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 200C/390F.
- 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).
- 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.
- Sprinkle surface with breadcrumbs, then press down to adhere. Transfer onto baking tray. Marvel at clean fingers, repeat with remaining chicken.
- 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.
- 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!)
These bad boys are amazing except so popular tonight that I missed out my sons wanted seconds!!!
My 8 year old granddaughter helped me make these- that’s how easy they are— let alone delicious! We served them with a honey mustard dressing from The Book. Superb!
This is a fabulous recipe. I cooked mine in the air fryer @ 200°C for 15-18 minutes, turning halfway.
I also experimented with freezing the crumbed, but uncooked tenderloin. I don’t think it would work in a regular oven, but I air fried @ 200°C for twenty minutes.
I froze as follows:
Place the crumbed fillets on a metal tray lined with baking paper. Place tray in freezer overnight. Once frozen solid, place in a container or ziplock bag and store flat in the freezer.
These are perfect for Katsu sando.
Delicious in bao buns with pickled veggies also works great with individual chicken pieces.
These are superb. My 9 month old agreed with me. I’m eating the left overs already. Cold from the fridge and still amazing.
As always, another easy and fabulous recipe. I added everything bagel to the crumbs. Perfection!!! Excited for the Feb release of your cookbook in Canada. Congrats!
This is the best recipe for breaded oven chicken breast I’ve ever made! They were crisp in the outside and moisture inside.
Could you replace the mayonnaise with full fat yogurt?
Had this for dinner last night after I found the recipe in newly purchased fabulous cookbook! I’m embarassed to say my husband and I scoffed the lot in one sitting! Served with the honey mustard sauce – only thing I did differently was sprinkle with a smidgen of chicken salt
Can you do this recipe with whole chicken breasts?
I made them last night with legs and thighs cooked in the air fryer. Superb.
Okay, my fingers still got a little messy, but overall the prep and execution was so easy! My husband was very impressed. He kept saying, “how are they so crispy and light and still juicy and tender inside?” Definitely a keeper recipe. Can’t wait to try it with a nice firm whitefish. Thank you!
Love.Love.Love.
Light and crispy.
will never go back to frying.
I was in the middle of preparing the flour, egg, and breadcrumbs when I decided I wanted to bake, not fry the chicken and came across your recipe. I quickly combined the egg and flour and baked the bread crumbs… I will never go back to the old way. This recipe is amazing. Thank you
Fabulous recipe and method. So easy to make and no crumby hands or oily mess. A big hit with everyone.
My chicken gets stuck to the rack and when I try to take it off the crumb coating peels off. Any advice on how to address this please? Should I be spraying the rack itself? Thanks
Yes Spray the rack. It works!
Hi Nagi, I use this method all the time now!! Love, love it!! I’ve got some chicken thighs sitting in the fridge in a heavily spiced Indian yogurt marinade which I’ll breadcrumb before putting in the oven!! Thank you for all your wonderful recipes! Xxx