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!)
Now why aren’t we neighbors? Man, I am wishing these were my lunch today instead of a smoothie.
I love this post of reasoning and explanation… I also learned long ago one hand wet + one hand dry = no “marshmallow man” fingers! Great post and photos… delectable.
Hey Kevin! I want to be neighbors with you and Nagi! The downside might be that we would all gain weight! 🙂
I can’t even live in the same COUNTRY as Kevin. Too dangerous. I’d keep getting him to fedex food to me!
Great minds think alike….
As Dorothy said, there is NO WAY we could be neighbours. We’d become obese and die young of heart failure 🙂
Yes yes yes! Love this! Adore this! Thank you, Nagi!
I have always use crushed up corn flakes for my “un-fried” chicken. Why did I not think of using panko??? And the cooking the crumbs in the butter ahead of time. Genius!! I have some frozen chicken tender in the freezer so I know what I will be doing with them on Friday!! Rib-eyes tonight and using the leftover Easter ham for slow cooker ham and bean soup on thurs. WOW I feel all organized having meals planned for the next three days!
I am right there with you – love fried, love breaded but hate the mess so I LOVE this! What FABULOUS tips! These look like perfection!
Thanks Jen!! Now I am expecting to see something BREADED on your blog soon!
Yeah, I’m love/hate with deep frying too. Love the results, but doing it is a pain. Your idea of pan frying the bread crumbs is brilliant! Gotta try that. Whole recipe is brilliant, actually — really good. Thanks.
Thanks John! I feel honoured that you approve! 😉
I agree that toasting the panko crumbs is the key to the crunch texture. I have tried making my own chicken nuggets with this method and it was really good. Your photography is always stunning, Nagi!
Hi Holly! I am so glad to hear that someone else uses this method too!! It really is amazing what a difference it makes, isn’t it? Totally worth the extra 2 minutes of effort 😉
Oh Nagi, this is one of my favorite weeknight dinners – so easy to make and so full of crispy goodness! I love fried food too, but honestly with the baked panko, I never miss it. Your batter is quite different than mine – and fabulous! I love the addition of mustard. I’m always dipping my chicken tenders into mustard, so why not just add it to the coating?! Brilliant, as always 🙂
Hey Kathleen! I didn’t know you had a baked breaded recipe on your site, I’ve gotta go check it out!! 🙂
Hi Nagi! I’m with you on hating to deep fry! I started “oven frying” chicken and potato wedges for my kids when they were young because it is healthier. I like your batter application and will be trying these soon! On another note you REALLY need to check out the food blog Spiced – he posted something today that will make you want to lick your computer screen!
Peanut butter cake?? Oh my….my knees went WEAK at the sight!! (Which reminds me, I need to stock up on graham crackers so I always have ingredients in stock to make your peanut butter slices!!)
Hi Nagi! You could easily sub those in for the Reese’s on David’s cake. They might not be as pretty, but it sure would taste good! 🙂
It definitely would be!! Reese’s are expensive here in Sydney so it’s a good alternative for me! 🙂
Hi Nagi! I’m curious, just how much do Reese’s cost where you are? I can get a 10 oz. bag of mini Reese’s for about $2.00 here. And the big ones are about 2 per package for about two packs for $1.00. I’m glad you now have alternatives!
I can’t get over how crispy and amazing these chicken tenders look! I felt like I was reading my own thoughts when reading through your reasons: I virtually never deep fry anything because of the oil waste and the fear of burning everything in sight, and I *hate* getting my fingers caked with egg-y, raw chicken-y sludge. I am definitely going to try this method – thanks for sharing it!!
Thanks so much!! I didn’t know if people would think my method was “weird”, but all these closest deep-frying-haters are coming out of the closet!! Looking forward to see if you post something using my weird techniques!!
Gah! Remind me not to read your blog after midnight. Delicious torture!
Remind me not to read YOUR blog at 6am (which is when I usually am). Because it makes me want to have Laksa and Korean Fried Chicken for BREAKFAST!
Oh Nagi, these crunchy chicken tenders are amazing…best looking ever! I always get very messy when using crumbs, so I cannot wait to follow your step by step mess free method. So making them this week!
Thanks Oana!! So glad you don’t think I’m some kind of weirdo for going so out of my way to explain how to crumb with minimum mess!! 🙂
This is one of our favorite things to make at home for dinner! Haha — I love the tips about avoiding marshmallow man fingers. I definitely need to be a bit more ambidextrous and use the left hand 🙂
If I can manage it, YOU can!! I am useless at anything other than on my keyboard when it comes to my left hand. 🙂 (Oh and also eating. I’m quite good at eating with my left hand) (And drinking)