Pecan Crusted Chicken
Updated Oct 12, 2025
Pecan crusted chicken marinated in a yogurt, Dijon, and honey sauce that is then coated in pecans and panko and baked in the oven.
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My Baked Pecan crusted chickne is so good!
Pecan crusted chicken sounded a little strange to me the first time I heard about it, but once I tried it, I was all in. The pecans toast up in the oven and give the chicken this crispy, nutty coating that works way better than I expected. I might even like it better than traditional breaded chicken.
Now I make this pecan crusted chicken whenever I want something baked, not fried, but still crunchy. The yogurt-Dijon marinade adds a ton of flavor, and I usually serve it with a quick honey mustard sauce on the side because why not.
Happy Cooking!
– Yumna
Pecan Crusted Chicken Ingredients
- Chicken breasts: Go for skinless, boneless chicken breasts for this recipe!
- Greek yogurt: Plain, full-fat Greek yogurt is best, imo.
- Dijon mustard: I love the flavor of Dijon, but if it’s not your thing, milder yellow mustard will work, too.
- Honey: Natural honey is my favorite sweetener for this dipping sauce, but agave or maple syrup will work!
- Pecans: Go for unsalted, raw pecans. Sometimes I will make almond crusted chicken instead; you can really use any nut.
- Breadcrumbs: I use panko breadcrumbs for the crunchiest texture, but regular breadcrumbs work well too!
- Spices: Salt, garlic powder, paprika, and black pepper are all you need!
How to Make Pecan Crusted Chicken
Pecan Crusted Chicken Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- Cooking spray
- ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons Greek yogurt divided
- ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard divided
- 4 tablespoons honey divided
- 1 ½ pounds boneless skinless chicken breast about ½ inch thick
- 1 ½ cups pecans finely chopped
- 1 ½ cup panko breadcrumbs
- 2 teaspoons Kosher salt plus more to taste
- 1 ½ teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon black pepper plus more to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and coat with nonstick spray.
- In a large bowl, mix ½ cup yogurt, ¼ cup Dijon, and 2 tablespoons honey. Add chicken and let sit at least 15 minutes or up to overnight.
- In a shallow dish toss together pecans, breadcrumbs, kosher salt, garlic powder, paprika, and black pepper.
- Remove chicken from yogurt mixture, scraping off excess marinade and add to shallow bowl with pecan mixture. Press firmly to adhere pecan mixture, turn breast over and repeat so all sides of the chicken are completely covered.
- Transfer coated chicken to prepared baking sheet and repeat process with remaining pieces of chicken. Add remaining pecan mixture to top of chicken and press down even. Coat with cooking spray.
- Bake chicken in oven until cooked through, flipping halfway through, about 20-25 minutes total.
- Meanwhile, in a small mixing bowl stir together remaining 2 tablespoons Greek yogurt, remaining 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard, and remaining 2 tablespoons honey. Season to taste.
- Serve chicken with honey mustard sauce.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information provided is an estimate. It will vary based on cooking method and specific ingredients used.
Recipe Tips
- Don’t skip the marinade step. Marinating your chicken for at least 15 minutes or even overnight really helps to tenderize the meat and give it flavor!
- Pound your chicken breasts if they look thick. Each cut of meat should be about ½ inch thick. If your chicken breasts are larger than that, you can either pound them down, or cut them in half to ensure they cook through fully.
- Chop your pecans into small pieces. If they’re too large, they’ll have trouble sticking to the chicken! I like to break them down quickly by pulsing them in a food processor.
- Use an instant-read thermometer to make sure your chicken is fully cooked. Your thermometer should register at 165F in the thickest part of the breast! If the pecan crust is browning too quickly before the chicken is cooked through, you can cover each piece loosely with foil.
Serving Ideas
- Add potatoes. Crunchy chicken pairs well with potatoes in all formats. Think: baked fries, air fryer sweet potato fries, or parmesan potatoes.
- Try more dips. For extra dipping sauce options (alongside the honey-mustard in this recipe), I like to make classic aioli, or even homemade (healthy) ranch.
- Make a side salad. My go-tos are a simple green salad, or a fresh Greek salad.
FAQs
Once cooked, leftovers will keep well in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. When you’re ready to eat, reheat them at 350F for 15 minutes until warmed through.
Yes! Though the crunchy texture of the crust may change slightly when thawed. Once your chicken has cooled, flash freeze it on a pan in the freezer before transferring to a freezer bag (this will help keep that crunchy crust intact) for up to 2 months. You can bake directly from frozen or thaw in the fridge overnight!
Yep! The chicken can be marinated overnight, and once crusted, you can keep your chicken breasts covered in the fridge for up to 24 hours.
Comments
Loved this Chicken recipe🥰 This was the first time I made it and had company for dinner. We all loved this Chicken Pecan recipe! Thank you..Now this recipe has made it to our top favorite dinner menus! Thank you for sharing the recipe with us 🥰
Aww, so glad you and your guests loved it!! That makes me so happy to hear! Thank you, Maggie!
Absolutely delicious. Easy and so tasty. Your recipes are always loved by myself and family. Thank you!
Aww, that makes me so happy to hear! Thank you, Nancy!! So glad it was a hit with your family!
This is similar to a restaurant that used to be open here where I live and the only difference is no yogurt, spicy mustard, and of course seasoning (onion powder and garlic powder) and we fry for a minute and then bake. We use a berry sauce for dipping. It’s berries with some pineapple juice heated with a tsp of cornstarch. So good
Yum, that sounds so good! So glad you like the recipe, Michele. Thanks!!
Hello! What do you suggest for the yogurt as a dairy free option? Thanks!
Hi! I would try making it with your favorite dairy-free yogurt.
is there a substitute for the mustard? my boys don’t like mustard and i’m afraid they would taste it. thank you
You can just leave it out! The flavor will still be great without it.
I tried your recipe yesterday for the first time. It was delicious! My family loved it. I will definitely be making it on a regular basis. Thank you for sharing your recipe!
Yay! I’m so happy you and your family loved the recipe, Angela! You’re so welcome!!
YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMY and just in time for my
sister’s birthday
Thank you!!!!!
Aww, so sweet of you to cook for your sister’s birthday! I’m so glad you liked the recipe and hope you enjoyed your meal together!!
Is the 1.5 cups of pecans measure before or after they’re chopped?
Before!
Thank you! I’ve made this twice before, and my husband and I both love it. Great way to use some of the many pounds of nuts from our pecan tree each Fall. However, I’m getting pretty old and forget things – lol. I will put it in my recipe notes now so (hopefully) I don’t forget again. This is a really great recipe!
Great recipe
Thank you!!
This was delicious! I made it exactly as written. Will be making it again for company soon!
Yay! I’m sure your guests will love it, too!
Absolutely delicious! Our local restaurant serves something similar but they closed down and we missed our favorite! The only thing I substituted was the dipping sauce, I served a melted blackberry jam topping on it like our restaurant. A five star rating for sure to you for this recipe!
Oo I LOVE the idea of the blackberry jam, that sounds so good!
Did this tonight, my husband is a picky eater and even he ate it up. Will definitely make this again but I need to marinate the chicken for a few hours next time.
Awesome! So glad to hear it!
Oh, wow! This was really delicious! I had to use sour cream (no yogurt), but other than that, followed the recipe to a ‘T’, using half the amount of everything, since we only needed two servings. I am always looking for ways to use pecans, since we get 10 pounds from our tree annually. So good; tender inside, with the crunchy outside coating. It’s a keeper for sure!
Yay! So glad you enjoyed!
Was surprised how moist and crunchy this came out. Next time I will marinate it even longer. Used cutlets – not tenders. Tenders would be even better !
Oh I love that idea!
Those chicken are so delicious!!! I had to use coconut yogurt that I had in fridge….. 😂😂 Hubby LOVED it! He had chicken legs. I had tenders. So Yummy!
Thank you so much! I am so glad you guys enjoyed them!
Excellent recipe, only comment was it was “wetter” than I would like, not crispy. Any suggestions? I used olive oil spray rather than cooking spray. Still very yummy. Served on top of some Orange Rice. Very good recipe.
So glad you enjoyed it. I love the flavor of this recipe so much! The yogurt batter, compared to traditional egg batter, will give it a slightly wetter result, but it should still have a nice crisp. I recommend reducing the yogurt mixture next time. Just apply a very thin layer, and that should help!
Excellent recipe! Will make this again!
Thank you so much! I am so happy you liked it! I just put out a recipe for Almond Crusted Chicken that I’d love for you to try!
I absolutely love love love this recipe, thank you for sharing! This is my second time making it at the request of my husband and daughter!
I do have a slight (very slight) issue and that’s the bottom of the chicken. It seems to come out a little more wet than I’d like?
Any recommendations for that? Maybe I’m not scraping enough of the yogurt mixture off, maybe use a perforated pan or finishing on the the stove top?
Thank you so much! Are you making sure to flip half way through? If you’ve already tried that, you can also try baking it on a wired rack on a baking sheet to avoid the bottom being wet.
This is probably one of my favorite recipes. I absolutely love the seasoning blend of the pecans, bread crumbs and the smoked paprika. It is the best mix. I have yet to make a recipe from your site that I was unhappy with. Everything on here is so delicious. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much! That is perfect. You’re welcome!
Absolutely amazing and so easy! My husband said he could eat this every day!
Thank you so much! I love that!
One of my favourite healthy chicken dinners!! Pecans added amaaazing flavour. Made this for my brother and my friend, they both loved it!
I’m so glad you all loved the recipe! Thank you!
This was another delicious recipe! I cut down on the Honey (1 T) since I’m trying to watch my sugars and the sauce was perfect! I was surprised how the Pecans added such a nice flavor. The Panko mixture on the chicken didnt turn out as crispy as the photo, probably because I didn’t remove most of the Yogurt mixture after marinating as suggested. Still tasty!
Thank you so much! So glad you enjoyed it!!
I loved this recipe! Probably the best chicken I’ve ever made. The dipping sauce was so good I made extra. I let my chicken marinate overnight and it was so perfect I think it helped it stay juicy. I don’t have a food processor so I used closer to 2 cups of walnuts and just smashed them up best I could. I think they would have been better in a bit smaller pieces so if you have a food processor it’s worth using.
I used leftover chicken in a salad and used the dipping sauce as the dressing. YUM!
Wow, thank you so much! That makes me so happy to hear!
Yesterday I tried your pecan crusted chicken recipe. Wow it was divine! So healthy and delicious. It was soo good that I couldn’t wait to take some pics. Thanx✌️🥰
Thank you! That’s amazing to hear!
I made this with regular plain yogurt and just seasoned Italian breadcrumbs because that’s what I had. Marinated over night. Came out so good, juicy, flavorful. Thanks Yumna!
Love the sound of that! You’re so welcome!
I made this for dinner and it was SO good. Probably one of my favorite chicken dinners. I let the chicken marinade overnight and I think that helped with the flavor like the recipe called for. I will 100% be making this again and again. The pecan crust made it sweet salty and crunchy. So yummy
Yay!! That’s amazing to hear. Hope you continue to enjoy!