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When it comes to simple, kid-friendly, and easy to make meals, nothing quite beats Oven-Baked Chicken Tender Fingers. Aside from the chicken itself, you likely already have everything you need in your kitchen! These tenders are flavorful, never dry, and perfect for dipping in your favorite sauce.
For as long as I can remember, chicken tenders or chicken fingers were my favorite item to order at any restaurant. 95% of the time I order the chicken tenders platter off the menu at any given restaurant. Its become a game to me to compare each restaurant’s chicken tenders and which one has the best batter and best technique.
The best I ever had was at Blue Ridge Grill in Leesburg, VA. They were breaded in a very unique way and flash fried. This gave it the most amazing and crunchy crust.
I don’t think I’ve ever had such great chicken tenders. I legitimately love chicken tenders or chicken fingers. What do you call them? I know regionally they’re so different in the way you call them.
I honestly still can’t stop thinking about them so I tried to replicate them (the crust at least). I didn’t fry them because I wanted to make these a little healthier so instead of frying these chicken fingers, I created these oven-baked chicken fingers!
Most chicken tenders or chicken fingers are deep-fried and while that’s great every now and then, it is not realistic to prepare it that way often! These oven-baked ones are just as good and by using a panko breadcrumb crust exterior, it gives it an extra crunch factor!
What You’ll Need:
The beauty of this recipe lies in the simplicity of it! You’ll only need this handful of inexpensive ingredients to make your new favorite chicken tenders.
- Chicken – Boneless, skinless chicken tenderloins are what you’ll need. Cut them into strips for the best shape.
- Panko Breadcrumbs – I use Panko because of the signature crunch! While you can use plain breadcrumbs, Panko gives these tenders the best bite.
- Seasonings – You can customize your seasonings to your liking. With that being said, I’ve found that this simple (and delicious) blend to be the best! Garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and cracked black pepper come together to create a mix that’s tasty, but neutral enough to pair well with any condiment.
- Eggs – I like to use free range organic eggs.
Common FAQ’s
What kind of chicken do I use? Chicken tenders! Boneless and skinless. You could use breasts and slice them into strips, if you want, but buying chicken tenders are just easier.
What kind of seasonings can I use? I love garlic and onion powder (which is in the recipe) but smoked paprika would be great too. Any other seasonings you want to amp up the flavor would be good. Maybe a dash of cayenne too if you like a kick of spice.
What dipping sauce do you recommend? Honey mustard all the way! Or, you can try to make your own Chick-Fil-A sauce!
If you love chicken tenders and chicken fingers, you would love these recipes:
- Chick-fuh-lay nuggets and sauce
- Three ingredient chicken nuggets
- Peri peri chicken drumsticks
- Holy yum chicken
Baked Chicken Tender Fingers
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups (120 g) panko breadcrumbs
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 3 eggs
- 10 boneless skinless chicken tenderloins, sliced into strips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 °F (232 °C). Line two large baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a shallow dish, combine panko, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Mix well to get it all incorporated.2 cups (120 g) panko breadcrumbs, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon onion powder, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon pepper
- In another shallow dish, beat the 3 eggs together.3 eggs
- Take the chicken strips and dip them in the egg mixture then cover the chicken strips with the panko mixture. Gently press the panko mixture on the chicken to make sure it’s well coated.10 boneless skinless chicken tenderloins
- Lay the strips next to each other on the baking sheets and repeat until all the chicken strips have been coated.
- Bake for 20 minutes then turn on the broiler and broil them for another 5 minutes to get the outside even more crispy & a light brown color.
- Serve immediately with honey mustard or BBQ sauce or ketchup!
Flavor was good but didn’t need 2 cups of panko .I used 1- 1 1/2.Also 2 eggs is plenty.
I baked them as directed but drier then I like. I will backe @ 425 for 20 mins and skip the broil.
I am looking forward to trying this tonight! How many chicken tenderloins did you use? I was confused because it said “10 in chicken tenderloins,” and it also said 30 servings. Thanks!
Haha, sorry about that. The recipe conversion for the new plugin didn’t convert it correctly. It makes 10 chicken tenders!
I would like to have known the nutrition information including calories. My husband loved them. Made some fresh honey mustard dressing to go along with them. Delish!
Hi, I don’t offer nutrition information for recipes. Sorry. I don’t feel comfortable giving that information as I am no expert in that field.
I made these for lunch and they were delicious with Honey Mustard dipping sauce! I used 3TBSP Dijon mustard and 3 TBSP yellow mustard and 6 TBSP mayo, 3 TBSP honey and a pinch of salt. So good!
Could you tell me what the nutrtionals on these chicke fingers are.
Thank you
Lisa
Unfortunately, no. There are many reasons as to why I don’t post nutritional information on my recipes, one of which is that I’m not a registered dietician or nutritionist so for me to give any sort of nutritional information would be incorrect and inaccurate. There are also many differing factors when it comes to nutritional information and since I do not have the knowledge in this, I do not feel comfortable posting this sort of information. If you must have this information, there are many calculators out there (free and paid) that can help you with calculations. A simple Google search would pull up some of these calculators, but again, I’m not endorsing them as I do not know how accurate they may be.
These look amazing. I’ll be giving these a try!
Girl your need to always be doing something is something a lot of us deal with. I am always getting static from family and friends because I am always doing something. It is 10:30 at night and I just took out a batch of your Baked Chicken Fingers. They are wonderful AND baked. Tomorrow we are having salads and I’m putting in some of these lovely fingers.My grandson and I just taste tested them and you got a big thumbs up! You can stop and smell the roses, but keep those recipes coming.By the way your picture of them were perfect.Best wishes. I will be following you on P! Barb.
I’m so glad you enjoyed these with your grandson!!! Thanks for letting me know!
Soo has anyone tried the baked chicken? If so, how was it? I would love to hear your feedback..
I made these last night and they were delicious! However, I quickly discovered that cooking them at 450 degrees started to burn my panko and I spent the rest of the 20 minutes trying to figure out what temp to cook these at. Do you cook these in a regular oven? Next time I think I’ll add more garlic and onion powder and possible some paprika or cayenne pepper to make them more flavorful!
Yup, I cooked them in a regular oven. You could cover it with foil next time if you’re finding that your panko is burning. Also, where is your oven rack? Is it in the middle of the oven? If it’s too high, it could cause this to happen too.
I tried these a few weeks ago but they were very bland and dry. I did not have onion powder. They looked nice though. Is there a way to make them more flavorful? My daughter loved them but she dipped them in honey mustard sauce from McDonalds.
Hi Michelle, it was probably bland because of your onion powder omission. Seasonings definitely help flavor a dish like this! However, I still dip chicken fingers in sauce so that’s my way of making it more flavorful in addition to seasoning the chicken. If it was dry, you maybe cooked it too long. The panko coating on the outside is supposed to be more dry and crispy so I’m going to assume you cooked the chicken too long.