Pretzel Chicken and Roasted Veggies-My Most Requested Meal

I’ve had other adults ask me for recipes, but this Pretzel Chicken recipe has KIDS asking me to give the recipe to their parents! If that’s not a ringing endorsement, I don’t know what is!  I just wish I could claim it as my own creation.  I’m sharing the recipe that appeared in Family Fun magazine, and have also included a couple of  notes on how I’ve tweeked it to suit our family.  And as for the roasted veggies recipe–it’s a keeper too, and so easy to customize to your family’s likes and dislikes.  Now get cookin’!

Pretzel Chicken

 

Ingredients

FOR THE CHICKEN:

• 1/4 cup light mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup Dijon mustard (I use about 2 Tbsp.)
• 1 1/4 pounds chicken tenders (or just cut boneless, skinless chicken breasts into “tenders” size)
• 3 cups hard sourdough pretzel nuggets (I use Snyders Butter Snaps–I think any chunky pretzel will work fine)

FOR THE DIPPING SAUCE: (my family’s not big on mustard, so we skip this all together, and instead serve with BBQ sauce or ranch dip.)

• 3 tablespoons light mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons whole grain mustard
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Instructions

1. Whisk together the mayonnaise and mustard in a small bowl. Place the chicken tenders in a shallow dish and pour the mixture over them, turning them to coat. Let the tenders sit for 15 minutes.
2. Put the pretzels in a gallon-size ziplock freezer bag. Crush them with a rolling pin until the nuggets are a mix of coarse crumbs and pea-sized chunks. Transfer roughly two-thirds of the pieces to a shallow dish.
3. Heat the oven to 400º. Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray it lightly with cooking spray (I prefer to place a flat cooling rack in the bottom of a cookie sheet, and spray it with cooking spray.  This allows the bottom of the chicken to get crispy too). Dredge the tenders in the pretzel crumbs. Add some of the reserved pieces to the dish of crumbs after every 3 to 4 tenders to keep the coating crunchy. Arrange the tenders on the baking sheet and spray them lightly with cooking spray. Bake until they are just cooked through, about 20 minutes.
4. Whisk together all of the dipping sauce ingredients in a small bowl until well blended. Serves 6.

Oven Roasted Veggies

Adapted from Jane Snow

This recipe allows you to gather some of your favorite veggies, add some simple seasonings, and end up with a great side dish!  When I make these along with the Pretzel Chicken, I often pre-cook the veggie ingredients (including oil, vinegar and seasonings) in the microwave for 7-8 minutes to speed up the process.

Ingredients

• 1 onion, cut in to eighth-size wedges
• 3 cloves of minced garlic
• 4 good sized white potatoes, chunked (or sweet potatoes, or ripe, sweet plantains, rutabaga, turnips, etc…)
• 1/2 # (half a small bag) of baby peeled carrots
• 1-2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1-2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
2. Prep the veggies, and add them all to a large bowl.
3. Drizzle the olive oil and red wine vinegar over the veggies, and stir to coat.
4. Spread onto a large cookie sheet, making sure veggies are in one layer.
5. Bake for about 35-45 minutes, or until veggies are golden and soft.  Turn veggies a couple times throughout cooking for more even browning.

Beth

Beth celebrates the everyday wonders of life with a keen eye for deals, a flare for the color green, and an honest desire to share with her fellow moms here in town! Check out more of Beth's recent articles, and subscribe to our daily email/rss feed to see what she writes next!