Walnut Rosemary Crusted Chicken

Walnuts have always been one of my favorite nuts and their slightly bitter edge is wonderful in both savory and sweet dishes. Walnuts are not just flavorful, they’re also high in heart-healthy fats. This recipe takes advantage of that fact, using both ground walnuts and toasted walnut oil. It is important to brine the chicken breasts prior to baking them, to keep them tender and juicy.

(10 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)

Yum

Walnut Rosemary Crusted Chicken

Ingredients

5-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 tbsp kosher salt
1/2 cup walnuts, ground fine
2 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
2 tbsp walnut oil
salt and pepper

Instructions

To brine the chicken, fill a large bowl with cold water and stir in kosher salt until mostly dissolved. Place chicken in bowl and chill in refrigerator about 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350F and lightly grease a glass or ceramic baking pan (13×9 inches).
In a small bowl, whisk together walnuts, rosemary and garlic. Remove chicken from brine and pat dry with paper towel.
Place chicken in single layer in prepared pan and cover each breast in walnut mixture, pressing to adhere. Drizzle with walnut oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
Bake until light golden brown and chicken is cooked through, about 30 minutes.

Carolyn Ketchum

Carolyn Ketchum writes All Day I Dream About Food, a food blog that focuses primarily on low carb, gluten free recipes. She has a Masters in Physical Anthropology and Human Evolution from Arizona State University and has an extensive background in higher education administration. She currently lives in the Boston area with her husband and three children. You can check out her experiments with low carb baking at All Day I Dream About Food.