Pecan Crusted Chicken Recipe
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This pecan crusted chicken is one of my oldest and most favorite chicken recipes. It’s also one of the first recipes I ever posted on this site back in October of 2009. But with over 2000 healthy comfort food recipes posted since then, this page got neglected for a good, long while. Until now.
This was actually my mom’s recipe. She taught me to make this about #@*# years back and I could never come up with something that was better than her recipe. So instead of reinventing the wheel, I swallowed my teenage pride and paid attention to how she made it. Am I ever glad I did!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It’s a quick and delicious way to “bread” chicken while still enjoying new, amazing flavors.
- Leftovers make a fantastic sandwich the next day.
- Just 15 minutes of prep time.
What To Serve With Pecan Crusted Chicken
Want ideas for side dishes? Here’s a list:
- Roasted vegetables
- Garlic green beans
- Asparagus
- Arugula and pear salad
- Spinach salad
- Kale and quinoa salad
- Wild rice pilaf
- Garlic mashed potatoes
- Sweet potato mash
- Honey mustard dressing
- Cranberry relish
- Maple Dijon glaze
- Buttermilk biscuits
- Cornbread
Pro Recipe Tips
- Make sure you set up a quick assembly like to coat the chicken.
- Use gloves when coating the chicken. The crust tends to stick to your fingers a bit, so gloves will help it stick to the chicken instead.
What You’ll Need To Make Pecan Crusted Chicken
Chicken breasts – Boneless and skinless
Egg – Size large.
Raw pecans – While you can use roasted nuts, you risk them burning. For this reason, I strongly recommend using raw pecans.
Grated Parmesan cheese – Use the real stuff, not Kraft or any processed cheese like it.
Dried thyme
Dried marjoram – Don’t have marjoram or don’t like it? Use dried parsley instead.
Salt
How To Make Pecan Crusted Chicken
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Add all ingredients (except chicken and egg whites) to a food processor.
Blend together until you have a nice crumbly mixture (will be slightly wet).
Set up your assembly line so that everything is on it’s own plate. Put chicken on one plate, the egg on another, and the nut blend on yet another so you can grab your chicken, roll it in egg whites, then in the mixture, and put it right on the parchment lined baking sheet.
Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the chicken reaches 165 F. on a meat thermometer.
Slice and serve.
Storage
Store any leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Freezing
If you wrap this well, it will freeze for up to 4 months.
Reheating
Reheat on a low oven at 300 F. until warmed through. If burning the pecan crust is a concern, simply place a loose piece of foil over the chicken in the oven.
More Healthy Chicken Recipes
- BBQ Tandoori Chicken
- Chicken Souvlaki
- Chicken In Lemon Caper Sauce
- Garlic Green Beans – In photos above.
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Recipe updated on 12/24/24.
Nut Crusted Baked Chicken Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Food processor
Ingredients
- 1½ lb. chicken breasts (3 breasts)
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup pecans
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 tsp. thyme
- 1 tsp. marjoram (or parsley)
- 1 tsp. salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Add all ingredients (except chicken and the egg ) into the food processor.
- Blend together until you have a nice crumbly mixture (will be slightly wet).
- Set up your assembly line so that everything is on it’s own plate. Put chicken on one plate, egg whites on another, and the mixture on yet another so you can grab your chicken, roll it in egg whites, then in the mixture, and put it right on the parchment lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the chicken reaches 165 F. on a meat thermometer.
- Slice and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Recipe from the Gracious Pantry® archives, originally posted on 10/19/2009.
Hi Tiffany! I’ve been snooping your blog for the past month, and I’ve made this chicken twice already and it is amazing. What a wonderful resource you’re providing! I’m on day 3 of clean eating and I even survived watching my husband eat some fresh-from-the-oven chocolate chip cookies last night without stabbing him. HAHA! I’ve been very healthy in the past but have let everything slide the last year and a half or so. This is the boost I needed. Thanks so much for all the wonderful recipes and resources!
-andi
Andi – My pleasure! And if it gets really bad, I do have a recipe for clean, chocolate chip cookies here. I mean if it’s between cookies and stabbing him, I suggest the cookies every time. LOL!
Would this work with chicken tenders? thinking would almost be like chicken strips then.
Carol – Absolutely!
Hi, I want to try this, but I don’t like cheese. Can I skip the cheese?
Samantha – You can try it. It certainly adds flavor and little bit of “glue” to stick to the chicken, but it could work without it too.
For the nuts are they raw, roasted or roasted and salted?
Thank you for this great idea
Jayme – Raw is best otherwise they might over cook if they are already roasted. I’ll add that to the recipe. Hope you enjoy it!