Pecan Crusted Chicken Tenders with Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce

I think my ears were deceiving me the other night when I served this because my 3-year-old asked for THREE servings of this chicken! Wow, that's amazing for her, especially because I haven't seen her eat more than a morsel of chicken in I don't know how long. My husband said it was also better than the restaurant food we had the last time we ate out. This was super easy and really quick to prepare. By the time the oven was preheated (about 6 minutes) I had the chicken cut, dipped, rolled and ready to go in the oven. The chicken comes out really moist and cooks quickly because it's cut thin.

For the chicken:
4 chicken breasts, cut length-wise into tenders (about thirds or fourths depending on how big the breast is)
1/2 cup bread crumbs (Italian-style, plain, panko or homemade, whatever you have)
1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped
1 egg
2 Tbsp. water
flour (for dipping)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Set up your breading station with three shallow dishes (like a pie plate) next to each other. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray and set it after the last dish in your breading station. Add flour to the first dish. Mix the egg and water and put them in the second dish, then mix the pecans and the bread crumbs and put them in the last dish.

Dip the tenders into the flour, then egg mixture and last, the pecan mixture, turning so that they are coated on all sides. Lay them in the prepared baking sheet. Repeat until all tenders are breaded.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes or until cooked through.

Serve with honey-mustard dipping sauce.

For the sauce:
Mix one part honey to one part honey dijon mustard and add a little squirt of mayo. Mix well.

SOURCE:Adapted from This Mommy Cooks