Baked Pecan-Crusted Chicken
with lemony arugula / basil tomato pasta
Toasted, crushed pecans form a crunchy, naturally gluten-free crust for baked chicken tenders. Serve them with simple lemon arugula and a late summer pasta salad.
Ingredients
- Pecan halves - 3/4 cup, chopped
- Chicken breast tenders (sub boneless, skinless chicken breasts sliced) - 1 lb
- Mustard, Dijon - 1 Tbsp
- Honey - 1 Tbsp
- Arugula, baby (sub baby spinach) - 3 oz
- Oil, olive - 2 tsp
- Lemon juice - 2 tsp
- Pasta, uncooked and gluten-free (sub any pasta shape) - 3/4 cup
- Basil - 1/4 oz, chiffonade
- Tomatoes, medium - 1, diced
- Oil, olive - 1 Tbsp
- Vinegar, balsamic - 2 tsp
Nutrition Facts
Prep
- Cook pasta - Double if making Thursday's meal. Bring large stock pot with salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until al dente, tender but not soggy. Drain. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Pecans - Chop pecans in a food processor or by hand until they form fine crumbs. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Basil / Tomatoes - Prep as directed and combine. (Can be done up to 2 days ahead)
- Chicken breasts - Slice chicken into strips (if not already sliced). Season with some salt and pepper and tenderize with a fork. (Can be done 1 day ahead)
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Make
- Heat oven to 375F / 190C degrees.
- While oven heats, toss pasta (remember to reserve half if doubled for Thursday) with basil, tomatoes, oil (the portion for pasta) and vinegar. Season with some salt and pepper.
- Combine mustard and honey.
- Brush sheet pan with some oil.
- Rub chicken strips with mustard-honey mixture and then coat in pecans. Spread chicken out onto sheet pan.
- Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until chicken is cooked through and pecan crust is toasted.
- While chicken bakes, toss arugula in olive oil (the portion for chicken) and lemon juice.
- Arrange chicken on serving plates and top with arugula.
- Serve with pasta on the side and enjoy!
Nutrition Facts
Reviews
Ratings
42 reviews
Such a simple and wonderful salad! Have made it twice since first trying this meal. Love baby arugula!
This was one of those meals that wasn't great, but wasn't bad. The chicken needed a little more kick than what it had, but I found drizzling some lemon juice on it was helpful in that department. But the lemony arugula was far too plain. In the future, I would probably add something like sprouts, Parmesan shavings, and/or a seed/nut to give it some more texture. That being said, the basil tomato orzo salad was really good and my favorite part of the meal.