~ free-from gluten & soy ~
I’ve been making this Parmesan Pecan Crusted Chicken for so many years I can barely remember when I first made it up. I do remember that it was after one of my husband’s company Christmas parties where we had a nut-crusted chicken with cranberry sauce that I thought was to die for!
See, that’s what I do. When I have a recipe somewhere that I love, I have to have it again.
At home.
With my twist and ideas.
It’s a sickness of sorts where I just can’t let things go.
I miss it, crave it, hunt it down.
That was the way of this chicken. It took me a few times to get something that we all loved but in the end the recipe was do darned simple it was kinda funny.
The chicken gets dipped in an egg/mayo mixture with some half and half to thin it out a bit. Then, I pulverize the heck out of some soaked pecans in the food processor and mix that with parmesan cheese.
Bake and you’re done!
Well, I don’t consider it done until it’s served with Ikea’s lingonberry sauce but you know what I mean. This would go great with any tart jam or a spicy sweet chutney.
I’ve also served this with many different side dishes but these roasted taters and zucchs are really great with it. A little parm on the zucchini to give it some flavor and some Farm Dust on them both. Yummm…
These dishes can be made on sheet pans in the oven at the same time. Start to finish is about an hour including prep time so this is easily a weeknight meal possibility. Just prep your potatoes and zucchini first and start the potatoes roasting. As soon as you put them in, get your chicken pieces done and stick them in the oven. By the time you get the chicken in you should be able to put the zucchini on the same pan as the potatoes and let them all finish.
A couple notes on the chicken:
- I use pastured chicken and if you can afford to I suggest you do the same. CAFO chicken is just not something I support anymore.
- The pecans are soaked. If you’re not sure what that means, here’s a primer for you.
- The chicken will look as if it’s wet and not browning during cooking so wait until all the juices are gone and the top of the pecans begin to brown, then it’s done. If you pull it out earlier than that, the coating will not be crunchy. Luckily, the mayo helps to keep this dish moist.
- 4 single boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut laterally into two pieces each
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup mayo
- half & half - enough to make ½ cup total of egg wash
- 1 cup pecans, pulverized into pecan meal
- ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
- Heat oven to 400˚.
- Combine egg, mayo and half and half and mix well.
- Pour into a flat container so the whole chicken piece fits into the wash.
- Combine pecans and parmesan cheese, also put this into a flat container so the whole piece of chicken fits inside.
- Dip each piece of chicken in the egg wash and coat both sides.
- Then lay into the pecan mix and coat both sides liberally with crumbs.
- Place onto a baking pan sprayed well with a good oil.
- Continue with other pieces.
- Bake chicken for about 40 minutes or until the juices have mostly disappeared and the coating is beginning to brown. Do not overbake.