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 200°C/390°F (180° fan-forced).
- Toast panko – 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).
- Dredge batter – 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.
- Crumb – Sprinkle surface with breadcrumbs, then press down to adhere. Transfer onto baking tray. Marvel at clean fingers, repeat with remaining chicken.
- Spray & bake – 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.
- Serve – 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!)
Both of my boys are picky eaters and your chicken tenders got a thumbs up from both of them. I doubled this and had very few left, a rare event at our house. The kids dislike mustard, but I risked it because it appealed to me. The mustard flavor wasn’t overwhelming and gave it a slightly sweet taste. I will note, I had to bake longer than 10 minutes to get to 165, but they were still moist inside, crunchy outside. The prep wasn’t a hassle so this goes into regular rotation at our house.
Fantastic! I’m so glad to hear that Eileen, thank you so much for coming back to let me know! N x
Hi!
I just found your blog today and i´m already in Love even though i didn´t cook anything from it yet.
Do you have a recipe for Ranch Dip? I saw you have one for Ranch Dressing but i couldn´t find one for the Dip (for chicken wings). In Germany we don´t have Ranch Dip 🙁
Thank you!!!
Hi Bianca! I sure do! Here’s my recipe: 1/2 cup mayonnaise 1/2 cup sour cream 1/4 cup milk 2 tsp lemon juice 1/2 tsp dried dill
Makes 1 1/4 cups 1/2 tsp dried parsley 1/2 tsp dried chives 1 tsp garlic powder 1/4 tsp sea salt
1 Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl.
2 Mix well until lump free.
3 Serve as a dipping sauce.
Awesome! Always looking for good quick stuff. Also a creature of habit and sick with what I know. Made these let them cool and cut up put in a salad with our favorite goodies. Exellent! Thank you
Thank you Rob! I really appreciate you coming back to let me know! 🙂
Could I use cod cut into tenderloin size pieces for this?
Hi Jenny! Unfortunately I don’t recommend cod, it cooks faster than chicken and you need the bake time to get the crumb crunchy. Sorry to disappoint!
What could I substitute for mayo? I don’t like it, so I don’t keep any on hand. I don’t want to have to buy a full jar just for this recipe.
Any suggestions?
Thanks
Hi Mox! Use 2 tsp of mustard (extra) + 1 tsp melted butter. 🙂 That will be pretty close for this recipe!
Tried your recipe tonight and goodness! It was very delicious. Plus, no monster fingers!! My boys cleaned their plates and hubby went for seconds. This is bittersweet because I’m going to have to break up with bags of processed chicken from companies now… they’re not going to be too happy. LOL! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
I’m so glad you enjoyed this Darnesha! Thank you for letting me know! 🙂
I have an aversion to mustard. It’s just not my thing even when it’s the smallest amount… is there something I can replace it with? I am so excited to make these! I’m trying them this week! Also, I love your blog! It’s my go-to. 🙂
Hi Krista! So glad you love my blog, thank you! This sauce is really based on mustard, so I’d suggest using any other dipping sauce you love or even just plain ketchup! I LOVE this with ketchup!! 🙂
You solved 4 things I have always had trouble with.
1- Marshmellow Fingers
2-Getting Breading to stick to chicken
3- Evenly golden Breading
4- Crunchy Baked Chicken without over cooking
I have struggled with all four for years. Thank you!
And on top of that, the chicken tasted great!
I did brine my chicken in salt water for 4 hours to help keep it tender, moist and not stringy. I did not add the salt to the batter since the brining process added saltiness.
WOO HOO!! SO GLAD you enjoyed it Bryan, thank you for letting me know! And here’s to a future of NO MARSHMALLOW FINGERS!!! N x
I think my daughter will love these, can you freeze them? Would you freeze them befopr after cooking?
Hi Jayne! I would freeze these after cooking then reheat in a hot oven for just 5 minutes to reheat and make them crunchy again 🙂
We tried this with Pork and it works too! We lowered the temp to 375F and cooked for 20 min, I think. I used a meat thermometer, so I didn’t really watch the time.
And to add more veggies into the diet, I added minced leavy green veg — kale in my case — into the batter. Kiddo didn’t bat an eye eating it. I’ve tried adding minced red bell peppers on top of green veg too, and still works. 😀
Woo hoo!!! SO glad you enjoyed this with pork! What cut of pork did you use??
Ha, I’m not sure. Sorry, I don’t buy pork often.
They were disc shape and on sale. ?
THE RECIPE IS AWESOME I LOVE IT IM GOING TO COOK IT EVERY WEEK FOR MY KIDS LOL!
YAY!! So glad you and the kids loved it!!!
Thank you! These were delicious! I found I had to cook them closer to 20 min, but they came out perfectly.
Woo hoo!!! SO GLAD you loved it Michelle! N x
I never comment on web sites but u are amazing! I have been trying every “super crispy” chicken recipe for years and years and you’ve managed to achieve the impossible. And no marshmallow fingers is simply the cherry on top! Our tummies thank you
YAY!! So glad you loved it Megan and that you liked avoiding marshmallow fingers!! And am SUPER honoured you are taking the time to leave me this message!!! N x
This is great!! I’ve tried baked chicken strips many times but I loved this recipe. Better than frying.
The batter that I put the chicken in came out too thick so I added a splash of milk. It worked wonderfully! I also used chipotle mayo since I made some a few days ago… added a nice spicy kick!!! I was really wondering how they would cook so quickly but after 15 mins my chicken strips were tender (they were a bit thicker than yours so I added 5 mins). Thanks for the recipe!
I’m so glad you loved it Erika! Wow, what a compliment!! 🙂
Dear Nagi,
Thank you so much for this recipe!!! My family could not stop eating them!! They are crisp but tender and oh so tasty!! This recipe is definitely a keeper!! Thank you for the tips. Very helpful! I look forward to trying your other recipes!!
Happy Holidays!
Jessie
YES!!! I’m so glad you and your family enjoyed these Jessie!! Happy Holidays to you too! N x
Nagi,
Thank you so much for this delicious recipe. I can’t wait to try your others. Why aren’t you on tv? Or are you? Big fan. Huge! Domo Arigato.
Debbie
Definitely not!!! I’m just a little food blogger! I’m so glad you enjoyed this Debbie, thank you for your wonderful feedback!
Thank you, thank you, Nagi!
I found your blog a couple of weeks ago, I’ve already tried a few recipes and will try lots more! Your recipes and “how to” phototutorials are wonderful.
I tend to adapt recipes to my taste and to the ingredients I have to hand – this one I made for dinner tonight using turkey breast steak cut into strips and it was so delicious!! My little boys loved it too ?
Hi Carla! Thanks so much for your lovely message! 🙂 I’m glad you find the photo tutorials handy even though they aren’t the prettiest of photos and my hands are so weirdly pudgy and small. 😉 I’m glad you adapt my recipes to your taste and whatever you have, that’s what cooking is all about! 🙂 I bet this was just as lovely with turkey breast. And I’m so glad your boys loved it to!! N x
*Bowing* THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! Nagi, my chicken looks and smells delicious! I was waiting for my grandson to get out of the tub before we could eat. He out now! *singing* It’s time to eat!
Awwww, the thought of you with this chicken in the oven waiting for your grandson to join you for dinner warms my heart. 🙂 Thank you so much for your wonderful message Lori! <3
Hi,
Out of curiosity, is there anyway I can substitute the mayo for something else? Looking to cut the calories down…or anything else I could do to do that?
Thanks 🙂
Hi Nagi. Just want to say that I am so glad I stumbled on to your website! Your recipes and passion for food is amazing and I can’t wait to try all the recipes. BTW I got a question. I want to make these ahead and freeze before baking. Do you think it’ll work without ending up with a dry chicken since I’ll be baking from frozen. Thanks so much!
Hi Iris! Thank you for your lovely message! Yes, these work very well from frozen! You will need to add 8 to 12 minutes to the baking time (or thereabouts) so they are a deeper golden brown. The extra baking time is needed to defrost the chicken. Baking from frozen itself won’t make the chicken dry but I think people tend to overcook when baking from frozen, worried that it won’t be cooked enough! I tend to just cheat and cut one open to be 100% sure. 🙂 Hope you love it!