This Everything Bagel Chicken Is, Well, Everything
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Everything bagels are so clearly the best flavor of bagel, one almost feels bad for the other bagels. Does a poppy seed bagel sit in the bagel bin thinking, “How can I ever compete with that? I have poppy seeds, but that bagel has poppy seeds, sesame seeds, onion, garlic, pretzel salt, and pepper.” Fortunately, bagels don’t have feelings, and we can all continue to buy and eat everything bagels without having to worry about other pastries feeling left out.
In fact, we can even buy everything bagel seasoning and use it to make all our other food taste like everything bagels, too. It’s good on bread, of course, but you can even use it to season chicken before baking it. The seasoning gives the chicken all that great roasted garlic and onion flavor of an everything bagel, and a fantastic crunch from the poppy and sesame seeds.
Pat your chicken breasts dry with paper towels, then brush them with melted butter and sprinkle a little bit of salt on top. You won’t need as much salt as you would normally use for seasoning chicken breasts, because the everything bagel seasoning will probably have salt in it. Sprinkle the chicken liberally with the bagel seasoning, then flip all the breasts over and repeat the butter-salt-seasoning process on the other side. For four chicken breasts, you’ll probably use about a quarter-cup of the bagel seasoning.
Bake the bagel-seasoned chicken for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until it’s cooked through.
Clearly, everything bagel-flavored chicken calls for a cream cheese sauce. While the chicken cooks, whisk together melted butter and some more everything bagel seasoning with half a cup (or half a standard 8-ounce block) of softened cream cheese and some milk or half-and-half to thin it out into a more pourable consistency. Then mix in some fresh diced scallions, and you’ll have a sauce that basically tastes exactly like scallion cream cheese and is the perfect complement to chicken that tastes like an everything bagel.
Get the recipe: Everything Bagel Chicken with Scallion Cream Cheese Sauce from 40 Aprons
More Delicious Everything Bagel-Spiced Recipes from Kitchn