Bread Your Chicken With Pretzels And You Won't Regret It

There's a reason chicken has such a frequent place on people's meal plans — it's an incredibly versatile protein. You can bake it with herbs and spices for a health-conscious dish, or shred it into a stew for a more comforting meal. And then, of course, there's the popular option to bread it. That crispy coating contrasts so beautifully with the meat's moist interior, immediately leveling up the simple protein into something that feels more indulgent.

While you can certainly buy frozen pre-breaded chicken products, it couldn't be simpler to bread your own chicken. All you need is some eggs and flour, as well as something that will give the exterior that signature crunch when baked or pan-fried. If you've been restricting yourself solely to breadcrumbs, though, trust us — you need to think outside the box a little.

One of our favorite ways to mix up your breaded chicken game is to use pretzels instead of breadcrumbs. They add a little extra flavor without being too overpowering, and you can customize your pretzel texture: For a thin coating on your chicken, blitz the pretzels in a food processor until they're finely crushed. Or, if you want something more rustic with a whole lot of crunch, toss them in a bag and use something like a rolling pin and some elbow grease to get larger crumbs.

When you're planning to bread your chicken with pretzel crumbs, first take a quick peek at the type of pretzels you're working with. Just like breadcrumbs can come plain or seasoned, there's some variation within pretzels as well.

Be aware that any flavoring on the pretzels will obviously translate to your breaded coating, so this isn't the best time to reach for honey-mustard coated iterations of the crunchy carb (unless you're purposefully looking to add flavor in that way). Also, most pretzels tend to have salt sprinkled on them, so you'll likely need to dial back any added salt in your recipe.

What if you've gotten a bit too enthusiastic with your pretzel pulverizing and are left with a ton of extra pretzel crumbs? There's plenty you can do with them, although you'll obviously want to throw out any that touched the raw chicken, lest you risk salmonella. Just like you can use them in place of regular breadcrumbs on top of meals like baked mac and cheese, you can also use pretzel crumbs as a binding agent when making dishes like meatloaf or meatballs, or to bread other proteins such as fish. Alternatively, if you're looking to pair your pretzel-crusted chicken with a tasty dessert, you might want to consider creating a pretzel pie crust for a unique twist — it pairs particularly well with caramel and chocolate.