Almond Dijon Chicken

Every so often, I go on a pantry rampage. When I just can’t take the mess anymore, I start grabbing random items and forcing myself to use them just so I don’t have to look at them anymore. That’s what happened recently. I was getting pretty sick of the French’s fried onions container falling off the shelf every time I put the jug of oatmeal back in there, so one day I said, “Enough.” Looking around again, I spied a baggie full of sliced almonds that I couldn’t fit in my big square Tupperware container of nuts. I figured that could go too. And then I found an almost-empty container of agave nectar … and this recipe practically put itself together.

I love a nice happy accident. 🙂

Almond Dijon Chicken

• 6 chicken breasts
• 1 large container of French’s fried onions, crushed to almost a powder
• about a cup of sliced almonds
• about 2 cups milk
• 2-3 TBSP cider vinegar (or regular if that’s all you have)
• about 1 cup Dijon mustard
• about 1 TBSP srirachi sauce (also known as rooster sauce)
• about 1/3 cup Worchestershire sauce
• about 2 TBSP agave nectar

Note: I wanted to fit all six chicken breasts in my pan, so this first time, I didn’t flatten them. But next time I’m definitely going to flatten each piece with a mallet so that there’s a better coating-to-chicken ratio. OR!! Wait! I’m thinking chicken fingers. No one ever said no to a chicken finger.

First, mix the milk and the cider vinegar and let sit for about ten minutes. Pour into a gallon-sized plastic baggie and add the chicken breasts. Zip and put in the fridge for at least an hour to marinate, turning often to make sure all the chicken gets the benefit of the marinade.

Meanwhile, place the French’s fried onions in another zipped gallon-sized plastic bag and crush them with a mallet or the bottom of a jar. Add the almonds and stir to mix.

In shallow bowl long enough to accommodate the length of the chicken breasts, mix the Dijon mustard, srirachi sauce, Worchestershire sauce, and the agave nectar. I just gave you estimates because I kept adding a little of this and that until it was just right. You’ll have to play around and get it to where you like it.

When the chicken has marinated for at least an hour, pull out one piece at a time and dip in first the mustard sauce, then the onion-almond mixture, pressing to coat evenly. Arrange pieces in an greased 9 x 13 dish (or a rimmed jelly roll pan if you flatten the chicken pieces), drizzle with a little olive oil, and bake 30 minutes @400 or until you done.

If the  almonds get too brown, you can either cover with a little foil or flip the pieces, but if you flip, your coating isn’t going to look as pretty. Just a warning 🙂

If it was me … and it was … I’d serve this with mashed potatoes and chicken gravy.