Crunchy Peanut Encrusted Chicken Nuggets

I recently received an invitation to enter Saucy Mama's Skinny Mama recipe contest.  Basically, Saucy Mama sends over a huge variety of mustard and you need to come up with an original healthy recipe.  I was primarily excited about sampling some new mustard but I was also excited about getting creative in the kitchen.

A few years ago, I made spicy peanut encrusted chicken tenders when I was trying to lower our carb intake and get a little more healthy.  These chicken tenders use crushed peanuts instead of breadcrumbs and are super easy to make.  In fact, I've made a different variation of crunchy nut encrusted chicken tenders using mixed nuts and they were featured in CVS' 2010 Reinventing Beauty Magazine!  For the Skinny Mama recipe contest, I decided to revamp my two previous versions and came up with Crunchy Peanut Encrusted Chicken Nuggets!

First, I gathered my ingredients:

• 1 lb chicken tenders
• 2 cups peanuts (dry roasted and unsalted)
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 6 tablespoons Saucy Mama's Smoky Garlic mustard
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Now, I normally write in a more informal manner but since this dish is for a recipe contest, it is more detailed and formal.

1.  After gathering the ingredients, pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line a baking sheet pan with parchment paper.

2.  Rinse chicken and pat dry.  Cut the chicken tenders into nugget size.

3.  Pulse the peanuts in the food processor with the garlic powder, onion powder, crushed red pepper flakes, salt and pepper until they resemble coarse bread crumbs. Transfer the peanut mixture to a shallow dish.  I used a small baking pan.

4.  Combine the mustard, vegetable oil and Worcestershire sauce in shallow bowl.

5.  Dredge the chicken nuggets through the mustard mixture, then coat with nut crumbs. Place on the parchment paper-lined baking tray.

6.  Place baking sheet of chicken nuggets in the oven for ten minutes. Flip nuggets carefully and cook for another ten minutes.

7.  Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.  We used a mixture of blue cheese dressing, hot sauce and crumbled blue cheese.

I loved the crunchy peanut texture of the chicken nuggets.  The smoky garlic flavor of the mustard really stood out and you can taste a hint of both the smokiness and the roasted garlic in every bite.  Plus, the spicy blue cheese dipping sauce added a nice contrast of heat from the hot sauce with the cool creaminess of the blue cheese dressing.  These crunchy peanut encrusted chicken nuggets were full of awesome flavor, and managed to be super healthy.  I should mention that the contest requires your dish to fall under one of the "major" diet plans and this dish is also South Beach diet friendly.

Voting is from February 29 - March 7th.  The top ten recipes will be tested and rated by the Saucy Mama Judging Panel.  When it comes time for voting, you can vote once per day so I'll be bugging you all soon to drop by and give me a vote...and I'll also be offering a fun mustard giveaway on the blog in the coming days!

I've only done one other recipe contest before and I'm super excited to participate in this one.  Tell me, do you like watching or participate in cooking competitions?