Honey Mustard Pretzel Crusted Chicken Tenders

This recipe has so much flavor!  The marinade is sweet and tangy, and the pretzel crust is crunchy and salty.  The prep makes three meal kits.  Then when thawed and ready to bake you pull the tenders out of the marinade and dip the chicken tenders in crushed pretzels.  Bake them up and voila!  Better than take out!  This one will wow the kids and dazzle the spouse. 

Ingredients:

6 boneless skinless chicken breasts        9.59
6 oz Dijon mustard                                   .75
12 oz honey                                            2.82
16 oz bag pretzels                                   4.25
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp black pepper

For these meal kits you will also need six gallon freezer bags, three press to seal sandwich bags and three 1/2 cup containers with lids. 

Directions:

Cut each chicken breast into 1 inch wide strips.  Place two cut up breasts into each gallon press and seal bag.

In a small mixing bowl pour in 6 oz of Dijon mustard, 12 oz honey, one tsp of paprika and 1 tsp black pepper.  Stir well.  This will make about 1 1/2 cups of honey mustard sauce.  Pour 1/4 cup of the honey mustard into 3 small containers and cover.  This will become the dipping sauce after the chicken tenders are cooked.  Take the remainder of the honey mustard sauce and pour one third of the sauce into each of the gallon bags over the chicken strips.  Seal and squeeze to mix.

Now we make the breading.  I use a small food chopper to crush up the 16 oz bag of pretzels in batches.  You can use a food processor or the pulse option on your blender.  If you would like to go low tech then a bag and a rolling pin will do nicely.  Just seal the bag and whack away! 

Divide the crushed pretzels into three press to seal sandwich bags. 

Using three new gallon bags place one sealed bag of chicken with marinade, one container of honey mustard dipping sauce and one sandwich bag full of crushed pretzels.  Label with the name of the meal and place one scrap of paper inside with cooking directions.

These are your meal kits.  I put one in the fridge for tonight and two in the freezer for later.   Please thaw two days in the fridge before baking. 

Baking day Directions! 

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Make sure your chicken has had two days to thaw in the fridge if you are making a meal from a freezer meal kit.  Pour the crushed pretzels onto a plate.  Open the gallon bag with the marinated chicken.  Use a fork to lift out one chicken tender at a time.  Put the chicken on top of the crushed pretzel.  Press down on the chicken with the fork to get a lot of the pretzels to adhere to the chicken.  Flip the tender over with the fork to coat the other side.

Place a cooling rack on top of a large baking sheet.  Lay the coated chicken tenders on the cooling rack.

 Bake in the center of your oven for 15 minutes.  Carefully remove the chicken from the racks with tongs and serve hot with a spoonful of honey mustard dipping sauce from your meal kit. 

This meal is fantastic.  I think your family is going to love it as much as my family does.  I was able to make three meal kits for $5.80 each.  That's cheaper and more flavorful than a bucket of chicken!

Enjoy!

Christie aka Keeza