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!)
Plan to make this when our friends are over. We forgot to pick up spray oil, is there an alternative way? Or can we skip the oil? x
I made this tonight but with regular breadcrumbs. Batter was tasty and the perfect consistency for the chicken. The only problem I had was it was still very undone. I had to raise the temp to 450 and add 12 minutes (on top of the first 20). I will tweak around and see if I can elevate the pan to get more air flow. And I will pick up some Panko!
Hi Mimi, were you using large tenders? I can only assume they were larger and that’s why they took longer to cook – N x
Mmmmmmm
Awesome recipe ! Thank you
I’m so happy you love it!
Perfect recipe every time no matter what you change e.g. I use egg substitute, add garlic and/or onion powder to panko, use Just Mayo (made with bean sprouts ha ha) add Mrs Dash or Parmesan or sriracha to the Mayo and flour etc — crunchy and delicious with flattened or non flattened chicken breasts or pork chops.
Great to hear Christina!
I love the dijon taste and it turned out so crispy!
Awesome Andrea!
Wanted to make this tonight but don’t have Panko crumbs… can you make this with regular seasoned breadcrumbs?
Hi Celeste, you sure can ☺️
I did… they were delicious! Next time I’ll make them using Panko just to compare
The title of this recipe is so accurate. Super crispy and easy to make. The seasoning amounts and cooking times are also spot on. Thank you!!!
Thanks so much!
This sounds a great recipe and the crumbing method is brilliant. Nagi, is the oven temperature for conventional or fan oven?
Hi Esther – all oven types. – N x
Very good recipe & technique. I’ve got a suggestion that can make this foolproof, which is to brine the chicken pieces for an hour before breading them. That will ensure that they stay moist regardless of the bake time…all that will count is concentrating of the amount of toast one wants on the breaded chicken. If brining, the pieces should be patted dry after removing from the brine solution & before apply the coating.
Hi Olen, you can brine if you prefer but I find there’s just no need with this recipe ☺️
My kids kept asking for more!! I added parmesaean cheese to the Panko & omitted the Dijon per our preference but everything else was the same and these came out AMAZINGLY!!! I never thought to toast the panko and now I can’t wait to share that tip with others. The chicken remained crispy and juicy, not soggy or dry. It was so easy to follow and my hangs stayed clean !! Thank you
Is there a way to make these with less sodium??
Hi Pelin, you can always reduce the salt – N x
Love it! 5 stars all the way!
Thanks so much Laura!
I’ve made this recipe several times since finding it….it’s so delicious and simple! I have found that I need more bread crumbs than called for but that is likely because I have too many pieces of chicken to begin with.
I’m so glad you love it Tina!
Yummy! Followed recipe and they are the best oven chicken tenders we have ever had. Family loves them!
Wahoo! That’s terrific!
I find it easier to ‘toast’ the crumbs in a skillet. I can keep the crumbs moving so they toast evenly.
I’ve used this recipe more times than I can count. These are amazing! Toasting the panko beforehand results in super crispy tenders!
Side note, I put my batter ingredients into a bag, mix, and put the chicken straight into the bag so I don’t have to dirty another bowl. 🙂
Genius!!! I’ll do that next time! 🙌
I made these and even my ultra picky eater ate them with relish. In fact he wanted them for breakfast AND lunch the next day.
As an aside I browned my panko in a sauce pan which I then rinsed and used to make mac and cheese. As well I used one more spoon to keep my hands completely clean. After mixing the chicken in the batter with a spoon, I used this “wet” spoon to move each chicken piece to the crumb mixture. I used a second, clean spoon to coat, turn and transfer the chicken pieces to the baking rack – my “dry” spoon.” History has taught me my children know when my hands are too filthy to curb their wild heathen ways so the extra spoon was worth it.
😂 I love this!!
The Panko Chicken Tenders were a healthier option, so quick
and easy to make, and delicious. I was surprised the crust was so crispy with that coating batter. Toasting the crumbs 1st is brilliant! I will be following you and your recipes! Thank you!
These look amazing! Have you tried freezing them and reheating it in the toaster oven? (asking for a toddler who would like these for lunch!)
I have frozen these successfully and thawed them – reheated in an oven with a little spray oil (I imagine a toaster oven would work fine). You can even freeze them raw and cook fresh ☺️