Almond-Crusted Chicken with Lemony Olive and Black Bean Relish is a family-friendly weeknight meal, but also makes a perfect stay-at-home date night meal!
I’m a truly lucky girl. Now in addition to being able to cook eggs (at least two different ways), my multi-talented hubby can make a pretty fantastic breaded chicken cutlet. (Don’t think I’m being sarcastic – I am being absolutely serious! He can also do laundry, mop a floor until it sparkles, pick out the prettiest flowers in the world for me, and develop and maintain a computer network.) He doesn’t make breaded chicken cutlets very often, but I always get excited when he does; not only is it a nice break for me, but it’s always delicious and has definitely become one of both of our favorite meals. (If you’re curious as to how he learned how to make it, he looked it up on YouTube to surprise me one day! Adorable, right?)
I was recently invited to participate in Kitchen PLAY’s January Progressive Party. Once I found out that Lindsay Olives was sponsoring the event, I knew that I wanted to incorporate olives into one of our favorite meals: you guessed it, Mike’s Breaded Chicken Cutlets! For something a little different, almond meal was a delicious nutty addition to the breading in this recipe. In the past we’ve experimented with other coatings, and crushed pretzels, potato chips, or cereal (like cornflakes or even honey nut cheerios) are also favorites of ours. We usually like to serve our chicken cutlets with lemony salad greens, and this relish with olive and black beans is a nice play on the lemony flavor.
These olives are delicious, and I liked that they are much less salty tasting than the olives I’m used to from the gourmet olive bar at the grocery store. Olives, which are rich in antioxidants, are a great way to get more fruits/veggies (yup, olives are technically fruit, but often thought of as a vegetable) into your diet. And this time of year, who isn’t trying to get a little healthier?
This recipe is a crowd-pleaser! You may want to leave off the relish if you’re serving it to little ones, but then again, I’ve known a few toddlers who actually love olives and the bright flavor of lemon, so it just depends on personal preference. It also makes a lovely meal for date night dinner at home!
- 1½ (16 oz) cans black beans (no salt added), rinsed and drained
- ½ cup pitted whole black olives, drained and coarsely chopped (I used Lindsay’s Italian Seasoned Pitted Olives)
- 1 small red onion, diced
- ½ bunch parsley, minced
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 pinch black pepper
- 6 tablespoons almond flour
- 6 tablespoons plain breadcrumbs
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 4 (4-6 oz) chicken breast cutlets
- Avocado oil, for shallow frying
- For the relish: Stir together all ingredients and refrigerate until serving.
- For the chicken: In a shallow dish, combine the almond flour, breadcrumbs, thyme, salt, and pepper. In a second shallow dish, beat the egg with 2 tablespoons of water. Put the flour in a third shallow dish. Coat each chicken cutlet first in flour, then in egg, then in breadcrumbs, gently shaking off any excess.
- Coat the bottom of a large skillet with oil over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until golden on both sides and fully cooked in the center (there should be no pink), about 2 to 4 minutes per side.
- To serve: Spoon the relish onto the chicken and serve immediately.
Lindsay Olives is also sponsoring a delicious giveaway at Kitchen PLAY. Simply recreate this or any recipe from this month’s Progressive Party, post about the experience on your blog, and provide a link to your post on Kitchen PLAY to enter. All qualifying bloggers in each course will be entered to win $50 and an assortment of Lindsay Olives products shipped directly to each winner (valued at an additional $15). To qualify, participants must reside in the US.
The deadline is January 31, 2012. Please review the complete contest rules before entering. Good luck!
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Kitchen PLAY and Lindsay Olives; as always, opinions stated are my own.
I’m Faith Gorsky, the writer, cook, and photographer behind An Edible Mosaic. My goal is to inspire you to get in the kitchen and try something new! Feel free to 
I love the idea of coating the chicken in some almond meal. I like to use ground pecans a lot for that, but next time I think I’ll try almonds.
I bet this relish would be great in tacos.
The cutlets look absolutely perfect!!! Almond meal adds so much yum to meaty dishes!
A wonderful dish! That relish looks and sounds great.
Cheers,
Rosa
Beautiful chicken dish Faith! I’m putting this on our dinner menu soon. We love black olives and I’m always looking for new recipes with chicken for dinner. Love the photos;-)
I love everything about this! The chicken looks awesome and I bet I could eat the relish by itself. YUM!
Beautiful presentation, Faith.
Since my husband has celiac, I buy corn chex or rice chex which are gluten-free and make crumbs from them. I also use dehydrated mashed potatoes, ground nuts, corn meal, any kind of chip, crushed and actually anything, I can get my hands on.
I am proud of your hubby for his chicken.
LOVE your blog; just found it and your recipes and pictures are Beautiful! Have a lovely new year. I am so excited to explore more of your site.
black beans and olives … it\’s so crazy, it just might work!! cheers!
Mike does some great work! Bill isn’t much of a cook, but thank goodness he loves doing laundry.)
Hi, the bean and lemon combo looks refreshing yet substantial.
Looks yummy… and I love the story about your husband. My DBF is amazing at housekeeping too… and makes stellar brownies :)
Oh Faith, what a sweet man you have. :-) I love that he looked up the recipe on YouTube. I love chicken cutlets and almond meal is a marvelous addition. It would be so crispy and nutty. Mmm. :-)
Love the flavor combinations, looks like a fantastic meal!
Mike did a great job! He picked a great recipe and it looks delicious!
Oh yes! Now I need to get Ryan into the kitchen to make me this for dinner! Thank you for sharing with me. It is approaching dinner time, and my stomach is growling! I hope you are doing well and enjoying this first week in the New Year!
I love olives! This looks delicious! GORGEOUS photos, Faith! I just want to jump into the scene!
Scrumptious dish. The flavors and ingredients sound awesome. And gorgeous shots!
Ooohm this looks delish! I’ve done walnut crusted chicken but not almond. I’m sure it is wonderful! And that relish is so creative. Yum!
it looks really delicious it would be a perfect meal for tomorrow!
Your husband sounds like a sweetie, and such a talent :) This is a wonderful dish all around, and I love that relish!
Happy 2012 Faith!
love the sound of this relish! thanks for sharing
What a tasty dinner! And yes I am trying to get healthier-although I don’t know if that will work! But I’m trying! :P
Happy Tuesday!
although olives are not my friend, i love the idea of that relish atop a slab of chicken! this is a terrific meal, faith. :)
Faith…Isn’t it fabulous when men are in the kitchen…especially if they clean up after themselves ;o)) Mike seems to have made you quite a lovely and tasty dish. Love the black beans as part of the relish.
Here’s wishing you both the very best in the year going forward. I hope that all your projects come to a fruitful conclusion ;)
Ciao for now,
Claudia
The olive and black bean relish looks great! I bet it’d be nice stirred through pasta.
I love the idea of using almond meal on the crust…and great paired with the black bean relish.
Hope you are having a wonderful week Faith :-)
I love chicken cutlets with a little breading… a really great quick meal… and yes, even better if someone makes it for you! I think blackbeans and olives are a great combo… never thought of it before!!
I love the flavours of olive, a lot!
This dish makes lovely dinner, I am sure!
He sounds like a great guy! The chicken looks great and I bet the almond meal added nice flavor. My family loves olives and would go nuts for your olive relish.
How sweet! It’s nice to have someone helping out with dinner. The cutlets look so crunchy and delicious with your olive relish!
Wishing you and your hubby a happy and prosperous new year! Oh….how sweet of him to help around and even cook! So happy for you. Oh, I think I must send my hubby over to him to be trained….haha. Love that breaded chicken. The whole dish looks very delicious.
Super delicious looking. I’ve been wanting to do some breaded chicken in a healthier fashion. This works for me.
Aw, you are such a blessed lady to have a husband like Mike! Very very sweet to figure out how to make those breaded chicken cutlets for you. :) I like how you did these with almond meal–sounds just delish!
Hi Faith! We found your wonderful site through Lazaro!
You can a beautiful site filled with such mouth watering dishes! This chicken just screamed out to me…Mmmm so delicious!
Happy New Year!
~Tammy & Catherine
What a great recipe for a family dinner! Even better, I have all these ingredients in my pantry right now. Must try this! Thanks for sharing!
Hi ! I just cooked this delish recipe and joined the Kitchen Play Progressive Party this month featuring Lindsay olives. Made a slight change, though. Instead of the almond crust, I omitted it due to nut allergies, and roasted the chicken for a crisp outer layer. Hope it’s ok. Thanks for this recipe! Here’s my link :( Asian in America)
http://asianinamericamag.com/2012/01/chicken-with-lemony-olives-black-bean-relish/#more-1196
Elizabeth, Your version sounds delicious — hope you enjoyed it!