I stole this recipe for pretzel chicken dippers from the back of a box of Shake ‘n Bake. It is so easy to make, I only added 1 step to the original recipe. These are a little fancier than the chicken nuggets we had as kids. A crunchy pretzel coating and a fancier name: pretzel chicken dippers. What’s more child’s play and adult joy than chicken nuggets?
“Cooking is at once child’s play and adult joy. And cooking done with care is an act of love.” – Craig Claiborne, American restaurant critic and food editor for The New York Times (see more quotes in the Quotes tab)
Cut 1 ½ lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, into 1 ½ to 2 inch pieces.
I place the cut up chicken in a large plastic bag and add 1 – 2 tbsp ranch dressing to the bag.
Close the bag and squeeze bag to combine, let bag sit in refrigerator until ready to coat chicken, several hours or overnight.
Heat oven to 400F. Pour 1 packet Shake ‘n Bake Crunchy Pretzel Flavor Seasoning Coating Mix into a bowl.
Coat chicken with coating mix and place on an ungreased or foil lined rimmed baking sheet.
Bake 20 minutes or until done.
You can serve the chicken with a sauce of your choice or eat them as is. The marinating in the ranch dressing first adds flavor to the chicken and keeps the chicken moist when cooking. They’re even good cold as leftovers.
Pretzel Chicken Dippers
A grown up version of a favorite childhood dish, chicken nuggets. A yummy, crunchy pretzel coating on ranch flavored chicken bites. Great as an entree, appetizer or after-school snack.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 1 ½ to 2 inch pieces
- 1 packet Shake ‘n Bake Crunchy Pretzel Flavor Seasoning Coating Mix
Instructions
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Heat oven to 400F. Coat chicken with coating mix and place on ungreased or foil lined rimmed baking sheet. Bake 20 minutes or until done.
Recipe Notes
Marinate with ranch dressing first. I place the cut up chicken in a large plastic bag and add 1 – 2 tbsp ranch dressing to the bag. Close the bag and squeeze bag to combine, let bag sit in refrigerator until ready to coat chicken, several hours or overnight. Dip the chicken in the coating mixture then place on the baking sheet. Cook as directed. (The ranch adds a good flavor to the chicken while cooking and helps keep the chicken moist. I have also used a variety of coating mixes if I can’t find the Pretzel mix. You can also use barbecue sauce instead of ranch dressing.) I use 2 bags of coating mix. When I cut up 1 lb of chicken I can never get enough coating out of 1 bag, so I use 2 bags. The box comes with 2 bags or if you only have the one bag, you can supplement the coating mix with crushed pretzels or any breadcrumbs you have on hand. I use parchment paper, or I crunch the foil before placing it on the baking sheet. When the foil is flat the chicken sticks more (probably due to the ranch dressing). Also I need 2 baking sheets to fit all of the chicken nuggets, so I switch baking sheets in the oven half way through the cooking process (10 minutes), top rack moves to the middle rack and vice versa.