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!)
love, love, love these chicken tenders, so good and the recipe was super easy to follow and prep time was quick. Thank you
No worries Karen! Thanks for leaving a comment! -Nx
I made this the other evening, didn’t make any changes to the recipe and it turned out AMAZING!! I shared the recipe with one of my co-workers and her 2 year old asked for seconds!! So good, I will be making this again!!
Perfect Cara!
Fabulous!! Family loved this recipe!! Woohoo easy and mess free. The 15 minute timer is perfect. Thanx honey for teaching an old dog a new trick☺
Awesome Barbara, I’m so glad they were a hit!
Would the recipe work without mustard in the batter (ran out!). Love your recipes Nagi x
Yes sure Vinita!
I have made it ample number of times. Everytime it turns out perfect and delicious!!! My kid Love love love it. Thanks Nagi
Another great recipe from TinEats. My picky 3 year old granddaughter and 14 month grandson loved your chicken fingers. My husband and I enjoyed the honey dijon sauce; ketchup for the young ones. I also recommend from this site the chicken shawarma , wild rice salad and beef ragu. Thank You Nagi.
Winner winner chicken dinner Betty!
Hi Nagi,
This recipe looks fabulous! I can’t wait to try it. But, I have a question? What is the temperature to bake the crumbs and what is the temperature to bake the chicken? Is it really 200 degrees for both?
Thanks so much!!!
Sure is Carol! Enjoy!
Mine are in the oven now at 390 degrees farenheight, can’t wait to try them. Thank you for the great recipe!
O.M.G. These were the BEST chicken tenders I have ever made. They are absolutely delicious! Thank you for this recipe! I will make these again and again!
That’s awesome to hear Kathryn!
Absolutely delicious! And a baked version too! I’m pleased as punch that I don’t have to deep fry these anymore. My local supermarket doesn’t sell oil spray so I just bought a plastic spray bottle and transferred some oil into it. Worked! Thanks so much for this recipe!
I’m so glad it worked for you Sherley!
LOVE that I don’t need to dredge in 3-4 items. Also, toasting the panko first is key (and you can use crushed croutons in a pinch) so this was good recommendation. I agree with Nagi’s cook time for perfection. That said, if you want to cook 5-10 minutes more for extra crispy or burnt, you totally can, just watch every few minutes. This is a good recipe for those that have trouble cooking due to disability and/or can’t stand for long time (put all main ingredients in a bowl and just stir, drop precut (from store) tenders in & stir. Put breadcrumbs in large flat container w/lid, drop chicken in and shake to coat quickly). I think this is the easiest and best crispy chicken tenders recipe so far due to that reason. Thanks very much so I can have affordable dish that seems like takeout!
Woah thanks so much for letting me know CaliG!
Thank you for these delicious recipes. I’m very happy with these recipes and have made the honey mustard chicken and sauce like four times now. They are good reheated also.
That’s awesome to hear Rose!
Hi Nagi,
I want to make this tonight but have no eggs. Do you think the batter will still work?
Hi Lena, I haven’t tried without eggs sorry – would love to know if it works though! – N x
Thank you, but I went and got some eggs. I didn’t want to take a chance. Strips came out great and the family loved them.
I just made way too many of these! Once they’re cooked, can they be frozen for later?
Hi Kristyna, you can freeze and then thaw and reheat in the oven – N x
These were great!! Honey mustard sauce was delicious too! Thanks for the recipes-they’re keepers!
You’re so welcome Stacey!
THANK YOU! I’ve tried many recipes for oven-baked chicken tenders that claimed they’d be crunchy — this is the first one that’s lived up to it! So thanks very much for the recipe. I’ll have fun experimenting with different seasonings for the batter. A+!
I’m so glad you loved them Elaine!
These are the best non-fried chicken strips I have ever had! They were pretty easy to make and satisfied my entire family! I did not have any oil spray on hand, so I toasted the crumb and baked the strips without it, and they still turned out great. Thank you for this wonderful recipe! I am going to try it on some flounder fillets next time.
I’m so glad you loved it Faith, it’s great on fish too!
I’m a single Dad of 3 & I love cooking… My oldest is my PICKY 16 year old daughter… I made this tonight & she had seconds & saidshe loved it… Thank you so much 👌👍👊
Wahoo that’s terrific Cameron!
Was looking for an oven (not fried) based way to make homemade tenders. Found this recipe on Yummly and immediately went to the kitchen and started! Oh they are to die for!!!!!! Definitely going to check out some more of your recipes!
Hi Nagi, I’ve got the family for lunch on Sunday – 11 of us and I’m cooking all your recipes 🙂 Was thinking I’d cook these tenders as a good option for kids & adults. If I do the batter Saturday night, and leave the chicken in the batter in the fridge overnight, then toast the breadcrumbs before adding and cooking, would that work best? Any tips would be gratefully received! Thank you.
Hi Cheryl, yes that would be perfect! I hope you love them!
Hi, any suggestions on a gluten free alternative to panic crumbs? I’ve heard quinoa flakes – you’re thoughts? Thank you!
Hi Tamara, I’m sure you can buy gluten free breadcrumbs made from gluten free bread. I haven’t tried with any alternative though sorry – N x
What did I do wrong? I combined the batter ingredients while waiting on the bread crumbs to toast. After adding the breadcrumbs, it made the batter clumpy and wouldn’t stick to the chicken. Was there supposed to be oil added to the batter? The intro notes indicate that there was however the recipe itself doesn’t have oil listed.
Hi Allison, the batter ingredients are kept separate from the breadcrumbs, the chicken is dipped in the batter then crumbed. The video above the recipe card should help you understand if you’re still confused – N x