This post may contain affiliate links. Read disclosure policy
My Pretzel Crusted Chicken Recipe is made with a crispy, crunchy crushed pretzel and Panko breading that goes great with our honey mustard! These are oven fried using our easy technique and they turn out moist and juicy inside, with a nice crisp pretzel crust on the outside.
Wait Til You See How We “Fry” This Chicken in the Oven!
Let’s not lie to ourselves here. We all have a secret section of the pantry that’s full of our favorite snacks.
My little section has an embarrassing amount of half eaten bags of chips in it. My toxic trait is that I will open every new bag of chips we buy immediately because I just really want to taste a fresh chip right now, ok? It’s fine. My family loves that about me.
Anyway, pretzels aren’t generally my go-to snack of choice, but oh boy do I love their crispy, crunchy goodness when they’re turned into dinner.
This Pretzel Crusted Chicken is the stuff of dreams. The chicken is so moist and tender and the pretzel crust bakes up nice and crispy using my favorite oven-fry method.
We shared this method with our oven fried chicken tenders too!
Basically, you drizzle melted butter on the sheet pan, place the chicken on top, and then bake it. The melted butter ‘fries’ the chicken into this glorious, crispy, flavorful bit of goodness.
Ingredient Notes:
Chicken – This recipe starts with boneless, skinless chicken breast. This will work with thighs or tenderloins as well, but adjust bake time as needed.
Flour Mixture – You’ll mix all-purpose flour with my standard seasoning mix – garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, and salt.
Egg Wash- We’ll use a couple of eggs and some spicy brown mustard to help the breading stick to the chicken and add a bit of flavor!
Pretzel Crust – We use plain pretzel twists for this recipe, but you could use seasoned pretzels as well. The honey mustard pretzels are quite tasty here! We’ll stir a bit of panko in with the pretzels to add a lighter crispiness to the breading.
Butter – We pour melted butter on the baking sheet to ‘fry’ the chicken as it bakes. Adds great flavor and helps things crisp up nicely.
What We Love About This Recipe:
- Textures: That crunchy pretzel coating gives way to a moist, juicy interior that is hard to resist!
- Oven-Fried Magic: Say goodbye to messy frying. The magic happens in the oven, where melted butter transforms the pretzel coating into a mouthwatering crust.
- Guilt-Free Indulgence: Pretzels are everyone’s favorite low fat crunchy snack and they add a lot of texture and flavor to our lean chicken breasts.
- Versatile: You can easily switch up the flavors by using any variety of pretzel twists that you like. Honey mustard, cheddar, buffalo…the options are endless.
- Effortless Perfection: Baking simplicity meets culinary excellence, all on a single sheet pan.
How To Make Pretzel Crusted Chicken:
Flour Mixture: While your oven preheats to 400 degrees you can get started by pounding the chicken breasts to an even thickness. Next add the flour along with the seasonings to a shallow dish and whisk to combine.
Eggs: In a separate dish add the eggs and mustard and whisk together until it is well combined.
Panko & Pretzels: You’ll probably want to use a food processor to process the pretzels. I like to leave it a mix of sizes, with some of the pretzels being finely ground like bread crumbs and others being a bit chunkier.
If you don’t have a food processor, place the pretzels in a zip top bag, press out the air and seal, and smash the pretzels using a rolling pin or kitchen mallet.
Add the crushed pretzels and Panko breadcrumbs to a third shallow dish.
Food Processor
We use our Breville food processor in all kinds of recipes! It makes short work of chopping veggies and many other other tasks. This is our favorite food processor because it is so heavy duty and it will last!
Dredge: You can now start taking the pieces of chicken and dredging them one at a time first into the flour, then the egg, and then the pretzel and Panko mixture. Press it into make sure the pretzels fully coat the chicken!
Oven Fry: Drizzle some melted butter on a large rimmed baking sheet and spread it around to coat the pan. Arrange the breaded chicken on the pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the chicken reaches 165 degrees.
My Favorite Thermometer!
I love using this meat thermometer for making sure the meat is fully cooked! Easy for beginners & absolutely worth the low cost.
Serve: When the pretzel crusted chicken has finished baking sprinkle on some parsley for garnish and serve it hot! We like to serve this chicken with honey mustard. Try my homemade honey mustard dressing!
Variations:
Chicken – Give this recipe a try with boneless, skinless chicken thighs or chicken tenderloins for a little twist. Thighs will take around 30 minutes and tenders will take around 20 minutes.
Serving – This pretzel crusted chicken goes great with our air fryer green beans, corn casserole, funeral potatoes, and broccoli cheese casserole.
Dipping – While we love the combo of honey mustard and pretzels, this chicken goes great with a variety of sauces! Try our Carolina BBQ sauce, Alabama white sauce, chipotle sauce, or copycat Chick Fil A sauce!
Air Fryer Recipe:
We’ve made this pretzel crusted chicken in the air fryer, too! Try our Air Fryer Pretzel Crusted Chicken Breasts next time. They’re ready in just 10 minutes and the air fryer is nice on hot days so you don’t heat up the whole kitchen.
Pretzel Crusted Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon spicy brown mustard
- 2 cups crushed pretzels see note
- ½ cup panko bread crumbs
- 1/3 cup melted butter
- Parsley for garnish
- Honey mustard for serving
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Pound the chicken breasts to an even thickness between two sheets of plastic wrap, using a meat mallet or rolling pin.
- Add the flour, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, and salt to a shallow dish and whisk to combine.
- Add the eggs and mustard to a second shallow dish and whisk well to combine.
- Add the crushed pretzels and panko to a third shallow dish and whisk to combine.
- Dredge the chicken pieces one at a time into first the flour, then the egg, and finally the pretzel crumbs, pressing to make sure the pretzels fully coat the chicken.
- Drizzle a large rimmed baking sheet with butter and spread it around to coat the pan.
- Arrange the breaded chicken on the pan and bake for 20-25 minutes or until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees.
- Sprinkle the chicken with parsley and serve with honey mustard or spicy brown mustard, for dipping.
Brittany says
This was loved by my entire family! The chicken came out tender on the inside, and had a very crispy and buttery pretzel coating. Perfect combination of flavors!
Karly says
I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thanks, Brittany!