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!)
Finally, the best baked chicken tender recipe I’ve had, delicious and easy! Thank you!
Instead of panko I used roasted garlic and parmesan dried mashed potato flakes turned out amazing
Wow! This works perfectly. Beautifully crispy, tender and moist. I also used this for barramundi and it worked just as well. So easy
The crispy baked chicken tenders were FANTASTIC! Followed the recipe exactly. I’ll definitely make again! Thank you!
Absolutely AMAZING. A huge hit with the kids. This recipe is a game changer. I used to fry chicken tenders on the stove top and use a ton of oil. Never again. Thank you so much! This recipe is a keeper. It is so good that my kids want it in my dinner menu rotation.
Cooked this for my wife. First time I’ve ever crumbed anything. Easy to follow recipe. It was delicious. Wife gave me 2 thumbs up!
I was so happy when I looked at my clean fingers. I loved reading the recipe and laughed a lot. Have not cooked them yet but they are ready to go into the oven. Thanks
Such a great recipe, the mustard sauce made all the difference! Thank you Nagi for sharing your recipes with so much love!
Easy recipe to follow and to get fantastic results. Super crispy fingers. Next time I’d add a little red pepper flakes or powder to egg batter. Browning panko crumbs was inspirational.
Oh my goodness! I love the recipe! I alway fried the tenders. You are absolutely right. No muss no fuss. I can’t believe they were fully cooked in such a short time. So moist! Thank you!
Nagi, you are my new hero. Thank you! Simple, quick, delicious!
Really good and crunchy. Do you think it would work for any veggie’s for my vegetarian daughter?
I was craving chicken fingers and wanted something less fattening than typical deep fried ones. These were PERFECT. I didn’t cook them on the rack but they turned out just fine on a cookie sheet with parchment paper. They were so easy to make. Thank you Nagi!
Soooo good and crispy! Kids and adults looooved these ❤️
Thanks Nagi!! Xx
My family absolutely love this recipe. I followed exactly. I would not change a thing
Perfect! Family is raving, they only want me to cook chicken tendies this way from here on out! Doubled the recipe and plenty for 6 people. Honey mustard dip is awesome, just added a pinch extra honey and mustard than what it calls for. Tastes it like Bojangles HM! Total home run, thanks so much for this healthy recipe. Toasting the breadcrumbs is a brilliant idea! Since I doubles the recipe it took about 6 minutes, took them out halfway to stir and cooked until golden brown. Winner winner!!!
Baked Crunch Nirvana!! My hubby loved these, and raved about your honey mustard sauce! Thank you for this great recipe!!
These came out terrific! Finally a great oven baked tenders recipe! (And I’ve tried quite a few!)
You had me at clean fingers. It was easy. The recipe has ingredients we always have on hand.
Thank you! Great entree or appetizer. I won’t change your recipe an iota.
I cooked these in my new air fryer for about 11 minutes at 400 degrees (F). SO good and the honey mustard sauce is incredible!
These are the best chicken tenders ! My kids loved them so much they wanted the tenders for school lunch the next day !
Thank you !