Pretzal-Crusted Chicken & Cheddar Mustard Sauce

Ever wonder how many times you can have chicken and make it taste new and different? Yeah. I’m like, chicken breast. Again. Marinated. Okay, what more can we do with this boring old piece of chicken?

When I saw a recipe for pretzal crusted chicken, I was immediately intrigued. I love anything with crust (pistachio, almond, cashew, etc.). It was simple enough and in the ended, tasted delicious! All you do is crush the pretzals up in the blender till they are like breading and voila! A little saltier and sweeter than your typical bread crumbs.

It was topped with a homemade spicy mustard-cheese sauce. Simple and delicious! I added everyone’s favorite — sweet potato fries — on the side. Also, a little spinach salad for color. Sorry, the salad was super boring, mostly because I was only eating to get one more daily veggie in for the day. I hope you like this recipe, because it was fantabulous!

*PS — This recipe calls for frying, but you can bake this chicken too. We had the baked kind another day. Still tasty but I’m not gonna lie — fried was waaaay tastier!

* 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 and add a heaping spoonful of the mustard sauce.