Walnut Crusted Chicken with Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce

How fun was that post by the Bean yesterday? I was sitting down to write my post and asked her for a song recommendation. Then, next thing I knew she took over! After writing yesterday's post, she's already plotting her next post. There might be a little more Bean around here this summer and I am not complaining one bit!

It was nice to have a little Monday break, but I'm back to share a recipe today! We have been loving this Walnut Crusted Chicken and it's about time I share the recipe with you! The original recipe is from a site called Paleo Running Momma (you can find it HERE) and it is actually called "Walnut Crusted Turkey." No one in my family really loves turkey - we typically only eat it on Thanksgiving and Christmas! With that, I opted to switch out the turkey for chicken. If you love turkey, by all means use turkey! I just wanted to put out a little fyi that there are other options! Onto the recipe!

Start by pulsing 2 cups of walnuts, 1/3 cup of shredded coconut, 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt, 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper and 3/4 teaspoon of paprika into a coarse crumble in your food processor. You want to be really careful not to turn the walnuts into a butter! Carefully pulse them just until they break apart into a crumble.

When the walnuts are crumbled and mixed into the other ingredients of the chicken crusting, transfer the crumble from the food processor to a medium sized mixing bowl. You can set this bowl aside - you'll need it later when you're breading the chicken.

Next, mix the Honey Mustard Sauce together. If you would prefer to buy a honey mustard sauce, go for it! This is the recipe I use - Whisk 1/4 cup of honey together with 1/4 cup of mustard (I use 2 Tbsp of regular mustard and 2 Tbsp of Dijon mustard). Then while whisking quickly, gradually stream in 1 Tablespoon of olive oil. That's it! I mix the honey mustard dipping sauce in a small glass measuring dish then I set it aside until I need it. 3 Tablespoons of this sauce will get mixed with an egg to dredge the chicken in and the rest of it is to dip in!

In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine 1 egg and 3 Tablespoons of the honey mustard sauce. I use Bob's Red Mill egg replacer and it works great. So you can use an egg here or any other egg replacer that works best for you!

Prepare 1 1/2 pounds of chicken breasts - pound the chicken to be about 1/4-1/2 inch thick. Then, coat the chicken generously in the egg and honey mustard dredge. Once coated in egg and honey mustard, transfer the chicken to the crumble bowl to coat the chicken in the walnut crumble.

Once crusted, lay the chicken on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (I use my silicone parchment replacers). Repeat the process detailed above until all of the chicken is crusted and spread out on the baking sheet.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and bake the chicken for 10 minutes. Remove the chicken from the oven after 10 minutes, flip each piece over and place it back in the oven for another 10 minutes. The chicken is fully cooked when it's temperature reads 165 degrees Fahrenheit. I recommend checking several pieces of chicken to make sure that your chicken has cooked evenly. If necessary, put the chicken back in the oven for another 5-ish minutes and check it's temperature again.

When I first tried this recipe, I was impressed to discover that the Walnut Crusted Chicken kind of tastes like a chicken nugget! But it's SO much healthier! Everyone in my family loves this chicken with the honey mustard dipping sauce. I typically serve this meal with a salad on the side. Most recently, we had Walnut Crusted Chicken and a Mango, Avocado, Tomato Salad - so good! You can see a little sneak of the Salad in some of these pictures and I will have the recipe up for you tomorrow!

WALNUT CRUSTED CHICKEN WITH HONEY MUSTARD DIPPING SAUCE
(Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Egg Free Option)
serves 6

ingredients

for the Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce...
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup mustard (I use 2 Tbsp regular mustard & 2 Tbsp Dijon mustard)
1 Tablespoon olive oil

for the Walnut Crusted Chicken...
1 1/2 lbs chicken breasts (pounded to be about 1/2-1/4 inch thick)
2 cups walnuts
1/3 cup shredded coconut
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 teaspoons paprika
1 egg (or an egg replacement)

directions

for the Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce...
1. In a small glass measuring dish, whisk the honey and the mustard together until well combined.
2. While whisking quickly, gradually stream in the olive oil and continue to whisk until combined.
3. Set 3 Tablespoons of the Honey Mustard sauce aside (this will be used to dredge the chicken in). The remainder can be stored in the fridge until you are ready to use it as a dipping sauce for your chicken.

for the Walnut Crusted Chicken...
1. Add the walnuts, the shredded coconut, the salt, pepper and paprika to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse just until the walnuts form a coarse crumble. You don't want the walnuts to become a butter, so don't over process them.
2. When the crumble crust is ready, transfer it from the food processor to a medium sized mixing bowl and set aside while you prep the dredge and the chicken.
3. In a separate medium mixing bowl, combine an egg (or egg replacer) with 3 Tablespoons of the honey mustard sauce. This will be used to dredge the chicken before coating it in the crust.
4. Pound the chicken to be about 1/2-1/4'' thick. Coat the chicken in the honey mustard dredge then transfer it to the crumble bowl to coat it in the walnut crust.
5. Once the chicken is crusted, transfer it a baking dish lined with parchment paper. Repeat the last 2 steps until all of the chicken in crusted.
6. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. When the oven is ready, bake the chicken for 10 minutes, flip it over and return it to the oven for another 10 minutes. The chicken is fully cooked when it is 165 degrees Fahrenheit. You might need to put it back in the oven for a little while longer so that it reaches this temperature.
7. Serve the chicken with the honey mustard dipping sauce and your choice of side.

Enjoy!