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Sunday, January 20, 2013

Pretzel Crusted Chicken

The holidays are such a wonderful time of year.  Lots of great meals to share with friends and family, yummy Christmas cookies everywhere, not to mention parties with a generous spread of brie cheeses, chocolate truffles and more than our share of wine. It's no surprise that most of us are left with a bit of a snug waistline come January 1st.

So now that the holidays are behind us, we've been enjoying a few weeks of light, simple dinners and tonight was a tasty example.  Cooking dinner at home is a great way to cut back on calories because you can control all of the ingredients.  For this recipe, we used lean deli ham and a good grainy mustard and stuffed the ham inside of the chicken breasts, kind of Cordon Bleu-style.  In place of a rich sauce, we coated the outside of the chicken with crushed pretzels which added a touch of salt and a great crunch.  Lots of flavor, lots of crunch, easy on the calories.


This is a super easy dinner to prepare and can be ready in about an hour and can be prepared with ingredients that most people will have on hand.  It's also a favorite with kids.  Serve with a steamed vegetable or a simple salad and dinner is ready. Enjoy!!

4  Boneless, Skinless, Chicken Breasts, about 2 lbs
8  Thin Slices of Deli Ham, (smoked ham works great)
1 1/2 TB  Your Choice of Course Grain Mustard  or  Dijon Mustard  or  Honey Mustard
1 cup  Crushed Pretzel Crumbs
1 TB  Melted Butter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil and set aside.

Slice the chicken breasts horizontally, cutting about 3/4 through the chicken, to create a pocket.  Spread a generous coating of mustard on the inside of each chicken breast, then roll 2 slices of ham and stuff into the chicken.  Press down slightly to level the chicken.

Brush the top of the chicken with melted butter, then press the pretzel crumbs firmly onto the chicken.  Bake for 40 minutes or until golden brown on top and the chicken juices run clear.

2 comments:

  1. Such a great idea! I am definitely going to steal this and try it. I wonder how it would be if you used like flavor pretzels...like the mustard kind? Thanks for sharing!

    Sincerely,
    Happy Valley Chow

    ReplyDelete
  2. Flavored pretzels would be great too. I love all kinds of mustards so I'm sure we will try many combinations of this recipe. Enjoy!!

    ReplyDelete

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