Pretzel-Crusted Chicken with Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce

By
Chef Natalie Marble
-
A sheet pan with pretzel-crusted chicken with honey-mustard dipping sauce next to an orange napkin.

It’s the middle of February. The good news is that the daylight is increasing each day – hooray! The bad news is that we’ve all likely reached the point where we’re counting the minutes until Spring’s arrival and just kind of feeling in a winter dinner rut. Am I right?

I present to you a super simple and quick dinner idea to help you out.  All it needs is a quick tossed salad as a complement. And I guarantee the whole family will love it!

Pretzel-Crusted Chicken with Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce

Serves 4-6

2 lbs. chicken breast

6 oz. pretzels

1 tbsp. garlic powder

1 tbsp. onion powder

1 tsp. smoked paprika

1 tsp. Kosher salt

½ tsp. Black pepper

2 eggs, beaten

Olive oil for drizzling

Honey mustard Sauce

½ c. mayonnaise

2 Tbsp. greek yogurt

1 tsp. white wine vinegar

2 Tbsp. whole grain mustard

1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

3 Tbsp. honey

½ tsp. garlic powder

½ tsp. onion powder

½ tsp. kosher salt

½ tsp. black pepper

Preparation

  1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
  2. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside.
  3. In the bowl of a food processor, add the pretzels, garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, salt and pepper and pulse until completely broken down like breadcrumbs. It’s okay if there’s some larger pieces – they make for great crunch. 
  4. Next make a breading station by putting 3 cups of the breadcrumbs into one bowl and the 2 beaten eggs into another bowl.
  5. Cut the chicken breasts into ‘chicken tender’ sizes and dip each one into the egg and then into the pretzel crumbs, making sure to coat every part of the chicken really well and then place them on the sheet pan. To up the ‘crunch’ ante, you can dip back into the egg and then into the breadcrumbs a second time.
  6. Drizzle each piece of the chicken with olive oil and bake for 20 minutes.
  7. In the meantime, make the dipping sauce by combining all of the ingredients and whisk well. You can adjust the mustard and honey to your taste.
  8. To serve, remove the chicken from the oven and serve with dipping sauce. ENJOY!

Notes:

  • Does it matter what kind of pretzels are used? Absolutely not. You can use any shape or thickness to grind down to breadcrumbs.
  • If you don’t have a food processor, you can put the pretzels into a large ziploc bag and roll over them with a rolling pin or wine bottle until they are the desired size.
  • You can substitute apple cider vinegar for the white wine vinegar, if desired.
  • You can use all one mustard if you prefer – all whole grain mustard or all Dijon mustard – but I would not use yellow mustard in this recipe.
  • Dipping sauce can be kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Hello, I’m Natalie!  I’m a professionally-trained chef, culinary instructor and recipe developer living in Ann Arbor. A career change, a trip through culinary school 20 years ago, and being a lifelong Julia Child enthusiast has led me to a career doing my very favorite thing:  making food and cooking approachable to home cooks of all ages!   

My passion for creating great food experiences and getting people excited about learning and having fun in the kitchen is always at the heart of what I do.  You can find me at NatalieMarbleCooks.com.  And on social media you can find me at @NatalieMarbleCooks.  Sign up for my bi-weekly email newsletter here, where I share family-friendly recipes, tips & tricks, new class information, and hopefully a little inspiration!

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