Quick and Easy BEST Homemade Fried Chicken Tenders

Here is the recipe for the best, quick and easy crispy chicken tenders. These fried, delicious chicken strips make a great lunch or dinner idea. Try this simple homemade recipe now!

Our pandemic cooking experiments continue. This time, we tried making these easy, crispy chicken tenders. Honestly, they were SO crispy and crunchy and way better than I expected them to turn out. We have made them multiple times now and we think the recipe is ready to share for you all to enjoy!

We usually serve them in sliders with lettuce and ranch dressing in a bun. It’s delicious! The crunch from the chicken tenders and the cool ranch sauce with crisp lettuce in a soft bun. It’s a really good combination. You can even add any other slider/burger fillings you prefer, of course.

Honestly, the process is really quite easy, and the results are great too. This recipe quickly became our favourite chicken tenders recipe that we will keep making over and over. We hope you try it out too, and enjoy!

Some tips before we get started:

• I’d recommend tenderizing your chicken before prior to cooking, so you get a more even chicken to coating ratio all over. Also, it helps ensure your chicken is cooked well.

• If you’re paranoid about your chicken being cooked like I am, I’d recommend getting a meat thermometer. I love ours and use it every time we cook chicken. Just google the temperatures for different meats and you’re good to go!

• Make more of both coatings if you’d like a thicker outer coating. This is because you will use more when you double coat each chicken strip.

• If, at first, you feel like your chicken isn’t crispy enough, just pop it back into the frying pot and double-fry it for a bit.

• Make sure your stove is set on a medium-high temperature. If you feel they aren’t coming out crispy enough, turn it up to a high temperature. (All stoves are a little different, but you can try with a small test-piece of chicken first to get a good idea of the right temperature.)

• You’re free to add whatever spices or flavours you like to the dry coating of this recipe to make them even more tasty!

Yield: 12 chicken strips/tenders approximately.

Ingredients:

2 Chicken Breasts

Rice bran oil for frying (We have been using rice bran oil for deep-frying, as of late, as it’s supposed to be healthier. But, you can use whatever oil you prefer for deep-frying.)

Dry Coating:

All-purpose flour - 1 cup

Onion Powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Garlic Powder - 1/2 tablespoon

Black Pepper - 1/2 teaspoon

Brown Sugar - 1 tablespoon

Baking Powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Wet Coating:

(If you’d like these chicken tenders super crispy, you can double the wet batter. This is because you will need to coat the chicken tenders twice for a more crunchy, crispy exterior.)

1 Egg

Water - 1/3rd cup

All-purpose flour - 1/2 cup

Salt - 3/4th teaspoon (You may want to add more, as per your preference, as we like it a little bland so that we can pair it with a nice dip.)

Method:

1. Mix together the ingredients for the dry coating in one bowl.

2. Mix together the ingredients for the wet coating/batter in another bowl.

3. Tenderize your chicken and then cut each chicken breast into about 6 strips, or as thick or thin as your prefer.

4. Now coat each chicken strip with the dry coating and then the wet coating, and then the dry coating once again (dry-wet-dry.) If you’d like a thicker coating on the chicken, repeat this process one more time. (I usually do like to do it once more as I prefer a thick outer crunchy coating.)

5. Heat enough oil to properly cover the chicken strips in a deep pot to medium-high heat.

6. Deep fry the chicken strips in batches so that they don’t stick together. Fry them for about 5 minutes or until golden brown.

And enjoy! We usually serve them with our favourite homemade ranch dressing. (Recipe coming soon! Subscribe below to be notified when we share it. ♡)

As I said above, I usually make sliders with these chicken strips/tenders by putting them in a bun, with ranch dressing and lettuce. It’s DELICIOUS. I highly recommend you try it with your favourite burger fillings.

Doesn’t that look so yummy? I’m drooling.

I’d suggest letting them sit on a paper towel for a little bit to get all the excess grease off before you eat. Also, try them in a sandwich or slider with your favourite fillings and dressing. I think it takes them to whole new level.

I think these chicken tenders are the best ones we’ve ever been able to make at home! During the pandemic, I missed going to my favourite restaurants, and the one thing I missed the most, were the chicken tenders at Salt in Dubai. This recipe is the closest I could get to those ones and I’m so happy with how they turned out.

I hope you love these chicken tenders! If you try them, let us know what you think in the comments below.