Sun Dried Tomato Crusted Chicken with Balsamic Glazed Onions and Cream Sauce

How's that for a title?! I know the picture doesn't look terribly appetizing, but trust me, it's good!

Ingredients:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, butterflied
30 sun dried tomato and basil wheat thins, crushed
1/2 cup flour
1 large egg, beaten
salt & pepper
2 Tbs vegetable oil
1 medium onion, quartered and thinly sliced
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup milk
4oz sun dried tomato and basil Philadelphia cream cheese

Directions:

Add 1 Tbs vegetable oil to a medium skillet and pre-heat over medium heat. Slice the onion and add to the pan. Season with salt and pepper. Continue to stir occasionally while cooking the chicken and cream sauce. Once onions are lightly caramelized (about 10 minutes) add the balsamic vinegar. Continue to cook until the vinegar has reduced and the onions are glazed (3-4 minutes).

Lay chicken breasts flat on cutting board. Using a sharp knife, slice through them horizontally, the whole length. This is essentially creating 4 chicken cutlets out of the 2 chicken breasts.

Set up a breading station using 3 shallow dishes big enough for the chicken. Put the crackers in the food processor and run until finely crushed. (If you don't have a food processor, put the crackers in a bag and let your kids go crazy on it. Or, if you don't have kids, take out some frustration on them yourself). Place the ground up crackers in one of the dishes. Place flour in the 2nd dish - season with salt and pepper. Beat egg in 3rd dish - season with salt and pepper.

Add 1 Tbs vegetable oil to a large skillet and pre-heat over medium heat. For each chicken cutlet, dredge first in the flour (both sides), then in the egg (both sides) and finally in the cracker crumbs (both sides). Place chicken in pan. Once all the chicken is in the pan, cover it and cook for 3-4 minutes - until the crackers are browned. Covering it will create a miniature oven, allowing the chicken to cook all the way through without burning the crust. Once the crackers are browned on the first side, use tongs to turn them over. Cover again and continue to cook for 3-4 minutes. Check to make sure chicken is done using a thermometer. If the crackers are browning faster than the chicken is cooking reduce the heat. Once done, remove chicken from the pan.

While the chicken is cooking, make the cream sauce. Add 1/2 cup milk to a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer. Whisk in 4oz of the cream cheese until smooth. Allow it to simmer for a couple minutes which will thicken it up.

Serve the chicken topped with the balsamic glazed onions and cream sauce.


Serves 4

To see what I spent on this recipe, visit the post on my other blog here.

I'm participating in 5dollardinners.com $5 dollar dinner challenge.