If you want a fun and easy meal that whips up quick you have to make these Homemade Chicken Tenders. The whole family will love them.
I’m a chicken kind of gal, I think you might know that since I’ve said it a few times over the years. But I’m especially keen on Chicken Tenders, they are my all time favorites.
We make these often and have been making Homemade Chicken Tenders for years now, my kids love them and they always ask for them, and I’m always happy to oblige.
Some of my other favorite chicken recipes we have on the site include Baked Cheesy Chicken, Chicken Fried Chicken and Boneless Chicken Wings!
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
- With minimal ingredients it is super easy to whip up.
- You can fry in deep fryer or a pot of oil.
- You can easily double this recipe for serving more people.
This is really an easy recipe and sometimes it’s a lot cheaper to make your own Chicken Tenders at home than buying them from the store.
We usually just make ours homemade anyways, because the store bought ones are just too hard and crunchy with way too much batter on them.
These Chicken Tenders have a nice light crunch to them that isn’t over powering or hard, I think they are perfect and we absolutely adore them.
HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE CHICKEN TENDERS, STEP BY STEP:
- Preheat your oil to 325. In a medium-sized bowl add the flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, and garlic powder, mix together well and set aside. In another medium-sized bowl add the buttermilk, egg, and hot sauce, whisk together until fully combined.
- Dredge the chicken tenders by placing the tenders one at a time into the flour mixture. Coat the tender well, shake off any excess flour.
- Dip the tender into the buttermilk mixture, allowing any excess to drip off. Place the tender back into the flour mixture and coat well, pat the flour down onto the tender to form a good crust.
- Once the oil is ready, carefully place the tenders into the hot oil, do not crowd the pan, you will have to do this in batches. Cook for 3-5 minutes on each side, until the internal temperature reaches 165ยฐF and they are golden brown and crispy. Place on a wire rack while you fry the rest of the tenders.
See how easy is this recipe! Let’s just say that it is super easy because it is. There really isn’t much to making your own Chicken Tenders.
Chicken, flour, egg, milk, seasoning and oil. That is pretty much it, I mean pantry staples am I right? We usually always have this on hand!
WHAT KIND OF CHICKEN DO I USE?
We normally purchase chicken tenders from the store, they are precut tenderloins from the breast of the chicken.
But if you can’t find those you can actually use a whole breast and just cut it into strips and do it that way, we have done that many times and it has always worked out well.
Look at that perfectly golden crust on those bad boys, don’t tell me that they aren’t calling your name right now! Because they are calling mine.
These are really good and you can doctor up your flour mixture any way that you like that suits your needs and flavor preference.
We do it how we do it because of kids, but we do like to add a little hot sauce to our milk mixture just to give it the slightest of kick that you really can’t tell is there.
WHAT TO SERVE WITH CHICKEN TENDERS?
Some of my favorite recipes that go with chicken tenders include:
Like listed above we love to serve our Chicken Tenders with Macaroni and Cheese. I don’t know why, it has just become a thing in our house and we absolutely love it.
Obviously that is just our side of choice, but it works well for the kids, even the older ones because you can never go wrong with Macaroni and Cheese!
HOW TO STORE:
Chicken obviously is one of those dishes that you do not want to leave out at room temperature for longer than about 2 hours or it will grow bacteria.
We store these in an airtight container like a ziptop bag or Tupperware and they should last in the refrigerator for about 1-2 days.
After that they will go soggy which you don’t 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 and pop them in the freezer where they will keep for up to about 1 month.
If you are wanting a quick and easy dinner time meal that will serve your whole family then this Homemade Chicken Tender Recipe is it!
It is quick on time and ingredients and you can serve so much with it. You can also use this batter to make chicken sandwiches as well or Chicken Fried Chicken which I linked above.
It is just an easy delicious meal that reminds me of diner food and take-out when I was a kid so thats why we keep making it today.
TIPS AND TRICKS:
- You can use chicken tenders or you can slice up chicken breasts into strips for this recipe.
- This can be frozen, see my tips above on how to do that.
- Easily double this recipe to serve more people.
- This needs to fry in batches so your deep fryer or pan doesn’t get overcrowded and the chicken cooks evenly.
- Serve with a variety of dipping sauces, my favorites are honey mustard and ranch.
If you want that perfect Chicken Tender Recipe then you’ve come to the right place, tasty, easy and everyone loves it!
If you like this recipe you might also like:
If you’ve tried these HOMEMADE 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!
Homemade Chicken Tenders
Ingredients
- 1 lb chicken tenderloins
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons hot sauce
- Oil for frying
Instructions
- In a medium-sized bowl add the flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, and garlic powder, mix together well and set aside. In another medium-sized bowl add the buttermilk, egg, and hot sauce, whisk together until fully combined.
- Place about 3 inches of oil into a heavy bottom skillet with deep sides, I also like to use a dutch oven for this. Bring the oil up to temperature over medium-low heat. Oil temperature should be around 325ยฐF.
- While the oil is heating, dredge the chicken tenders by placing the tenders one at a time into the flour mixture. Coat the tender well, shake off any excess flour. Dip the tender into the buttermilk mixture, allowing any excess to drip off. Place the tender back into the flour mixture and coat well, pat the flour down onto the tender to form a good crust.
- Once the oil is ready, carefully place the tenders into the hot oil, do not crowd the pan, you will have to do this in batches. Cook for 3-5 minutes on each side, until the internal temperature reaches 165ยฐF and they are golden brown and crispy. Place on a wire rack while you fry the rest of the tenders.
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.
Joseph Cennamo
If you want to change it up add sesame oil and red crushed pepper and serve over thin noodles. Also add a splash of worstershire and soy sauce toss and serve.
Dale A.
I tried these and family loved. I am glad you gave nutritional value, However, what is the serving size? Is this for one tender?
Tornadough Alli
This is 4 servings so depending on how many chicken tenders you are getting in 1 pound it would be roughly that – 1 pound of tenders (the amount divided by 4 would be the serving size).
Michael
Pretty good. I added 1.5 tsp of cayenne powder instead of hot sauce. The salt, pepper, and garlic could be doubled or even tripled, but the tenders were juicy and I will use the recipe againโthough Iโll probably add more seasonings to the dry mix and experiment a little more each time I make these.
Angela
Does the hot sauce make them spicy? My kids are anti spice unfortunately
Tornadough Alli
No, itโs there more for just a little extra flavor and you can absolutely leave it out!
Holly Berrier
These are delicious!!!
Lisa jarriel
I make these as recipe says. Then I make spaghetti. My grandson loves to top his tenders on top of the spaghetti and sauce. Big hit at our house.
Miss Randyy
Has anyone tried these in the air fryer? If so what temp and time did you use? And could these be frozen and refried? I’m thinking these might be perfect for after school snacks.
Tornadough Alli
We do have an air fryer version you can find here โ> https://tornadoughalli.com/air-fryer-chicken-tenders/
Laure
Very good and easy to make.
Maria Hubbard
I made these last night and OMGโฆ the best ever. So tender and juicy.
I didnโt have any buttermilk but I had some heavy cream on hand and I always keep lemons so I made my own buttermilk. Delicious. Thank you for this recipe.
Jennifer Heath
This was so easy and delicious! I did add some Panko bread crumbs to the dry mixture.
Terry
I made these last night and I made them as directed, but rolled them in Panko after the flour too. I’ve tried several recipes but these are the BEST!
Maureen Iu
I loved these. I made them exactly to the recipe and the only thing I might change is one more tsp of Frank’s hot sauce. I also made them with 4 chicken breasts and was pleasantly surprised how tender they turned out. I’m freezing my leftovers for sure. Many thanks for a lovely recipe that was so delicious ๐
Diane
Always looking for new chicken ideas ~ these were great ~ restaurant quality ๐
Thanks for sharing!
Alexandria
These were amazing!! I was so surprised at how easy it was and how delicious they were. My family loved them and I am making them again this week.
Mary
I have never used buttermilk to fry anything. OMG these were so tender and tasty. My husband wants to
know when we can have them again.
Thanks for the great recipe.
Mary