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!)
I have never liked chicken tenders, ever…not even as a kid. Now I’m in my 60’s and I’m loving these. Only because it said Dijon mustard and I thought “well I’ll give it a try”, and boy am I glad I did. Best ever.
I have made this several times now and it always comes out delish! It’s moist, flavorful and crispy.
delicious
So easy & delicious! I used 1/2 cup Italian breadcrumbs and 1 cup panko breadcrumbs because that is what we had. I will use this substitution again.
Very very good. Super easy sent to all my friends
Omg this is so good I used stuffing because that’s all I had.tonightim going to use panko bread to crumbs.i can’t believe how moist they came out ty so much great recipes .from California 😁
Yummy! This has been a family fave for a while now, so a thank you is in order! A healthier, crispier alternative to fried chicken tenders and my kids love ’em. Glad to have this as a stress-free, easy go-to dinner that’s always a hit. Thanks! 🙂
Family favourite, however found we needed to use more panko crumbs, otherwise delicious!
Have used this recipe countless times for whole chicken breasts. Always Easy and Delish.
One personal variant is to replace panko with crushed Ritz crackers. Either is great but Ritz tends to be lighter.
Delicious! Will make again!
Delicious! Thank you!
Delicious and very easy! Thank you.
These were absolutely delicious and I love that they came out super moist and crispy on the outside. Definitely will be making this recipe again.!!
Delicious. 10/10
Made with GF breadcrumbs and added dried herbs and seasoning to chicken mix. Had to bake GF breadcrumbs for at least 10 mins due nature of GF but was delicious. Nagi never fails!
Winner winner chicken dinner! So easy and good! I’ll double it next time. I did marinate the chicken in buttermilk brine overnight, which I think also helped them stay juicy. The cooking time was spot on.
Never really leave comments but felt I had to for this recipe!!!5 stars across the board- kids love chicken tenders but usually only deep fried/ eat out – they ate every single one of these and it was the first thing they ate on their plates ( 4 and 7) that is huge! Thank you. A keeper
I’ve made this recipe 3 times now and just can’t get over how juicy and delicious the tenders are. My family’s favourite chicken tender recipe by a mile. A must make!
I made this for dinner tonight in the air fryer. We have picky kids & we all loved this recipe! I only had Italian bread crumbs & it came out crisp & flavorful. I used chicken thighs & added salt to the bread crumbs. Love this recipe!
HI Nagi, thank you for an amazing chicken tender recipe. I wanted to try baking my chicken tenders versus frying them, and your recipe will be the only one I need, they are soo moist and flavorful!!!! Thank you xoxoxo
Made these on Sunday while watching football games. They were really good, I did use high quality Bell and Evan’s white meat tenderloins and toasted the panko but also used Kellogg Corn Flake Crumbs for added flavor. I do have a convection oven setting and used that they came out quite crispy but still moist inside. My Husband loved them and I will make them again. Thank you for posting this recipe.