This is a recipe contest post written by me on behalf of Tyson, The Daily Meal and the Culinary Content Network. I was given a coupon to buy Tyson’s Fully Cooked Crispy Chicken Strips. All opinions are 100% mine.
Challenged by The Daily Meal and the Culinary Content Network to dress up a bag of Tyson’s Crispy Chicken Strips, I racked my brain for an idea. The recipe contest is judged on versatility, creativity and simplicity. Several ideas flooded my mind and I wrote them down (didn’t want to forget them), then searched Tyson’s site to make sure they hadn’t been done before.
And, guess what? They had. Been.done.before.
Crispy Chicken Parmesan, Asian Crispy Chicken Wrap, Crispy Chicken Street Tacos – to name a few. While I could make my recipe slightly different than those already on their robust recipe site, I wanted to create something unique.
But, it had to be simple, too.
After all, isn’t that the point when you buy a bag of Crispy Chicken Strips? To make a simple, quick and tasty meal that your family will love?
Crispy Honey Walnut Chicken with Arugula is an Asian-inspired interpretation of one of my favorite dishes. Using Tyson’s Crispy Chicken Strips to replace all the work involved in making this dish from scratch, you will have a delicious lunch or dinner on the table in under 30 minutes!
The special ingredient? Honey. This is a honey wand, also known as a honey dipper or a honey drizzler. This is a helpful tool to own when making this recipe, but you can use a regular spoon instead.
The walnuts are prepared two ways: crushed to add to the crispy chicken coating and for the dressing plus halved or quartered to make candied walnuts. It takes only minutes to do both of these steps – but, if you crush the walnuts in a food processor, be sure not to pulverize them or they will turn into a paste! I finely chopped mine with a knife and still had this prepared in under 30 minutes!
By the way, the candied walnuts are mildly sweet in this recipe. If you want them sweeter, double the butter and sugar in the sauce recipe.
One last thing before I share the recipe: the day I made these, I awoke to a sunny, beautiful blue-sky California day that quickly morphed into a gray, rainy day by the time I made these for our lunch! So, the darker photos were taken in “natural” daylight and the others were taken with the lights over my kitchen table turned on (artificial light).
I don’t (yet) have the necessary artificial lighting equipment to do indoor food photography justice, so I give it my best shot with what I have!
I couldn’t decide which I liked best (natural or artificial light), so decided to use them both! The darker ones evoke the feeling of the day – storm raging outside my window as I photographed this dish with a hungry husband waiting patiently nearby and my cat, Coco, intrigued by the smells and wondering if he would be sharing our lunch (he didn’t).
And my thoughts of family, friends and colleagues on the East Coast, slammed with a record-breaking, severe snowstorm!
So, as I took the final shots, Charlie said “fork it over” (he was reading my cute serving fork – he really wasn’t being impatient!).
Here’s the recipe:
Crispy Honey Walnut Chicken with Arugula
Mildly sweet from honey, this main dish is a hearty meal for either lunch or dinner.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
For the Chicken:
- 1 pound of Tyson’s Crispy Chicken Strips (about 6 strips)
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 cup of ground (crushed) walnuts
For the Candied Walnuts:
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup of walnut halves
For the Arugula Salad and Dressing:
- 3 ounces baby arugula
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon crushed walnuts
- 3 tablespoons canola oil
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (or more to taste)
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper (or more to taste)
- 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Keep chicken frozen until ready to use.
- While oven is pre-heating, finely chop 1/2 cup of walnuts and set aside (reserve 1 tablespoon for the dressing).
Make the Candied Walnuts:
- Line a plate with parchment paper or wax paper and set aside.
- In a saucepan over low heat, melt butter and sugar, stirring occasionally until sauce has turned a golden brown and is blended together.
- Add walnuts and stir to coat them.
- Turn out onto prepared plate, spreading in a single layer, to cool.
Make the dressing:
- In a small bowl, whisk together all dressing ingredients (honey, crushed walnuts, oil, rice vinegar, salt, pepper, Dijon).
- Taste and correct seasoning.
- Set aside.
Make the Chicken:
- Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil (for ease of clean-up).
- Place 6 crispy chicken strips on foil-lined pan.
- With a honey wand or a spoon, drizzle each chicken strip generously with 1/2 of the honey (1/4 cup divided among the 6 crispy chicken strips).
- Sprinkle each with crushed walnuts.
- Turn each chicken strip over and repeat by drizzling with the remaining honey (1/4 cup) and coating with crushed walnuts.
- Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minute.
- Remove from oven.
- Place arugula in a mixing bowl, add dressing and toss to coat.
- Divide arugula among 6 plates, add one crispy chicken strip to each and divide candied walnuts among the 6 plates.
- Serve.
If your family isn’t a fan of arugula, serve Crispy Honey Walnut Chicken with rice instead.
Oh, one more thing: did I say Crispy Honey Walnut Chicken with Arugula was delicious? It satisfies on many levels – crunch factor with the crispy chicken and the walnuts, a sweet note from the honey balanced with a savory bite from the peppery arugula. A winning combination!
Tootles,
Related Posts:
(other chicken recipes)
- Summer Berry Chicken Salad
- Easy Chicken Noodle Bake
- Lite Oriental Chicken Salad
- Crunchy Onion Honey Mustard Chicken Strips
- Chicken Pesto Parmesan Pinwheels
- Copycat BBQ Chopped Chicken Salad
- Chicken and Arugula Open-faced Sandwiches
- Grilled Balsamic Chicken Breast Tenders
- Grilled Balsamic Chicken Salad
- Sita’s Curry Chicken
- Thai Chicken Vegetable Soup
- Traditional Chicken Salad with Currants and Walnuts
- Lorraine’s Hot Chicken Enchilada Dip
- Buffalo Chicken Wings Dip
This looks perfect for a fancier dinner idea with my family. I love using peanuts to my recipes. How can you keep the leftover walnuts from spoiling?
★★★★★
You can freeze them. In fact, I freeze all my nuts and take them out when I need to use them. Since it’s just me and Charlie, we don’t go through a large package of nuts quickly, so I keep them in the freezer! Good question!