30-minute easy baked chicken tenders for the whole family. Moist and tender with no messy frying, just follow these simple step by step photo instructions.
Chicken tenders are now a standard meal for many kids and adults. Most are fried, and the meat is of dubious origin — time to take control of your diet with this healthy substitute.
You can easily cook as many as you need for a party or a few for a meal.
My Rating
Really good and a solid higher 4.
Pro Tips: Recipe Notes for Baked Chicken Tenders
The Chicken
I usually use chicken tenders, but you can slice up some skinless boneless chicken breasts the same size. Either will work.
There are usually 4-5 chicken tenders per pound.
The tenders have a tendon that you will want to trim off.
To wash or not: We no longer recommend washing any raw chicken due to the spread of contamination by droplets of water. See Chicken; To Rinse or Not To Rinse? for a more detailed discussion.
The Breading
This is a fairly breading with flour, egg wash, and then some bread crumbs with some spicing.
Spice it up some.
I originally created this recipe as "spicy," but that is just a tiny adjustment.
Add some cayenne pepper to the third tray. One-fourth teaspoon will get you a 5/10 heat, and a half teaspoon will be 8/10.
TWO BIG TIPS:
- Be sure to start with very dry chicken tenders.
- After the breading, let the chicken sit on the rack for 5-10 minutes. It will adhere much better.
A Few Other Notes
- To keep the fat down, I used two egg whites, but you could use one egg with the yoke.
- If you want to speed up the prep, you can use a seasoning salt for the main spices. (about 2 teaspoons) Just add the pepper.
- The coating can be a little dry. I gave them a light spray with PAM... problem solved.
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Preheat oven to 400 convection. Prep a baking tray by lining with aluminum foil, fit with a rack and spray with PAM.
Trim 1 ½ to 2 pounds of chicken tenders. Or trim and slice 2 skinless boneless chicken breasts into ½ inch thick strips. Pat dry the chicken. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP.
Create a dredge line:
Tray #1: ¼ cup flour
Tray #2: 2 egg whites or one egg wiped with 1 tablespoons water
Tray #3: ¼ cup flour, ¼ cup Panko bread crumbs, 1 teaspoon paprika, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Optionally add ¼ t cayenne pepper (adjust for taste).
Roll the chicken in tray one and shake dry.
Dip in the egg wash and shake off excess.
Roll in the final tray.
Place on prepared tray. Give them a light spray of PAM.
Cook until 165 in the thickest part. 16 to 18 minutes.
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Baked Chicken Tenders
Ingredients
- 1½ to 2 pounds Chicken tenders - or Skinless breasts cut into strips
- 2 egg whites - or 1 whole egg
- ½ cup AP flour
- ¼ cup Panko bread crumbs
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne - Optional
- PAM
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 convection or 425 conventional oven. Prep a baking tray by lining with aluminum foil, fit with a rack and spray with PAM.
- Trim 1½ to 2 pounds of chicken tenders. Or trim and slice 2 skinless boneless chicken breasts into ½ inch thick strips. Pat dry the chicken. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP.
- Create a dredge line:
Tray #1: ¼ cup flour
Tray #2: 2 egg whites or one egg wiped with 1 tablespoons water
Tray #3: ¼ cup flour, ¼ cup Panko bread crumbs, 1 teaspoon paprika, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Optionally add ¼ t cayenne pepper (adjust for taste). - Roll the chicken in tray one, and shake dry.
- Dip in the egg wash and shake off excess.
- Roll in the final tray. Do not shake off excess. Place on prepared tray.
- Give them a light spray of PAM. Cook until 165 in the thickest part. 16 to 18 minutes.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- I like to use a rack to cook these and you will not need to flip them. Without the rack, you will need to flip halfway through with a fork.
- I like to use chicken tenders but you can use cut strips of chicken breasts.
- Be sure to pat dry the chicken before starting.
- There are usually 4-5 chicken tenders per pound.
- If you rest the chicken after coating but before baking for 5-10 minutes, the coating will stick better.
- This will usually take about 16-18 minutes but will vary some by the thickness of the chicken and your oven. The endpoint of cooking is 165 degrees in the thickest part of the chicken. No a set time.
- If you want to speed up the prep, you can use a seasoning salt (2 teaspoons) for the main spices. Just add the pepper.
- Cayenne pepper is optional. One-fourth teaspoon will get you a 5/10 heat and a half teaspoon will be 8/10. Please don't add it if this is for kids.
- The coating can be a little dry. I gave them a light spray with PAM just before baking.
Nutrition
Originally published February 4, 2012. Updated with expanded and more detailed instructions and refreshed photos.
Mary-Lou
Dan,
Thank your for providing this recipe. It looks very delicious!
Question: Am I correct in that, for this recipe above (10 tenders), both Tray #1 and Tray #3 each require 1/4 cup of flour, thus, the requirement of 1/2 cup of flour in the listed ingredients. If so, then what is the purpose of using the flour again in Tray #3?
Thank you.
~Mary-Lou
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Mary Lou,
The first flour aborbs any moisture left on the chicken and combines with the egg. By using the first coat, the coating sticks better. Important in a small thing like a tender. The flour and other things in the third tray makes the coating while #1 + #2 makes a glue.
Some recipes will skip the first coat but I thought it was important here. That combined with the 5-10 minutes of rest after coating before baking helps the coating stick.
Dan
Jae King
Tried this recipe today!! Excellent for hungry growing kids!!! We loved it!
DrDan
Hi Jae,
Welcome to the blog.
Gale it works well for you. I do love the touch of spice in this recipe.
Thanks for the note.
Dan
plasterers bristol
Looks and sounds delicious. Love spicy chicken. Thanks for sharing.
simon
Jordan Ball
I made this tanight for Valentine's day an my girlfriend an i loved it thanks for makin me look good an like i knew what i was doing im really no cook but it was really easy an tasted great!
Jordan Ball
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown
Great recipe! I made it this week and the adults and kids all loved it (the only thing I did was reduce the cayenne to about 1/8 tsp to make it kid friendly. Thanks for the post!
Linda www.mykindofcooking.com
I found your blog thanks to Pam. I love recipe with a little spice to it and this one sounds perfect for my family. I signed up to follow your blog and can't wait to see your other recipes!
Pam
They look great and I'll be trying this! I have an award for you over on my blog today!
Inspired by eRecipeCards
Baked instead of fried... terrific recipe (especially when pondering super bowl snacks. now to work on the dips for these ;)
Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Dave
Chris
I bet this would be also good with chipotle pepper for a smoky version. Or cut into nuggets. Trevor loves chicken nuggets but refuses to eat them anymore after seeing how they were made commercially.