Crispy and flavorful these Air Fryer Chicken Tenders are an easy weeknight meal that will feed the whole family. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce, this will become a menu staple.
I absolutely love using my air fryer when I can. My kids actually use it more than I do, they love making anything that they can in it! It is such a versatile and worthwhile kitchen appliance.
Chicken Tenders are and have been one of my favorite foods since I was a kid, making them in the oven from a bag. But since growing up and learning how to cook, obviously things change.
I find that making homemade sometimes, or the majority of the time are better. These Air Fryer Chicken Tenders are exactly that! They are so delicious and we can’t get enough of them.
One great thing about using the air fryer is you practically can make any meal in them, breakfast, dessert, appetizers – literally anything.
You can make things that are store bought and you can make all things homemade, and that is absolutely amazing, especially when you want an alternative to the oven or deep fryer.
These Air Fryer Chicken Tenders come out nice and crispy but tender without the added oil that you would be if you were to deep fry these.
Some of my other favorite air fryer recipes that we have on our site include: Air Fryer Fish Sticks, Air Fryer Coconut Shrimp and Seasoned Air Fryer Chicken.
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
- Common kitchen staple ingredients help these come together quick.
- You can make as many or as little as you’d like.
- These make a great lunch or dinner.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED (FULL RECIPE AT BOTTOM):
All-purpose flour
Salt
Pepper
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Eggs
Eater
Hot sauce
Chicken tenderloins
Olive Oil Spray
HOW TO MAKE AIR FRYER CHICKEN TENDERS, STEP BY STEP:
- If your air fryer requires preheating, preheat to 400ยฐF.
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder, set aside.
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the eggs, water, and hot sauce until fully combined, set aside.
- One at a time, place the tenders into the flour mixture and coat on all sides, shake off any excess.
- Place the tender into the egg mixture until fully coated, let any excess egg drip off.
- Lastly place it back into the flour mixture and pack the flour on the tender to form a crust. Shake off any excess.
- Spray the air fryer basket with olive oil spray, place the tenders not touching into the basket, you may need to do this in batches.
- Spray the tops well with more olive oil spray, you want to make sure there are no dry patches.
- Air fry for 10 minutes, flipping halfway through. After flipping, spray with more olive oil spray.
- Chicken tenders are ready when they are golden brown and the internal temperature reaches at least 165ยฐF. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.
CAN I USE CHICKEN BREASTS?
While tenderloins work best for this recipe, if you do not have them on hand or cannot find them, you can use chicken breasts cut into smaller strips.
We have done this in a pinch and it does work just fine, so don’t worry if you can’t find tenderloins or have want to make this last minute and only have chicken breasts.
WHY DO DOUBLE DIP IN THE FLOUR?
The first dip in the flour is to coat the chicken so that the egg mixture will stick onto it, the second dipping helps create a nice crust that does not fall off and comes out crispy.
HOW DO I KNOW WHEN THESE ARE DONE?
These Air Fryer Chicken Tenderloins should be after 10 minutes, the best way to tell is using a kitchen thermometer and when inserted into the thickest part it should read 165 degrees F.
HOW TO STORE:
We store these in an airtight container where they should last in the refrigerator for about 1-2 days.
After that they will go soggy which you donโt really want, you can always reheat in the oven to crisp them up a bit as well opposed to the microwave.
You can also freeze this recipe if you have any leftovers, make sure they are fully cooled first then place in a freezer bag in the freezer where they will keep for up to about 1 month.
TIPS AND TRICKS:
- If you do not want a little kick from the hot sauce, you can leave it out and replace with 1 tablespoon water.
- Double this recipe if you like, but make sure that you cook in batches.
- Even after spraying with the olive oil spray then can stick, I recommend flipping with a spatula over tongs.
- These can be frozen, see my tips above.
- Chicken breasts can be swapped out for chicken tenderloins.
If you are craving a super simple and tasty dinner meal that the whole family will love, then you need to try to these Air Fryer Chicken Tenders!
If you like this recipe you might also like:
If you’ve tried these AIR FRYER CHICKEN TENDERS or any other recipe on my site, let me know in the comment section how it turned out, we love hearing from our readers! You can also follow along with me on PINTEREST, FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM to see more amazing recipes and what shenanigans I’m getting into!
Air Fryer Chicken Tenders
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- ยฝ teaspoon garlic powder
- ยฝ teaspoon onion powder
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 tablespoon hot sauce
- 1 pound chicken tenderloins
- Olive Oil Spray
Instructions
- If your air fryer requires preheating, preheat to 400ยฐF.
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder, set aside.
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the eggs, water, and hot sauce until fully combined, set aside.
- One at a time, place the tenders into the flour mixture and coat on all sides, shake off any excess.
- Place the tender into the egg mixture until fully coated, let any excess egg drip off.
- Lastly place it back into the flour mixture and pack the flour on the tender to form a crust. Shake off any excess.
- Spray the air fryer basket with olive oil spray, place the tenders not touching into the basket, you may need to do this in batches.
- Spray the tops well with more olive oil spray, you want to make sure there are no dry patches.
- Air fry for 10 minutes, flipping halfway through. After flipping, spray with more olive oil spray.
- Chicken tenders are ready when they are golden brown and the internal temperature reaches at least 165ยฐF. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.
Nutrition
Tornadough Alli is not a nutritionist or dietitian, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and nutritional value is important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and values can vary depending on which brands were used.
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