Skip The Fryer And Make Ultra Crispy 'Fried' Chicken With This Easy Breadcrumb Replacement

The main appeal of classic fried chicken is getting to enjoy its salty, crunchy exterior. However, you may not want to deal with the temperamental process of deep-frying. Fortunately, if you're looking to save time and energy, there's an easier way to make fried chicken over your stove or in the oven. Believe it or not, you can make extra-crispy fried chicken, in more ways than one, by swapping out the usual buttermilk coating for crushed snack pretzels. Since snack pretzels are already crunchy, you don't have to monitor a hot pot of oil to produce extra-crispy chicken.

However, the preparation process for pretzel-encrusted chicken differs slightly from how you make traditional fried chicken. Start by crushing pretzels with a rolling pin after placing them in a disposable plastic bag for a more rustic pretzel coating, or pulverize your pretzels in a food processor for a more refined texture similar to breadcrumbs. From here, cover your chicken in even amounts of flour, raw egg, and crushed pretzels before baking or pan-frying. Instead of using bone-in, skin-on chicken, make your own fillets by halving boneless, skinless chicken breasts. You can also make smaller tenders as long as they're similar in size and thickness. 

Besides using seasoned flour, which is necessary to dry the surface of your chicken and lock in moisture, add mayonnaise to your egg to incorporate some extra fat and savory flavor, especially if you plan on cooking your chicken in an oven or air fryer. This clever condiment trick for fast and easy crispy chicken keeps your protein extra moist and flavorful and provides superior sticking power for your pretzel breadcrumbs. In the end, the extra fat from mayonnaise turns pretzel-based breadcrumbs into a tasty, ultra-crunchy coating.

Next, while you can certainly pan-fry your pretzel-dusted chicken cutlets in a small amount of oil, another way to get that deep-fried appeal is to pour a small amount of butter or oil over your chicken before baking or air-frying. You can gently use a pastry brush to cover your chicken more evenly. The added butter makes your pretzel crust a bit more crispy and, ultimately, more flavorful.

Once you discover how easy it is to make fried chicken with snack pretzels, feel free to get creative and use flavored pretzels for a fun twist. For example, coat your chicken in mustard-seasoned pretzels and pair this flavorful meat with your favorite store-bought honey mustard sauce.