pretzel crusted chicken

ever since we went to cleveland and jason had the pretzel chicken at the great lakes brewing company about every three months he asks "so what about that pretzel chicken?" it took me 18 months, but i finally made it.

but silly me, i used the wrong pretzels. since i had to buy a decent sized bag, i bought the thin twists, instead of the big crunchy sourdough. for once i should have listened to jason.

i grabbed two handfuls of pretzels, put them in a ziplock bag, sealed it, and crushed them with a rolling pin. it worked pretty well. i ended up with some larger chunks and some crushed to smithereens.

regardless, they were still really good. and the only thing i added to the crushed pretzels was a bit of black pepper. the pretzel flavor was there, i think it would be more pronounced and crunchier with the sourdough pretzels. i'm sure i'll be trying it again sometime in the next year. or two.

and bonus, this whole thing takes about 15 minutes. it took me 20 to make this with a side of green beans.

pretzel crusted chicken

1/2 cup buttermilk
2 handfuls of pretzels, smashed with rolling pin, pan, or something else heavy
black pepper
couple tablespoons vegetable oil
2 chicken breasts, pounded thin or thin sliced chicken breast cutlets

1. heat a large saute pan over medium high heat and add the oil.
2. add the buttermilk to a large bowl and the pretzel crumbs in a plate or other wide vessel, like a square pyrex baking dish. season the pretzels with a little black pepper.
3. place the chicken in the buttermilk. take the chicken out of the buttermilk, let the excess drip off, and transfer to the pretzel mixture.
4. flip the chicken so both sides and the edges are well coated.
5. cook the chicken in the hot oil, about 3-4 minutes per side.