Pretzel Crusted Pork Bites


One of my children's' favorite dinners is city chicken. Which is fine by me because it is cheap and easy to make. However, the traditional dredge in flour and egg, brown in a skillet and broil in the oven preparation method got stale and probably isn't the healthiest, so I started researching some new pork recipes to replace it.  I came across quite a few fancy pork and pretzel recipes and decided to create my own dish using ingredients I know my kids would eat and not relentlessly question me about during dinner. The result is the recipe below and the kids loved it. Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Ingredients
1 lb. city chicken removed from the skewers or other type of boneless pork cut into cubes
5 cups of mini pretzels coarsely crushed
3 eggs
2 Tablespoons of Italian dressing.
1 cup flour
Salt
Pepper
Honey Mustard Dressing for dipping

Directions
  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  • Put mini pretzels in a large resealable plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin or the flat side of a meat tenderizer. This is a great job for little ones who want to help in the kitchen. 
  • When finished crushing the pretzels put them in a medium sized baking dish; an 8 x 8 sized works nicely.
  • In a medium mixing bowl combine the eggs and Italian dressing.
  • Put flour in another large resealable plastic bag.
  • Rinse the city chicken and pat dry. If needed, cut the city chicken into smaller nugget sized pieces.
  • Place the city chicken in the bag with the flour and lightly toss the bag to coat.  Again, this is another great job for little ones who want to help in the kitchen.  Just be sure the bag is sealed.
  • In small batches put the city chicken pieces into the egg mixture then roll in the pretzel mixture to coat.
  • Place the pretzel crusted city chicken bites on a baking sheet lightly coated with cooking spray.
  • Bake in the oven at 375 degrees for 35 minutes or until cooked through.
  • Serve with honey mustard dressing for dipping -- orange marmalade is a favorite here too. 

Servings
4 to 6 servings, 3 to 4 nuggets per serving.

A Broken Oven Tip
While these pretzel pork bites taste great on their own, I've learned kids like to dip their food.  Some other dipping suggestions are; applesauce, ranch dressing, honey, cheese dip, sweet and sour sauce or good old ketchup works just as well.

No comments:

Post a Comment