The best recipe for juicy, flavorful Super Crispy Chicken Tenders made with chicken breasts and buttermilk. Plus oven and air fryer options!
When it comes to family-friendly Main Dishes, you can’t go wrong with some fried chicken pieces dunked in tasty sauces. For more dippable Crispy Chicken Recipes, check out my Homemade Chicken Nuggets and Crispy Fried Chicken Breast too!
Sabrina’s Super Crispy Chicken Tenders Recipe
If you want to crack the code for making chicken tenders crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside, and incredibly flavorful, this is the recipe for you! The key is the buttermilk marinade, which does mean adding 30 minutes to the prep time, but the tender, juicy chicken is worth it! Once the chicken is tenderized, it gets double-coated in seasoned flour and deep-fried. The result is an extra crunchy coating that tastes like you got it from a fried chicken restaurant!
Recipe Card
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts , boneless, skinless
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce
- 2 large eggs , beaten
- 2 cups flour
- 2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 3/4 teaspoon course ground black pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon paprika
- 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
- vegetable oil , for frying
Instructions
- Cut the chicken breasts into four tenders each and soak them in a bowl with the buttermilk and hot sauce for 30 minutes.
- Add the eggs to one bowl and the flour and spices to a second bowl.
- Dip each piece of chicken from the buttermilk bowl to the flour mixture.
- Dip it into the eggs then back into the flour mixture.
- Shake excess flour gently off and put the chicken onto a baking sheet.
- Repeat with all the pieces.
- Heat the oil (three inches deep) in a Dutch oven on medium-high heat to 350 degrees.
- Fry the chicken in small batches for 5-7 minutes or until golden brown.
Notes
Nutrition
Want to save this recipe? Create a free account to easily save your favorite recipes
Table of contents
About this Recipe
Making homemade chicken fingers is perfect for fast food cravings especially when you are on a budget! They also make a great, cheap and easy appetizer for game-day parties. And speaking of appetizers, another popular game day treat is my Bacon Brown Sugar chicken tenders.
You can save money by making your homemade sauces – I’ve included some of my favorites with links to their recipes at the bottom of this post. Plus, there are directions for oven-baked and air-fryer versions in case you want to save some calories while you’re at it!
Ingredients
- Chicken: Cut chicken breasts long-wise into even strips. You can flatten the thick part of the breast a bit to make it more even before cutting.
- Buttermilk: This is the secret ingredient for getting juicy tenders without having to buy expensive tenderloins. It breaks down the muscular cut of meat and adds a bit of fat for moist, flavorful chicken. See my Frequently Asked Questions for how to substitute buttermilk.
- Hot Sauce: The hot sauce adds a little bit of flavor to the chicken but more importantly, it helps break it down for more tender meat. Don’t worry, it won’t make the tenders spicy.
- Flour: I’m using regular all-purpose flour.
- Seasoning: I keep the seasoning simple with a little garlic powder, paprika, salt and pepper. Feel free to adjust, see my Variations section for ideas.
- Baking Powder: Baking powder adds some air to the breading mixture while it cooks, making it lighter for a crispier, crunchier coating.
- Oil: You’ll want to use a neutral cooking oil with a high smoke point like canola, peanut, or vegetable oil.
Chef’s Note:
You may be wondering why I am using cut-up chicken breasts instead of chicken tenderloins. The main reason is cost! Chicken tenderloins are a small piece of meat under the breast that has a little more fat and sodium, so it’s a bit more tender and juicy. But since it’s a smaller cut, it is usually way more expensive per pound than regular chicken breast. For a dish like fried chicken, I just don’t think it’s worth the cost. My buttermilk marinade tenderizes the meat so you get a similar juicy piece of chicken without breaking the bank.
Can This Be Made Ahead?
It’s best to prepare these and serve them fresh for the crispiest texture. However, if you store them in the fridge overnight, you can reheat them in the oven at 300 degrees for 7-10 minutes to heat and crisp them up.
How to Store
- Store: Serve these while they are still hot. They’ll be ready to serve after they have drained on the wire rack. Store in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- Reheating: Reheat in the air fryer, oven, or toaster oven to maintain crispiness. The microwave will make them soggy.
- Freeze: You can keep these in the freezer for up to 3 months. Let it thaw in the fridge overnight before reheating.
Serving Ideas
Ranch, honey mustard, and buffalo sauce make perfect dipping options. Check out my complete Sauce Collection for more ideas. Whether it’s a popular fast food sauce or classic dip, these recipes are perfect for dunking homemade chicken fingers!
Alternative Cooking Methods
Oven Baked
- Marinade as usual.
- You are going to use 1 cup flour and 1 cup of breadcrumbs, each in separate bowls. Divide the spices between the flour bowl and breadcrumb bowl.
- Dredge the chicken from the buttermilk into the flour, then to the eggs, and finally into the breadcrumbs.
- Add to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or coated with cooking spray.
- Melt 2 tablespoons of butter and brush the tops of each tender with melted butter. You can also spray with cooking spray but melted butter will give better flavor.
- Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until cooked through.
Air Fryer
- Prepare the chicken for frying as usual, no adjustments to the marinade or breading.
- Preheat your air fryer to 400 degrees.
- Once the chicken has been breaded with flour, lay them in a single layer in the air fryer basket on the tray.
- You’ll need to work in batches. Don’t crowd them or let them touch, you want there to be enough room for the air to circulate.
- Cook at 400 degrees for 6 minutes, flip the tenders, and cook another 5-7 minutes until they are cooked through and golden.
Frequent Questions
Make your own buttermilk by adding 1 tablespoon white vinegar (or fresh lemon juice) to a liquid measuring cup. Add enough whole milk to bring it to 1 cup. Let the milk sit for 10 minutes. Stir and use as usual in your recipes! (For 2 cups of buttermilk, increase the vinegar to 3 tablespoons and rest for 15 minutes)
Once fried, you can keep the chicken tenders crispy on a baking sheet or a cookie sheet in a low oven at 250 degrees while you finish frying the remaining chicken tenders or keep them warm until your event starts. The low temperature will ensure the chicken fingers stay juicy too; it isn’t hot enough to dry them out unless you leave them in there for hours. Do not cover the chicken or put it on a paper towel as it will create steam which will ruin the texture of the crispy chicken.
No, for this recipe, I would not recommend swapping in breadcrumbs one-to-one. The breading won’t stick well without adjustments, and it won’t fry the same in general. If you want to use breadcrumbs, see my Breaded Chicken recipe.
If your breading keeps falling off, it could mean that the oil temperature might be too high or too low while cooking. The oil temperature should be held at 350 degrees. Also, you don’t want to bread and fry the chicken when it’s cold; room temperature will fry faster, and the breading will stick better.
Variations
- Italian: Swap out the paprika for grated parmesan cheese and ½ teaspoon of dried Italian seasoning. Serve with a squeeze of lemon juice.
- Spices: Add spices like cumin, onion powder, curry powder, or use spice blends to kick up the flavor. I like to add 1 teaspoon of taco seasoning, a Cajun spice blend. You could also add some dried herbs like oregano or basil, but I like to grind them until they are fine to mix better. A little cayenne pepper or chipotle powder adds a nice heat for spicy chicken.
- KFC Secret Recipe: The addition of the spices that are used in my copycat KFC Potato Wedges recipe takes these chicken fingers over the top.
Related Recipes
More Tasty Chicken Dippers!
Photos used in a previous version of this post:
I use this recipe every time I make these and I add some extra seasonings to this and it comes our perfect every time!!
Glad you enjoyed the recipe Roxie and thanks for the five star review!
Very disappointed. No flavor, not crispy and a lack of instructions.
Hey Dee, I’m sad to hear that you were disappointed in how your tenders turned out. Feel free to add extra seasoning to your desired tastes. As far as everything else, I want to know where the instructions failed you, and where you felt they were lacking? I can’t help if I don’t know.