Southern Pecan Crusted Chicken
An easy alternative to fried chicken, this super delicious Southern Pecan Crusted Chicken is your answer to the weeknight dinner conundrum.
For a truly “homestyle” comfort meal, pair it with some Whipped Garlic Mashed Potatoes. All the comforts of a fried chicken dinner….without the fried! If you’re not in the mood for a potato pairing though, the Southern Pecan Crusted Chicken is super delicious on a salad, too. Extra crunch without all the guilt.
They take a bit of time to bake, so the thinner you can get the chicken breasts or the more you can pound them out, the less time it’ll take. In my opinion, though, it’s worth the extra bake time to get the pecan coated crush nice and crunchy.
Also, you can chop your pecans much finer than I have if you want to disguise them a bit for any picky eaters you may have. I personally like them where it’s a bit obvious that it’s a pecan crust and don’t like chopping in the food processor and being left with pecan dust- that probably makes me weird, I know.
The girl with the chunky pecan crust.
Southern Pecan Crusted Chicken
Perfect on salads, with pasta or as a main course, this Southern Pecan Crusted Chicken recipe is a weeknight favorite.
Ingredients
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1 cup pecans, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 2 teaspoons salt
- pepper, to taste
- 1 1/2 pound thinly cut chicken breasts (about 4-5)
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
Instructions
Mix the buttermilk and egg; place in a shallow dish. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, pecans, paprika, salt and pepper. Dip each chicken breast into the buttermilk mixture, then into the flour mixture.
**I find that if I use my left hand for the wet ingredients and my right hand for the dry, it keeps me from transferring buttermilk into the flour batter- and keeps the clumps off my fingers.
Place the chicken on a wire rack placed on top of a baking sheet, spray both with non-stick cooking spray. Drizzle the melted butter evenly over the chicken. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes to one hour (cooking time will vary depending on thickness of chicken breasts), or until chicken is golden brown.
However you chose to chop your pecans, you won’t be disappointed in this easy chicken dinner.
Do you have any go-to weeknight dinner recipes? I think I’m going to start sharing my complete weekly menu plans here on the blog. I’m pretty intense about planning out my week on the weekends, and it dawned on me that I’ve never jumped on the menu sharing bandwagon. Each week, I add each meal to my chalkboard menu board on the refrigerator but never thought it might be helpful to someone else- I know I like to see what everyone else is eating when I’m in a rut.
