Pretzel Breaded Drumsticks
Breadcrumbs don’t always have to be the Italian or panko ones you grab in a container at the grocery store. I love turning anything I am trying to use up into breadcrumbs so they don’t go to waste. Things like Cheez Its, Corn Flakes, crackers or stale bread make great options! I love to repurpose items like those into breading for chicken, pork or even in meatballs or meatloaf.
You can remove the skin on the drumsticks or keep it on. Keeping the skin on will add flavor and keep the meat juicy. Whenever I keep the skin on, I do like to broil on high for about 2 minutes at the end to get a crispy finish. If not, the skin won’t be crispy and have a softer texture. That part is optional due to personal preference.
About 6 cups of pretzels creates about 3 cups of pretzel crumbs.
Ingredients:
Pretzels, blended into crumbs
2 eggs
⅓ cup of milk
5-10 chicken drumsticks
Olive oil, for drizzling
Optional dipping sauce: aioli garlic mustard sauce (Trader Joe’s), or something similar
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350.
Place pretzels in a Vitamix or food processor and pulse until they are all broken up and crushed into crumbs. Sprinkle about 1 ½ cups of the crumbs on a large plate and reserve the rest to the side incase you are making a bigger batch of drumsticks and need to use more crumbs.
In a small mixing bowl, lightly beat eggs and milk until combined, set aside.
Create an assembly line of: chicken, egg mixture, pretzel crumbs and then a baking dish or pan.
First dip the chicken in the egg and milk mixture to give them a good soak to fully coat then gently tap any excess egg off and place right into the crumbs. Turn and press pretzel crumbs into the chicken and well coated. Place the drumstick on the baking dish, then continue this same process until all the chicken is used up. If you are making a bigger batch of drumsticks and start to use up the pretzel crumbs on the plate, add more as you need it.
Once all the chicken is coated in pretzel crumbs and on a baking sheet, lightly drizzle olive oil over all the drumsticks.
Bake for a total of 45 minutes. First bake for 25 minutes, then remove from the oven, turn the drumsticks over to the other side and drizzle a little more olive oil over top.
Place back in the oven and bake for another 20 minutes. If you want a crispier finish, set oven to broil and continue to cook or another minute or two while keeping an eye on it so it doesn’t burn.
Serve with aioli mustard dipping sauce.
We’d love to see your finished product! Post your picture on Instagram, tag us @danimade.kitchen and hashtag it #danimade
