This pistachio crusted chicken is crunchy, juicy, and easy to make. It takes only thirty minutes to get ready, and you only need a few ingredients. A crunchy nut coating on chicken is an absolute must-try!

One of the nicest ways to cook chicken is to coat your chicken in ground nuts like this crispy Pistachio Crusted Chicken recipe. We’re grinding roasted pistachios to a finer, breadcrumb-like texture, then tossing with parmesan cheese and seasonings. This mix is what coats the chicken cutlets, which we’ll cook until they’re golden brown. It’s a perfect weeknight dinner and you can pair it with just about any side you like.

Reasons to Love This Pistachio Crusted Baked Chicken

This is just the best pistachio crust. The roasted pistachios are ground into a fine powder, which is about the consistency of breadcrumbs. This is then tossed with parmesan and a seasoning blend of onion powder, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. While the chicken is baking, the pistachios release the natural oils, crisping up for a crunchy bite and keeping the chicken nice and juicy.
This chicken recipe is so easy to make. Oven baked chicken is really simple to make. You only need to dip the chicken in an egg wash, then cover it in the pistachio coating, and bake it. We like flipping the chicken cutlets halfway through baking to get a lovely golden brown color on both sides!
This is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser. Kids love chicken nuggets and similar dishes. Well, this is healthier than nuggets, and will keep the kids just as happy. You can also cut the cutlets down to a more kid-friendly size if need be. It goes great with plenty of sides, too, like baked Mashed Potatoes, Cauliflower Pasta, or Cheesy Asparagus.
This is a healthier option than pan frying and deep frying. You can enjoy crusted chicken, using less oil, with a few spritzes of your favorite oil spray. We’re getting some health benefits from the use of nuts over flour, too.
This dish is really great for leftovers, too!

You'll Need

Chicken: Of course, the star of the show is chicken breast. We’re using boneless, skinless chicken breast. Simply cut this down to cutlet size, or cut it into strips or nuggets. You just need to adjust your cooking time for different sizes.
Pistachios: We’re using dry, unsalted, slivered pistachios for this recipe. You can use a food processor to grind them down to a fine, breadcrumb-like texture.
Parmesan cheese: The king of cheeses, best grated fresh off the block to help melt into and toast the crust. While you can use pre-grated parmesan, we strongly prefer the fresh stuff.
Seasonings: For this recipe, we’ve chosen onion powder, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, salt, and black pepper.
Eggs: The key binding agent for helping the pistachios to stick to the chicken cutlets.
Cooking spray: This provides an even layer of oil over the pistachio coating, helping them crisp up.

How to Make Pistachio Crusted Chicken

To make this pistachio parmesan crusted chicken recipe, you only need to follow a few simple steps. It’s even easier with a food processor to quickly reduce the pistachios to crumbs. You could also use a high-speed blender, but it will take a little longer to achieve the desired texture.

Prepare Pistachio Coating and Chicken

First place your pistachios in the food processor.
Pulse until they resemble breadcrumbs.
Add ground pistachios to a bowl with parmesan and seasoning.

Take a separate bowl and whisk your eggs until smooth.
Dip a chicken breast cutlet into the egg wash, allowing any excess to drip off into the bowl.
Coat each side of the breast cutlet in the pistachio parmesan mix.

Bake Pistachio Crusted Chicken

Once you’ve coated your chicken, lay each coated piece of chicken on a wire rack on a baking sheet.
Bake your chicken cutlets until they are golden brown. Flip at the halfway mark to ensure even cooking.

Expert Tips

Make ahead. You can bread your cutlets and freeze them in a single layer on a sheet pan until firm, then store them tightly wrapped in a freezer safe bag between sheets of parchment paper. They will keep like this for up to two months. You can bake them from frozen when you’re ready to eat. All you need to do when you want to eat is add about five to ten minutes of cooking time.
Use roasted pistachios. This recipe works best with roasted nuts. If you can’t find pistachios that are already roasted, buy unroasted pistachios and toast them at home in a 350˚F oven on a sheet tray for about 8-10 minutes. Allow to cool before processing.
Use a wire rack. The wire rack in the oven is a subtle, but important, way to get the crispiest chicken ever. It allows more heat to circulate around the chicken than just resting on parchment paper would, and causes any excess grease to drip off the chicken and onto the paper.
Allow your chicken to rest. This is probably one of the most important home cooking tips. You’ll need to give your chicken about 10 minutes after removing it from the oven to rest. This helps the juices to settle in the chicken flesh and ensures you enjoy some moist, juicy chicken.