These crunchy baked chicken tenders are life changing! The secret to truly golden, truly crunchy baked breaded chicken is to toast the breadcrumbs in the oven first. Bonus: No dirty fingers with my quick crumbing technique!
This is a reader-favourite recipe included by popular demand in my debut cookbook “Dinner”!
Really crunchy Baked Chicken Tenders
There is no feel-good story behind these crunchy Oven Baked Chicken Tenders. Quite simply, I am yet to meet anything deep fried that I didn’t love, but a) my waistline can’t afford the real thing every time I feel like it; and b) I reserve deep frying for “special occasions”. Because… well, you know.
Mess, oil wastage, gluey fingers.
Waistline. Bottom expansion.
Etc etc.
It also irritated me no end that the breadcrumbs always came out splotchy, no matter how much oil I used.
So this is how I make baked crumbed chicken.
Baked breaded chicken – my way
Toast the breadcrumbs in the oven for just a few minutes. This is the path to truly golden, truly crunchy baked breaded chicken even with a short bake time (max 20 minutes for chicken tenders). PS Much MUCH easier than pan frying!
One dredge batter – the usual process for crumbing is flour then egg then breadcrumbs. For this quick ‘n easy recipe, I combine the egg with flour plus mustard and mayo for flavour + oil (attempt to replicate deep fried) to make a thick batter in which the chicken is dredged. This stuff is great glue for the breadcrumbs!
Clean fingers! Use tongs to transfer the batter slathered chicken into the breadcrumbs. Sprinkle over breadcrumbs to cover, press down to adhere. Transfer to tray. Marvel at clean fingers!!
Give it a light spray of oil, bake for 15 minutes and voila! This is what you get:
LOOK HOW GOLDEN THEY ARE!! Just imagine that crunch when you bite into the juicy chicken inside!
Dipping Sauces
It’s pictured above with a Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce. Just like Maccers. Only homemade. 🙂
Other Dipping Sauces: Try the Pink Steak Sauce from the Beef Kebabs, Sweet and Sour Sauce, Thousand Island, Tartare or even a classic Seafood Cocktail Sauce.
– Nagi x
Watch how to make it
This recipe features in my debut cookbook Dinner. The book is mostly new recipes, but this is a reader favourite included by popular demand!
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Crispy Oven Baked Chicken Tenders
Ingredients
Breadcrumb
- 1 1/2 cups panko breadcrumbs (Note 1)
- Oil spray
Batter
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp mayonnaise
- 1 1/2 tbsp dijon mustard (or other mustard)
- 2 tbsp flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Black pepper
Chicken
- 500 g/1 lb chicken tenderloins (or breast cut into 2/3″ / 1.5cm thick slices, lengthwise)
- Oil spray
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200C/390F.
- Spread panko on a baking tray, spray with oil (spray vertically to avoid blowing the panko off the tray), then bake for 3 to 5 minutes until light golden. Transfer to bowl.
- Place a rack on a baking tray (not critical but bakes more evenly).
- Place the Batter ingredients in a bowl and whisk with a fork until combined.
- Add the chicken into the Batter and toss to coat.
Crumbing (see video & photo in post)
- Pick up chicken with tongs and place it into the panko bowl.
- Sprinkle surface with breadcrumbs, then press down to adhere. Transfer onto baking tray. Marvel at clean fingers, repeat with remaining chicken.
- Spray lightly with oil, sprinkle with a touch of salt (optional). Bake 15 minutes (medium) or up to 20 minutes if gigantic. Any longer = dried out chicken.
- Remove from oven and serve immediately, with Sauce of choice (Honey Mustard pictured, see Note 2) and sprinkled with fresh parsley, if desired.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Originally published April 2015, updated with new photos, video, words in post. No change to recipe, though some minor writing tidying up has been done.
More crunchy crumbed chicken
A crunchy golden crumb takes any chicken from bland to delicious!
LIFE OF DOZER
That hopeful sparkle in his eyes…. (it was false hope) (Oh wait, I lied. I gave him a bite!)
vivian says
My husband and daughter liked these very well. So much better than frozen chicken strips from a box. I used a dip that I made for some kale fritters and it went well with these too. Thanks for another great recipe and the panko and batter technique. I am going to try this with zucchini too.
Kathy says
Hi Nagi
Can u freeze the chicken strips with batter on them?
michelle rodriguez says
Wow, these were good. My whole family loved this, which is saying a LOT. This is my first time posting a comment on a recipe, but I had to give credit to Nag.
Nagi says
That’s terrific to hear Michelle! Glad you enjoyed this! N x
Connor says
I’ve been looking for something like this for forever! One thing though- I do not like mustard at all, is there something I can substitute for it in the recipe- or just leave it out altogether?
Nagi says
Just leave it out Connor, it will be just fine! 🙂
Karen says
Would this work with cat fish steaks?
Nagi says
absolutely! Look up my homemade Filet O Fish Burgers, it uses this same technique for fish steaks! N x
jackie says
Really easy and so crispy. Great idea to toast the panco. Much healthier than frying and quicker.
Nagi says
That’s terrific to hear Jackie! Glad you enjoyed this! N x
Sheila says
Thanks again Nagi for this yummy recipe. Just baked today for lunch, it was easy and sooo yummy & crunchy!
Maya says
I followed the recipe mostly but made a couple changes to the batter and it turned out delicious! I added a tablespoon of ranch, 2 tblsp of corn meal instead of flour, and a tblsp of mild buffalo sauce. Thank you so much for this great recipe!
Nagi says
Love hearing that Maya! Thanks for letting me know! N x
Joseph Pickenpaugh says
AWESOME! I’ve also been trying to find a recipe like this for a long time. It turned out great– baking the panko crumbs was ingenious. Also love using tongs! 🙂
Thanks for the recipe!
Nagi says
That’s great! So pleased you enjoyed this Jospeh – N x
Angelique S says
Hands down the best baked chicken tenders recipe EVER!! I have been tying to bake chicken tenders crunchy my entire adult life, and I am 44 yrs old. The flour in the dredge is brilliant. We are so please with the results of this recipe. Thank you for sharing.
Me Mums Me Dad says
I didn’t bake the panko crumbs initially and it resulted in my chicken turning out white and not crunchy.
Forgive me for I have sinned. I will never skip another of your steps again.
Nagi says
That’s ok!!! Hope it was still tasty though 🙂 N x
Virginia Morgan says
My husband was so impressed with this recipe. It was so tasty and easy and I loved the prep. Chicken is moist and dip sauce great. He usually never eats the breast meat but he really liked this.
Kathy says
I’ve got my goto recipe now, yeah! I just love the one step dip mix, the crumbs stick so much better. And boy were they crunchie and moist. Thanks!!
Kathy says
The next day, I re-heated them in the toaster oven and they were wicked; crunchy yet moist.
Amy Safko says
I now have this recipe memorized my kids have asked for it so many times! Thanks.
Sam says
Wow! Your pictures really did the convincing, I’m making these tonight! I’ve been using an avocado based mayo do you think it will still do the job for this recipe? Thanks for sharing!
Mabel says
Thank you for sharing such an easy wonderful
Tenderly perfect recipe.
We don’t like mustard or mayo but decided to make the honey mustard and we all loved it.
We forgot to take pics when it looked perfect Lol
Now the picture shows the last four pieces.
* we double the recipe
Nagi says
I’m so glad! Thank you for letting me know Mabel! N x
Angie says
Can I use cod for this recipe? If yes, how long is the baking time?
Katherine Theleman says
A.B.S.O.L.U.T.E.L.Y perfect…… The magic is in the combination of the batter (never used flour before) and the pre-crisped bread crumbs. Raves from all. The honey mustard sauce was scraped out of the bowl too… Thank you for sharing. This one, like many of your recipes, will be filed under “permanet rotation”.
Casey says
This was the first RecipeTin Eats recipe I made, though I have drooled over quite a few. It turned out great.
I used two boneless, skinless chicken breasts (6 oz. each) that were cut the long way into cutlets. I used less panko since I wasn’t doing a pound of chicken, and it was fine.
The next time I make this, and there will definitely be a next time, I’ll probably season the panko with some dried herbs, as it could have been a bit more seasoned for my taste. DELICIOUS.
I told my sister (trained as a chef) about the “clean fingers” method. She hadn’t heard of it, but LOVED the idea. She usually does the “one hand wet, one hand dry” method. I don’t often get to introduce her to new techniques!
Thank you so much for the recipe, Nagi! And mine looked almost as good as yours did!
Angela R Doherty says
I made this for dinner last night using chicken breasts along with your Tomato Basil Rice. Both recipes are absolutely delicious! We’ll be eating this again. Thank you Nagi