aka Boneless Wings, Chicken Strips or Chicken Nuggets - Make Chicken Tenders at home Quickly and Easily
Depending on your age, bite-sized morsels of crispy-coated chicken are either chicken nuggets or boneless wings or strips. Around our home, we just call these delicious.
White meat is reminiscent of classic nuggets or strips in a basket with fries and a pot of honey mustard dipping sauce or passed through a drive-thru window.
These tenders, made with dark meat, like boneless thighs, more closely resemble boneless wings.
Whichever cut of chicken you choose to use, the real secret to tenders is in the breading.
The 3 Layers of Breading Chicken Tenders
Seasoned Flour
Flour drys the surface of the meat and gives the egg dip something to stick to. It is also the foundation layer of flavour. Season well!
Egg Dip
In this recipe, I use only egg whites. They lend themselves to a light and crispy coating and eliminate the added fat and heaviness of breadings made with egg yolk, making this recipe a little more heart-healthy. Cornstarch adds volume to the egg whites and helps tenderize the chicken.
Breadcrumbs
The breadcrumb layer is all about the crunch. For this, there is no better choice than panko. However, panko can be too crispy sometimes, so I like to use a ratio of 2 parts panko and 1 part Italian bread crumbs for the perfect texture balance.
Relax - Breading Chicken Tenders doesn’t have to be an endeavour.
Yes, breading can be a messy, time-consuming process. It involves multiple dishes and forks and painfully slow dipping, one piece at a time, from flour to egg to bread crumbs and coating everything in your kitchen (including your fingers) in a goopy, bready batter. By the time you get to the eating part of dinner, you’re generally sick of looking at what you’ve made. With this recipe for chicken tenders, I’ve streamlined the process to make it easy and frustrationless.
My best tip is that the vessels you use for breading matter.
A bowl, a sheet pan and a cake pan = the perfect combination
The Bowl for Flour Dredge
Seasoned flour goes in a bowl. Add your chicken pieces, all of them at once, and toss them to coat them thoroughly with flour.
A Sheet Pan for the Egg Dip
The egg mixture goes into a sheet pan. I use a 9” x 13” size pan for this recipe, which works perfectly. Take the chicken pieces from the flour, shaking off any access, and arrange them in the pan with the eggs. You should be able to fit all the pieces into the pan in a single layer at the same time. Once the chicken is nestled in the egg, give the pan a gentle shake to ensure the bottoms of each piece are well coated. Use a fork or tongs and flip each tender over to coat the other side. Shake gently again to thoroughly coat the second side.
A Cake Pan for Bread crumbs
Bread crumbs go into a cake pan. Transfer tenders from the egg to the breadcrumbs a few at a time—as many as can fit in a single layer with a bit of room between each. In my pan, I fit a dozen at a time. Shake the pan to coat the tenders on all sides. Flip if necessary and shake again. Give them a gentle pat to ensure the breading is firmly stuck to the chicken.
Voila! Quickly breaded and almost entirely tedium-free.
Bake don’t fry
Let the tenders rest for 30 minutes in the fridge before cooking. Resting allows the layers of the breading process to bind into a perfect coating. You can leave them overnight if you like.
Preheat the oven to 425F
Lightly brush a sheet pan with oil. Arrange the tenders in a single layer. Give the pan a gentle shake, moving the tenders around on the oil. Flip each tender and shake the pan again.
Bake for 10-15 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Time will depend on how large the pieces you’ve cut are. Convection or air-fry always take less time to cook. I do mine on convection, and they are ready in 12 minutes. Be careful not to overcook. Dark meat is much more forgiving, but white meat will dry out quickly if cooked too long.
Dip, Dunk or Glaze
Tenders are great, hot or cold, as a snack, a meal, or part of a pub grub night. Serve them with your favourite dipping sauce, or season them with simple salt and pepper when they come hot out of the oven.
Boneless wings are a favourite in our house, so I like to use boneless, skinless thighs. When they come out of the oven, I immediately toss them in buffalo sauce or my favourite BBQ sauce, glazing them in sticky, finger-licking wingyness.
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