crust is ingenious!  Add a mustard dill dipping sauce and this becomes an incredibly delicious meal.  This recipe is in the current issue of Fine Cooking, and can also be found here on their website.  Have I said before how much I love this magazine?  It is wonderful.

There isn’t a whole lot to say about this chicken other than that it is super tasty.  It’s simple to prepare.  It uses the same breading process as most breaded chicken recipes; flour, egg, then crust.  While I don’t mind handling raw meat, I do HATE the mess that is unavoidable when breading chicken, and the number of times I find myself washing my hands.

I prepped everything (including breading the chicken) earlier in the day to avoid trying to get it all done right before dinner, which is more of a challenge with a little one who is now requiring an earlier bedtime.  I put the chicken in the fridge for about an hour, then let it sit out for about 20 minutes to avoid putting totally cold chicken into the pan.  I had to cook the chicken in 4 batches, so I kept it warm and the crust nice and crispy in a 200° oven.

I served the chicken with roasted veggies (cauliflower, brussel sprouts, red onion and broccoli) and egg noodles tossed with butter and parmesan cheese.  The dipping sauce, which I served in a seperate bowl along side the chicken, was delicious.  It added a great flavor to the already tasty chicken.

Maybe one day I will get smart about the amount of dinner I prepare for just the two of us.  Sometimes I find great uses for leftovers, and other times I end up throwing food away, which I absolutely hate doing.  I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to get Ben to eat the leftover chicken.  The crust would just never be the same!  I ended up making sandwiches using a loaf of Italian flat bread that were pretty good. I used the mustard as a spread on both sides of the bread, topped it with a chicken piece then sprinkled some mozzarella cheese on top.  I wrapped each sandwich in foil and put them in the oven for about 25 minutes.

Enjoy!Pretzel Crusted Chicken with Mustard Dill Dipping Sauce

Courtesy of Fine Cooking

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup plus 1 Tbs. Dijon mustard
• 3 cups pretzels (not low-sodium)
• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 1-1/2 lb.)
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 Tbs. finely chopped fresh dill
• 1 tsp. honey
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

Directions

1. Put the flour in a wide, shallow bowl. In another wide, shallow bowl, lightly beat the eggs and 1 Tbs. of the mustard. Process the pretzels in a food processor until a coarse flour forms, about 30 seconds. Transfer the pretzel flour to a third wide, shallow bowl. Line up the flour, egg, and pretzel bowls in that order.
2. Put the chicken on a cutting board, and holding your knife parallel to the board, split each breast in half horizontally. Sprinkle both sides of the chicken lightly with pepper. Dredge both sides of the chicken in the flour, then the egg, and then the pretzel flour, coating well and shaking off the excess. Transfer to a baking sheet and refrigerate for 5 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix the remaining 1/4 cup mustard with the mayonnaise, dill, honey, and 1/8 tsp. black pepper; set aside.
4. Heat the oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot but not smoking, add three of the chicken breast pieces. Cook until the first side is dark brown, about 2 minutes. Carefully flip and cook until the chicken is cooked through and the second side is golden-brown, about 2 minutes more; if the chicken seems to be browning too fast, reduce the heat to medium. Transfer to a clean cutting board and cover to keep warm. Repeat with the remaining chicken.  Serve with the dipping sauce.