are chicken tenders real chicken

Truly Crispy Oven Baked Chicken Tenders

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 didnt love, but a) my waistline cant 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 crunchwhen you bite into the juicy chicken inside!

Dipping Sauces

Its 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!

Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.

Crispy Oven Baked Chicken Tenders

Author: Nagi | RecipeTin Eats

Prep: 15 minutes mins

Cook: 15 minutes mins

Total: 30 minutes mins

Baked, Chicken, Crumbed

Servings3 4 people

Tap or hover to scale

Recipe video above. Beautifully golden, truly crunchy baked chicken tenders! The trick is to toast the breadcrumbs before coating the chicken. See recipe notes for pictured Honey Mustard Dipping sauce.

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:

1. Panko are Japanese breadcrumbs which are larger than standard breadcrumbs. Nowadays they are available in all major supermarkets, usually in the Asian section, and cost just a fraction more than ordinary breadcrumbs.It is well worth using because the breadcrumb pieces are bigger so they create a far better crunch than standard breadcrumbs.2. HONEY MUSTARD SAUCE (pictured): Mix together 1/3 cup mayonnaise, 2 tbsp dijon mustard, 2 tbsp honey, 1 2 tsp lemon juice, salt and pepper.RANCH SAUCE: Mix together1/4 cup each mayonnaise (preferably whole egg) and sour cream,2 tbsp milk,1 tsp lemon juice or white vinegar,1/4 tsp each dried parsley or dill, dried dill, dried fresh chives (Note a), garlic powder,1/8 tsp salt & black peppera) All the herbs can be substituted with fresh herbs, finely chopped. Double the quantity i.e. use 1/2 tsp.Dont worry if you dont have all the herbs. If you have at least 1, it will still taste similar to what it should taste like, just use more of the herbs you have (3/4 tsp dried herbs in total).3. MAKE AHEAD: Best way is to toast breadcrumbs, then put chicken in batter, leave up to 2 days. Then crumb the chicken just before baking. It is ok crumbed up to 24 hours beforehand, store in the fridge. Freezing raw doesnt work.Reheating: Best way is to blast in the oven for literally 3 5 minutes at 200C/390F until it is just warmed through inside.4. Nutrition per serving, assuming this serves 3. Dip not included.

Nutrition Information:

Serving: 248gCalories: 416cal (21%)Carbohydrates: 29g (10%)Protein: 42g (84%)Fat: 12g (18%)Saturated Fat: 2g (13%)Cholesterol: 163mg (54%)Sodium: 973mg (42%)Potassium: 705mg (20%)Fiber: 1g (4%)Sugar: 2g (2%)Vitamin A: 130IU (3%)Vitamin C: 2mg (2%)Calcium: 85mg (9%)Iron: 2.9mg (16%)

Keywords: Baked Chicken Tenders

Did you make this recipe?I love hearing how you went with my recipes! Tag me on Instagram at @recipe_tin.

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

LIFE OF DOZER

That hopeful sparkle in his eyes. (it was false hope) (Oh wait, I lied. I gave him a bite!)

Chicken fingers

U.S. dish of breaded and fried chicken meat

Chicken fingers (also known as chicken goujons, tendies, chicken strips, chicken tenders, or chicken fillets) are chicken meat prepared from the pectoralis minor muscles of the animal.^[1] These strips of white meat are located on either side of the breastbone, under the breast meat (pectoralis major).^[2] They may also be made with similarly shaped pieces cut from chicken meat, usually the breast, or sometimes just pulverized chicken flesh.^[3]

Chicken fingers are prepared by coating chicken meat in a breading mixture and then deep frying them, in a manner similar to the preparation of schnitzel.^[4] They are a very popular snack or main course due to their convenience and have become a staple across the United States. Chicken fingers are a popular fast-food snack in the U.S.^[5] Some of the most popular fast-food restaurants that sell chicken fingers include Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers, Chick-fil-A, Church's Chicken, KFC, Popeyes, Zaxby's and Culver's.^[6]

Chicken tenders were first made in Manchester, New Hampshire at the Puritan Backroom in 1974.^[7] Restaurants in Savannah, Georgia, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana have challenged this claim with later assertions to the invention of chicken tenders, although the general consensus supports the claim in Manchester.^[8] In 2023, Manchester was officially declared the "Chicken Tender Capital of the World" by Mayor Joyce Craig.^[9]

Mass production[edit]

Chicken fingers are a mass-produced product in the United States.^[10][11] They gained popularity in the mid-to-late 1980s as an alternative fast food choice to chicken nuggets, since they retained more chicken meat. Production can involve coating chicken meat with spices, polyphosphate and breading or crumbs, flash-frying the product to hold the breading in place, and then freezing it^[10] prior to shipment for consumer, retail and commercial use. Tyson Foods is one such company that mass-produces chicken fingers.^[11] Some are manufactured with a specific flavor profile, such as with a Buffalo-style hot sauce flavor.^[11] They are also manufactured with flavors such as Honey BBQ and Parmesan Herb Encrusted.^[13]

Vegan chicken fingers[edit]

In recent years, chicken fingers made without chicken and with plant-based ingredients have entered the market and are called vegan chicken fingers or vegan chicken nuggets. They are made from ingredients that include pea protein, soy protein, textured vegetable protein and wheat gluten.^[14]

Variants[edit]

Chicken fingers are sometimes grilled rather than fried; they may accompany salads or pasta.^[15]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^ "The History of Chicken Fingers" Archived 2016-01-09 at the Wayback Machine. Leite's Culinaria.
2. ^ RecipeTips. "Chicken Description of Parts". RecipeTips.com.
3. ^ "Give a hand for homemade chicken fingers".
4. ^ Ellie Krieger. Crispy Chicken Fingers Recipe. Food Network
5. ^ How can I make Chinese chicken fingers like in the northeast?. Cooking.stackexchange.com. Retrieved on 2012-04-19.
6. ^ McDowell, Erin. "I ordered chicken tenders from 8 fast-food chains and the best were from the smallest chain". Insider. Retrieved 2022-04-25.
7. ^ "The History of Chicken Tenders and the Best Places to Get Them". The Epicentre. 2020-07-06. Retrieved 2021-11-01.
8. ^ SouthFloridaReporter.com (2019-07-27). "Chicken Fingers Were Created In Baton Rouge, Savannah Or Manchester (NH)?". South Florida Reporter. Retrieved 2022-01-30.
9. ^ "Reviewing culinary history in Manchester, the Chicken Tender Capital of the World". Liu, Michelle and Furukawa, Julia. New Hampshire Public Radio. Published August 18, 2023. Accessed December 20, 2023.
10. ^ ^{a b} Booth, R.G. (2012). Snack Food. Springer US. p.222. ISBN978-1-4613-1477-6. Retrieved April 26, 2019.
11. ^ ^{a b c} Bangura, Fatima (April 17, 2019). "You still can't eat Tyson Buffalo-style chicken strips sold in Michigan". WSYM-TV. Retrieved April 26, 2019.
12. ^ "Breaded Chicken | Tyson Brand". www.tyson.com. Retrieved 2022-04-25.
13. ^ Rauwerda, Annie (2021-10-06). "What is a vegan chicken nugget?". The Michigan Daily. Retrieved 2022-09-22.
14. ^ "Grilled Chicken Tenders". FeelGoodFoodie. 8 December 2019. Retrieved 2022-04-25.

Works cited[edit]

• Simon, Bryant (2020). The Hamlet Fire: A Tragic Story of Cheap Food, Cheap Government, and Cheap Lives. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. ISBN9781469661377.
• Fooddata Central Search Results. FoodData Central, https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/2108385/nutrients.
• Crispy Chicken Strips. Tyson Brand, https://www.tyson.com/products/breaded-chicken-crispy-chicken-strips/.
• Jawad, Yumna Jawad, et al. Grilled Chicken Tenders. FeelGoodFoodie, 12 June 2021, https://feelgoodfoodie.net/recipe/grilled-chicken-tenders/.

External links[edit]

Lab-Grown Chicken is Here, What to Know

• The USDA has given the final OK for chicken fully grown in a lab.
• Made from cultured cells, the meat is actually chicken just not one hatched from an egg.
• The new cultivated chicken is not likely to be available at grocery stores any time soon.

People who have given up meat to keep their carbon footprints low may no longer have to choose between the environment and a juicy piece of chicken.

The United States Department of Agriculture has given two companies approval to sell lab-grown chicken.

Lab-grown, otherwise known as cell-cultivated, meat is made by growing animal cells in stainless steel tanks in labs. The idea is to create an alternative to agriculturally raised meat, but one that is, in fact, animal and not plant-based. The two companies, Upside Foods and Good Meat had been competing to be the first to be approved to produce lab-grown meat.

As of June 2023, both companies have been given the okay by the USDA.

But is lab-grown chicken the same as traditional chicken? Heres what to know.

Both companies cultivate the chicken cells in steel tanks. The cells form sheets of 100% chicken. Upsides lab-grown chicken is formed into chicken cutlet or sausage shapes, while Good Meat turns chicken cells into cutlets, nuggets, shredded meat, and satays.

After the cells are selected, they are mixed with a broth mixture made up of amino acids, fatty acids, sugars, salts, and vitamins and placed into the tanks.

Everything one needs to have chicken, including muscle and connective tissue, grows inside the tank creating sheets. The entire process takes about three weeks for the sheets of poultry cells to fully form, which are then turned into specific food shapes.

According to both Upside and Good Meat, yes.

And if youre wondering about the calories or nutrition, the companies say that cultivated chicken has the same nutritional value, chemistry, and taste as your regular chicken hatched from an egg.

Unlike meat substitutes, which are plant-based, lab-grown chicken is truly chicken.

The most common response we get is, Oh, it tastes like chicken, Amy Chen, Upsides chief operating officer, told the Associated Press.

Many people may want to switch to cultivated chicken to lower their carbon footprint.

According to the University of Colorado Boulders Environmental Center, Animal agriculture produces 65% of the worlds nitrous oxide emissions which has a global warming impact 296 times greater than carbon dioxide.

Additionally, some people may balk at eating traditional chicken due to concerns about animal welfare or industrial farming practices.

Currently, its not possible to buy lab-grown chicken in grocery stores yet. The products are still too expensive and difficult to produce enough for it to be easily available in a grocery store aisle.

But two high-end restaurants will be featuring the new products.

Upside will be selling its chicken at a San Francisco restaurant called Bar Crenn, while Good Meat chicken will be served at a Jose Andres restaurant in Washington, D.C.

The new companies are tiny compared to the industrial chicken farming industry.

Upside, for example, operates in a 70,000-square-foot building in Emeryville, California. Good Meat, based in Alameda, has a 100,000-square-foot plant.

According to the Associated Press, Upside plans to expand its production from 50,000 pounds of cell-cultivated meat to 400,000, but this is just a sliver of the billions of pounds of chickens that are produced agriculturally each year.

There are two different narratives here, said Ricardo San Martin, PhD, director of Alternative Meats Lab at UC Berkeley. One is science-based and one is from a start-up perspective. It is in our best interest that something like lab-grown meat could be part of our work. We did an analysis to know if [production of lab-grown meat] is feasible at scale, and thats where we encountered problems because the science and technology tell us that we are very far away from making anything commercial.

San Martin says that it is impossible to even make a dent in the poultry industry with lab-grown chicken, as the number of chickens killed every year for consumption is 9 billion. The cost of lab-grown chicken is already expensive for the small-scale batches that it can produce. Nine billion is, at the moment, nothing short of impossible.

[Lab-grown chicken] wont affect a thing at all in the chicken industry. Its not a question of whether or not you can eat it safely or produce it. Its a narrative that is a business narrative, but its not a real-world narrative based on science and based on capital cost. This is going to be a very niche market for the elite who would like to try this in expensive restaurants, but we are far away from feeding the world, he said.