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!)
Just like the chef said! Delicious, crispy, moist chicken tenders with no mess! I’ll make this again.
Wahoo! Thanks so much for the great feedback Tad! N x
I don’t usually leave comments for recipes, but this one was SO easy and came out SO delicious. I added some harissa and garlic powder to the dredge and it was delish. Note that this also works Great with coconut flour or gluten free flour 🙂
That’s great to know Alyssa!!! N x
I would like to try this with thin sliced breasts, any idea how long I should bake them? I love the tenders so much!
Hi Jean – the same time, use breast cut into 2/3″ / 1.5cm thick slices, lengthwise. N x
What oil spray do you use? I have Pam in the pump bottle, but it has grain alcohol in it & I’m afraid that will leave a funny taste. (I have tried a pump bottle that you refill at home but it just kept getting clogged all the time.)
Hi Kimberly, I just buy the spray olive oil from the shop. If you can’t get it, just drizzle with oil 🙂 N x
I used coconut oil spray and it worked great! Didn’t taste weird at all
Best oven tenders I’ve ever put on my mouth!
Winner winner chicken dinner! Thanks so much Anna! N x
Recipe worked out perfect! My husband and I loved these so much – delicious!
Winner winner, chicken dinner! I’m so happy they were a hit Jason!
These were the best oven “fried” chicken tenderloins I’ve ever made or fried in general. So tender and flavorfull, I will make them again and again. The honey mustard sauce was awesome too. I recently purchased a bottle of honey mushard and was going to just use that but when I read the ingredients (no. 1 being high fructose corn syrup) I thought no, I’ll take an extra few mintues to make this and it was so delicous!
It’s so much more satisfying to make your own too Elizabeth!! N x
This is great! Followed exactly. Maybe could use a little more salt or spicy seasoning but otherwise perfect. Thanks!
Hi, I want to make this tonight, I loathe mayo, could I use sour cream. Sorry if this is a repeat question, I didn’t have time to look through all the comments. So glad I found your website, you have some great looking recipes, that seem very achievable.
Hi Chastity, you can’t really taste the mayo in this recipe, it’s just used to help stick the crumbs. If you want, you can sub natural yogurt or sour cream – N x
I made this last night with the sour cream, it tasted great and was super easy to make. I am so happy I found your website. I love the way you show the process in pictures, I will be using one of your shrimp recipes tomorrow. Nagi, you have a true gift and a new devotee!
It’s a keeper. I didn’t have chicken so I used what I had and it was turkey.
I made it to accompany a nice colourful salad and drizzled Balsamic all over the salad as well as the turkey.
Yum! Sounds fabulous Leilani!
Hi Nagi, these are fantastic both my girls loved them.
Could I freeze the chicken in the marinade?
Thank you
Yes 100% Holly! N x
This is my go to recipe for chicken strips, the whole family loves them. They have great flavor without the honey mustard sauce, but we like that too.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Kim!!
Best baked chicken tenders I’ve ever made. Thank you so much for the amazing recipe 🙂
WOOT! Winner winner chicken dinner! N x
Toasting the Panko is genius! I was always overcooking my chicken waiting for it to brown. I was to lazy to open a new jar of Dijon to add to what I had. I will add it all for sure next time. I love chicken Katsu and this will be perfect for it. So happy I found your site!
Very good egg mixture and panko coating
Thanks Sarah! N x
Goggled to find this and was not disappointed!! Followed the exact directions and they were fantastic! Going to be a regular item in this household, thank you.
Wahoo!!! I love hearing this Crystal!
Do you raise the temperature from 200 to cook chicken?
Hi Barbara, cook the chicken at 200 🙂
Made this for dinner last night, loved them. This will be my go to for the grandkids! So easy and delicious! Thanks Nagi!
I’m so glad they loved it Angie! N x
I can not cook.
Ok, I can fry or grill a decent Irish breakfast & boil a potato. But anything even mildly complex…no!
So, how the hell are you so talented as to, first, make me think I could make Crispy Oven Baked Chicken Tenders and, second, actually make them. Plus I added sweet potato wedges alongside – inspired by your recipe.
My 4 kids still don’t believe I actually made those tenders. 8 year old ate so many I don’t know how his belly didn’t explode. 13 year old still wants to know where I bought them because they were the best he’s ever tasted (the fact the the ‘teen’ is even communicating with me is a further miracle you are responsible for!).
Now, the pressure to try another recipe 😐 & you have so many delicious recipes on here.
Simply put: thank you!!
You nailed it Jh!!!!! I’m so glad you gave it a go!
These came out great! My 14 year old, who helped me make them and who loves chicken tenders gave them a thumbs up! I didn’t spray them with oil as I don’t have any oil spray, but will try that next time.
Winner Winner chicken dinner! Sounds like a hit Julie!