Video:Pretzel-Crusted Chicken Tenders

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Transcript:Pretzel-Crusted Chicken Tenders

Hi, I'm Chef John Mitzewich for About.com. Today, we're doing a recipe from Stephanie Gallagher. This is pretzel crusted chicken tenders.

Prepare the Chicken

For the chicken I have 2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts. I rinsed them off and dried them with paper towels. What we're going to do is slice our own chicken strips. Don't buy packaged chicken strips, you pay more and all you have to do is take a breast and cut it in strips! So cut each breast into 4 or 5 strips.

Mix the Chicken Tender Marinade

Now in a bowl we're going to make our marinade. We have:

• 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp orange marmalade
• 2 tbsp rice vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup buttermilk

Marinate the Chicken Tenders

Give that a mix and add the chicken to the marinade. We're going to marinate that for 20 to 30 minutes. Not too long, you don't want to go over night with this as the acid in the buttermilk will kind of "cook" the chicken. So just about 20 minutes and its going to give us some nice mustardy-buttermilky-orangey flavor. It's also going to help the coating stick, which is the pretzel sticks.

Crush the Pretzels

That's right the pretzels are going to be our breading. Some think that's where the recipe's name comes from. Put the pretzels into a zip lock bag and smash them into crumbs with any heavy object. I used the vinegar bottle. We're going to need a few cups, 2-3 cups total.

Coat the Chicken With Pretzel Crumbs

Take a baking sheet and paint it with some vegetable oil. Take the chicken out of the marinade and put it in the pretzel crumbs. I used a fork, but you can use your fingers to press them in. Make sure they are coated completely. In the microwave melt a few tablespoons of butter and drizzle it over the chicken. You decide how rich to make these. The more you drizzle, the browner they'll get and cooler they will look.

Bake the Chicken Tenders

Put those in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until they are browned. In about 20 minutes they should be cooked, it depends on the size of the pieces.

Serve the Pretzel-Crusted Chicken Tenders

I'm going to drizzle those with a little mustard I thinned with a little rice vinegar so it would drizzle a little more easily. I learned the design from a Chef Pollock, you may have heard of him? This is a great change of pace from your regular breaded chicken fingers or strips. The kids love it, adults love it... the chickens aren't crazy about it, but anyway. I think this is a great take on the chicken strip. Give it a try. Enjoy.

Thanks for watching. To learn more, visit us online at About.com.