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!)
I have a couple of questions:
If I wanted to cook twelve chicken legs, how would the recipe of ingredients change to accommodate the bigger pieces of chicken and number of chicken pieces?
Do you recommend the same recipe procedures for these larger pieces of chicken?
Have you ever used anything other than chicken breast tenders?
Thanks!
Hi Donna – my concern is that larger pieces of chicken ill take longer to cook which will result in extremely brown crumbing 🙂 So unfortunately I don’t recommend this method for larger pieces, sorry to disappoint!
Thanks for the recipe! I just made these today and my husband and I LOVED them! They are super easy too! It was a great idea to bake the crumbs by themselves first. And then I also liked how you specified which hands to use to dip the chicken in the batter and in the crumbs. I always make a mess breading chicken, but not this time!
Woo hoo! So glad you like this Cassie, thanks for coming back to let me know! N xx PS You should have seen ME when I used to bread chicken before I figured out the left/right hand system….
My husband says these are the perfect chicken tenders. Finally found a recipe I would go back to!
Awesome! So glad to hear you enjoyed it Danielle, thanks for letting me know! N x
Hey do you think these would be ok to bake ahead of time and then reheat? How would you recommend reheating them?
Hi Suz! Added a new note 4 on making ahead tips – I’d recommend not because tenderloins are very lean 🙂
Simple perfection!
Your recipe is spot-on!! Clean hands, crispy perfectly cooked chicken, great flavour…what more could you ask for?
Very straightforward and easy to make. I will never buy frozen again. TY!!!
So glad to hear that! Thanks so much for letting me know! N x
Okay, I just made these for lunch for myself and my very picky 3 year old and they were awesome! Super delicious and very easy to make! I absolutely loved it! Thanks for the amazing recipe. 🙂
That’s fantastic Alexandria! So glad to hear you and your child enjoyed this! N x
Oh my goodness! I can’t even handle how good these are! I loved the mustard, the mayo, the panko….THE CLEAN HANDS!!!!!
I did add garlic powder, chili powder and onion poster to batter…. oh my, so good! Thank you for this recipe!
I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this Rhonda! Thanks so much for letting me know! N x
Ohhh my goodness. Just made these with boneless skinless thighs and they are to diiiiiieeeee for. *drool*
I added a dash of smoked paprika to the batter and omitted the mustard and mayonnaise, and added dried parsley to the breading crumb and it turned out phenomenal! Thanks for the tip to toast the crumb. I am forever changed! 🙂 ha ha
HIGH FIVE! So glad you enjoyed it Brooke, thanks for letting me know! N xx
Wow! I stopped deep trying years ago and three years ago cut out all dried foods period. This was such an awesome treat as they were so super crispy. We ate with some baked oven fries and were in love! Absolutely a keeper….and using chicken tenders instead of breasts made this so easy!. Thank you!
Fantastic to hear Traci! Thanks so much for letting me know you enjoyed it! N x
The best breaded chicken I’ve ever had or made! And it was a huge hit with my 18 month old! I gave him a bite as a pre dinner snack and now he is following me around saying ‘moe kiki, moe kiki’ I have since given him three more good sized pieces, but the nagging persists!
Woo hoo! So glad you enjoyed this Jessica, thanks for letting me know! N xx
These sound great. I love chicken recipes. Thanks for sharing this. Simon
So glad you enjoyed this Simon! Happy new year! N x
Will this work if you want to fry them? Should I still toast breadcrumbs or omit the step. Thanks:)
Hi Lefkie! No need to toast the breadcrumbs if you want to fry them. They will be even tastier if you fry!
I made this recipe for a holiday party. I will definitely use it again it was delicious. However I tried to leave the oven temp the same and it seemed it would have taken my chicken forever to back. I raised the temp and they were still delicious. Thank you, its a keeper!
Woo hoo! So glad you enjoyed it Marilyn, thanks for letting me know! 200C/390F is pretty hot, is there a possibility your oven is a bit cool? 🙂 N x
Hi! Recipe looks great. I see the temp to bake the breadcrumbs is 390 but what about baking the chicken- what temp? Thanks!!
Hi Ali! Just leave the oven at the same temp for the chicken. 🙂 N x
Hi Ali! Just leave the oven at the same temp for the chicken 🙂 N x
OMG TRULY CRISPY! Brilliant, Genius, Less Messy! You rock!
So glad to hear you enjoyed it Nikki, thanks for letting me know! N x
Thank you, thank you. Wanted to make homemade chicken tenders and this was the first recipe to pop up. I made mine more into nuggets so had to double the batter. I was able to try both pretoasted and not on the breadcrumbs, considering I kept burning the pre, I think I prefer the not.
I used honey mustard and added a bit of paprika. PHENOMENAL!!!
Fantastic! So glad to hear you enjoyed it Crystal, thanks for letting me know! N x
These were the best! So tender and not at all dry. The only complaint was there wasn’t enough so will make double next time.
AWESOME! I’m so glad you loved it Vicki, thanks for letting me know! N x
Hi, I was wondering if I can refrigerate the chicken fingers breaded the day before baking them. Will the taste and crunchy breading be ok.
Hi Sue, I don’t think it will come out quite as crunchy but it will still be crunchy 🙂 I tried it with salmon the other day and it was still much crunchier than not toasting the breadcrumbs, but not quite as crunchy as when breaded on the day of baking. Reason being that the breadcrumbs soak up moisture from the chicken.
My boyfriend and I made this for the first time tonight it was was an absolute huge success. It is SO delicious, and the ranch recipe was perfect .Thank you so much!!!!
Hi Jane! I’m so glad you enjoyed this, and thank you for taking the time to let me know! N x
I made this tonight because I had chicken I needed to cook and my 3 year old is the pickiest eater. Well, he loved it and I think it’s delicious. Thanks !
Hi Allyson! I’m so glad you and your son enjoyed this, and thank you for taking the time to let me know! N x