FRYING CHICKEN: A FAMILY TRADITION
Oven fried chicken tenders aren’t really up my alley. In my family, fried chicken is a staple. It is a tradition that we don’t take lightly (literally and figuratively). There is a right way to do it and a wrong way. From an early age, I was indoctrinated into the proper way in which a bird is fried. So, needless to say, oven fried chicken is a new thing for my family.
Coming from a Southern family, learning how to fry chicken around the same time I learned how to ride a bike is not only considered normal but proper. There is simply nothing better than the perfectly seasoned golden exterior hiding the juicy tender inside and hearing the crunch in every single bite. When I fry chicken, I am serving love, and frying chicken tenders brings out the kid in me. Who doesn’t love crunchy fried chicken tenders?
HOW TO MAKE OVEN FRIED CHICKEN
However, nowadays I try to keep things lighter. As much as I want to devour chicken tenders every single week, I simply can’t for the sake of my thighs. They have started to rebel against carbs and my beloved fried chicken. I have found ways to get the same flavor I adore in fried chicken but in a more health friendly way. I tried several different ways of oven frying in the past but some just don’t work for me. I’m not a fan of recreating the crunch with things like cereal flakes and the whole nine. Instead, I keep this oven fried chicken tenders recipe very similar to my fried chicken recipe using the same seasoned flour but instead, I spray the chicken down with non-stick olive oil or vegetable/canola oil spray and a couple tablespoons of oil.
I also create some cool crumb action by doing something I learned from the Pioneer Woman. I add a drizzle of milk to my seasoned flour and then use a fork to create crumbs in the mixture. It is such a fantastic trick, and I LOVE the results. These chicken tenders are amazing, and I adore making them all the time. I even bake them in a cast iron skillet just to give me that ole school fried chicken feel. You won’t miss the hot oil at all after eating these. Note: this technique can be used with all chicken pieces to make all oven fried chicken.
Find more Fried Chicken recipes HERE
Oven Fried Chicken Tenders (Oven Fried Chicken)
Ingredients
- 1 pound chicken tenders
- 3 large eggs beaten
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 1/2- 3 tablespoons seasoned salt
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 teaspoons black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 2 tablespoons milk
- Non-stick cooking spray
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- Optional: Lemon wedges for garnish and serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together eggs, hot sauce and worcestershire and set aside.
- Next add flour, seasoned salt, cornstarch, paprika, cayenne pepper, black pepper, garlic powder and onion powder to a paper bag and shake to mix well.
- Drizzle milk into the flour and use a fork to mix it into the flour and create crumbs.
- Dip each chicken tender into flour mixture and then egg wash coating both sides then dip back into seasoned flour thoroughly coating each piece. Then add piece to baking sheet to rest.
- Finish coating all chicken and let sit for 10-15 minutes until coating has set.
- While coating sets, add parchment paper sheets to cast iron skillet or baking sheet and liberally spray with non stick cooking spray.
- Add floured chicken to parchment paper and liberally spray the tops of chicken tenders with non stick spray and drizzle the tops of chicken with tablespoons of vegetable oil.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until chicken is cooked throughout. Serve with lemon wedges and sprinkle lemon on chicken if you wish.
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TASTY! Used Carbquick flour, which has palm oil flakes in it, to reduce the carbs and that helped create more of a fried breading with less oil. Also cooked the tenders on parchment on top of a baking rack to get air on the bottom, and it’s damn close to the real thing my grandma from Arkansas made. Thank you for this delicious recipe!
Fantastic recipe and great presentation.
Can this recipe be used for bone in chicken?
Absolutely!
Thank you!
Tasty tenders and my picky 3year old loved them too!
Thank you very much
I made a double batch of tenders today and they turned out fantastic! Me son came in from college for the day and he thought they were his favorite tenders from Aldis! He’s taking a bag of them back to school with him!
Delish. I am trying to get away from flour, so I put unsweetened toasted coconut flakes and pecans in a food processor and used that as my base for the dredge instead of flour. Everything else was the same, and these are so, so good. I did add a little kosher salt. And I sprayed them with coconut oil. I will totally make these again.
Loved this recipe! so easy to follow and a great recipe. I used Onion Salt from Trader Joe’s and decreased the overall salt. It was so tasty! Will be making them again!
Wow! This is fabulous!! I decreased the seasoned salt just a bit and doubled the cayenne (we like things HOT 😀 ), and this turned out exactly like I wanted it to! I’ve been looking for the perfect oven fried chicken recipe forEVER…thank you so much for sharing!
Thank you for this recipe. This is as good as any fried chicken I’ve ever eaten. My family who are fried food aficionados love it.