Sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of the chicken breast and let sit at room temp for 15-30 minutes. During this time, preheat oven to 375° F and line a baking dish with foil or parchment paper. Set aside.
Combine almond meal, seasoning salt, and ground pepper in a bowl, then spread into a thin layer on a plate. Set aside.
Heat butter in a small dish in a microwave until melted.
Dip chicken into melted butter until both sides are coated. Then dip both sides of chicken breasts into almond meal mixture to evenly coat. Place on the prepared baking dish.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, depending on the thickness. Cook to a safe internal temp of 165°.
Remove from oven and let sit at room temp 5 minutes before serving.
Notes
Use nuts instead of bread crumbs. Nuts such as almonds, pecans or hazelnuts will work.
Use store-bought almond meal to save time. Alternately, you can chop or process whole nuts in a food processor to make your own.
Be sure to use almond meal, not almond flour, as the texture is better for crumbs.
I prefer chicken breast halves as they are thinner. This allows for more breading-to-chicken ratio and speeds up the baking time.
Bring chicken breasts to room temperature before baking for more even cooking.
Seasoning salts often contain sugar. Use one with no sugar to keep this a keto chicken recipe.
Baking at 375° will brown the nuts a bit. Typically I bake chicken breast at a lower temp, but recommend higher for this recipe.
Be careful to not overbake and dry out the chicken. Remove from oven as soon as it reaches an internal temp of 160-165°.
Let the chicken sit at room temp for 5 minutes before serving to continue cooking a bit and keep in moisture.
Serve baked breaded chicken quickly to keep breading from getting soggy.
How to store leftovers: Store in a sealed container in the fridge for 1 to 3 days. Freeze for longer storage.
How to reheat: Reheat in microwave for about 1 minute and 30 seconds on high. For more crunch and better texter, bake leftovers at 375 for about 10 minutes. Be careful to not overcook.