Recipe Review #1: Pretzel Chicken Nuggets

Recipe Review #1 (This recipe review for Chicken Nuggets is from our 52 New Recipes in 2021 segment. Check it out to find unique new recipes that we have tried).

Date: January 6, 2021

Category: Dinner

Name: Dots Chicken Fingers

Source: Dot’s Pretzel’s (click here for original recipe)

Ease of preparation rating: 2 out of 5 (1 is easiest)

Taste Rating: 5 out of 5 (5 is best)

Notes:

-I was given Dots Pretzel Crumble from a good friend in our cookbook club. So instead of using bread crumbs to make chicken nuggets, this recipe uses pretzel crumbs. The crumbs smelled buttery and garlicky and just so delicious. So delicious in fact, I ate a spoonful of it. It is way too salty to eat straight out of the bag, but so flavorful. 

-I ended up cutting the chicken breasts more into nuggets instead of fingers.

-I think the recipe calls for way too much flour. I wish I had started with less flour. The recipe unfortunately does not specify how much salt, pepper, or paprika to add to season the flour. So we recommend just light sprinkling of each and then adjust to your taste preference. Then just do the typical flour and egg wash for fried chicken nuggets, as described in the recipe.

-I used canola oil to fry because it’s what I had on hand. The oil got really dirty but still seemed to fry well. I don’t fry chicken very often because of the splatter mess, but this was good enough to make it worth the mess.

-The chicken was so juicy and flavorful with a thin fried batter coating.

-Would definitely get Dot’s Pretzel Crumble again to make fried chicken but I would also love to try out some other recipes with these flavorful buttery crumbs.

We ended up having 3 sauces for dipping

A spicy green sauce and garlic aioli that we make on our own. We’ll need to share a version of how we make those soon. They are staples in our home.

I also made a honey mustard. This was a new to me recipe but I’ve made honey mustard before so I won’t add this as a new recipe yet. Let’s wait until December to see if we’re behind before adding “new dipping sauce” to the list of 52 new recipes. It was a delicious sauce which I personally enjoyed on a bed of greens, with tomatoes, snap peas, and the chicken nuggets.

When I’ve made honey mustard sauces in the past it has only been with yellow mustard. The addition of Dijon gave this a deeper-rich flavor and was lovely. I highly recommend using these measurements. (I halved the recipe and it was still plenty for 2 heaping servings).

Cheers to trying new things in 2021!

Do you have a favorite chicken nugget recipe or dipping sauce?