How to Cook Pecan-Crusted Chicken Fingers

Serves: 4

Preparation time: 20 mins

Cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients needed to make Pecan-Crusted Chicken Fingers:

For the chicken:

• 2 lb boneless chicken breasts, skinned and sliced into strips
• 1 cup pecan
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tbsp + 2 tsp seasoning blend (recipe below)
• ¼ cup olive oil
• ½ cup fine dry breadcrumbs
• Chopped parsley, for garnishing

For the seasoning blend:

• 1 tbso dried thyme
• 1 tbsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tbsp black pepper
• 2 ½ tbsp paprika
• 1 tbsp onion powder
• 2 tbsp garlic powder
• 2 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp dried oregano

For the honey-mustard dip:

• ½ cup mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp Creole mustard
• 2 tbsp honey
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• Pinch of salt

Cooking instructions for Pecan-Crusted Chicken Fingers:

• To make the dip, dump all its ingredients in a small bowl and whisk them well together to mix properly.
• Wrap the surface of the bowl with cling film to cover tightly and refrigerate until the chicken fingers are ready.
• To make the seasoning blend, place all its ingredients in a separate bowl and stir them all together to mix well; seal in an airtight container and store room temperature.
• Warm up your oven to 375 degrees F.
• Lightly oil a large baking sheet and set aside.
• Dump the breadcrumbs as well as pecans into a food processor and sprinkle 1 tbsp of the prepared seasoning blend into it.
• Whiz them for a minute to crumble them into finer, slightly grainy mixture and spread it across a shallow dish.
• Crack the eggs in a bowl and sprinkle rest of the seasoning blend into it.
• Drizzle olive oil into the bowl and whisk them all together until the yolks break down to form a pale yellow, uniform mixture.
• Lower the chicken strips into the whisked egg and transfer them into the dish with pecan mixture.
• Toss them together to coat well with the ground pecan mixture and shake off any excess.
• Arrange them onto the prepared baking sheet and bake in the hot oven for 20 minutes, flipping them once midway while baking.
• Remove the chicken fingers from the oven, once they are cooked through and the coating turns golden brown.
• Divide them among four serving plates and sprinkle the parsley on top.
• Serve warm alongside a small bowl of prepared dip.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

Last Updated on April 29, 2013 by