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!)
Hello, would it be okay if I make this overnight (marinate and crumb the chicken) and then cook in the oven the next day? Thank you for a lovely recipe! Linda
Hi Linda, I would crumb just before cooking to ensure they stay crispy 🙂 N x
I have never posted a reply on a recipe. But this one deserves the pioneering. I didn’t even have Dijon mustard. I used yellow mustard and some garlic/herb seasoning with some kickin’ chx for heat. It came out great. And you taught me how to bread chicken so that it actually sucks AND has flavor. Thank you!!
My family loved this and ate every last piece. I can’t believe I never thought to use tongs before. Such a great idea!
This is an amazing recipe. Velveted the chicken first and had to cook up the second batch the next day. Whole family loved it. It was so easy and quick served with crunchy Asian salad.
Prepared this tonight and it was soooo good!! My husband loved it….telling me many times how good it was and not to change a thing about the recipe. He thought it was fried. Thanks for the delicious recipe!
Have these in the oven as we speak and it smells amazing. Was very easy too. I just realised I forgot to add the flour to the batter. Oops. Will post back to share if it worked ok or not! I also made the honey mustard with a freshly opened jar of hot English mustard instead of Dijon! Can’t wait to eat these.
Excellent idea, we both loved them. Very crunchy breading and moist and tasty inside, also loved the honey mustard dip. Love your recipes! Thank you 🙏
Best ever,the grandkids love them,always have increase the amount to satisfy them.
Hi Nagi,
I love this recipe and made this a couple of times now and both times my family loved it. In your post here, you said it is not suitable to freeze raw. I have also made your fish fingers recipe which is very similar to this one but you mentioned the fish fingers can be frozen raw. What’s the difference between the two that makes one freezable and one not freezable?
Thank you.
I just made this recipe for the first time and WOW, so good! After I browned the bread crumbs, I added some salt, pepper, parsley, garlic powder and paprika. I didn’t have the ingredients to make honey mustard, but I can see why it would’ve gone so well with it. Such an easy recipe that tastes so good.
Good Chicken Tenders! But the cook time was way off the chicken was still pink after cooking it over 20 minutes and didn’t need as much breadcrumbs.
Hi Sadie, sounds like you had massive tenders if that’s the case! They may just need slightly longer if you purchased large ones. N x
Ok so I’m one of those that loves breaded and baked things but usually avoids making them because well mess and time and did I mention mess.
Well neither of those is a problem. I seriously did marvel at my clean hands and well breaded chicken. It came out of the oven beautifully crispy on the outside and soft and juicy on the inside. This is definitely going to be my go to now.
I made this recipe last night, it was definitely a hit, and I have saved it to my favourite recipes. As I am vegetarian, I am unable to comment personally, but the feedback was good, thank you.
Delicious! I just cut up chicken breast and flattened them to the suggested thickness!
Can’t believe how juicy and tender the meat is with a good crunch to the coating and NO frying! Thankyou Nagi😋
Wahoo, sounds like you nailed it Lorien! N x
It was yammy
Crispy
Super easy
And you are right … the secret was in toasting the panko
LOOOOOOVED IT ❤️
Hi Nagi, loved this recipe, amazing flavours 😋 How long do you think the honey mustard sauce would last in the fridge for? Thanks
Oh wow! Finally a recipe that is BETTER than fried. Thank you for this! My husband was blow away. Going to use this same technique next time we make chicken parm and crispy chicken burgers! The only difference I noticed is that it took about 10mins longer to cook but I’ve gotten to know my oven and that is common. Anyways THANK you for a delicious recipe, your a crispy chicken genius.
Made these last night and they were super delicious, left overs for lunch today are almost just as good! Def recommend using the suggested dijon mustard! cant beat easy AND delicious!!
Can I use this chicken as Katsu curry? Thanks Nagi!
Yes you sure can Sophia! N x
Nagi, these were INCREDIBLE!! And the honey mustard sauce…my husband wanted to drink it! Lol! That should say it all! Let’s just say they’re company worthy! Thank you for such an incredibly easy & very tasty chicken tenders recipe! Kudos to you! LOVE your recipes!
You’re so welcome Mimi! N x