Texas Roadhouse Chicken Critters (Copycat) are tasty chicken tenders soaked in buttermilk and fried to a golden brown in a seasoned batter!
There’s no doubt that some of Texas Roadhouse’s best dishes are their fried foods! From Rattlesnake Bites to these Chicken Critters, people love dunk-able finger foods. Find other fried appetizer favorites in this Copycat Recipes catalog.
Sabrina’s Texas Roadhouse Chicken Critters
One of the things that really sets Texas Roadhouse apart from a lot of restaurants is that almost every single thing on the menu is made from scratch. That makes it one of the places a lot of people don’t mind taking the kids. You know they are getting fresh food made with simple ingredients, even when it’s chicken fingers.
Recipe Card
Ingredients
- 2 pounds chicken tenderloins (boneless)
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 cup flour
- 1 tablespoon seasoning salt
- 1/3 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tablespoon coarse ground black pepper
- 1/2 tablespoon white pepper
- 1/2 cup club soda
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- vegetable oil , for frying
Texas Roadhouse Cajun Horseradish Sauce
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/4 cup prepared chili sauce
- 2 tablespoons prepared horseradish sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Cut chicken into strips.
- Soak the chicken strips in buttermilk for about 10 minutes.
- Mix the flour, seasoning salt, cayenne pepper, black pepper, and white pepper in a bowl.
- Stir the club soda into the dry ingredients until well mixed.
- Take the chicken out of the buttermilk and dry it with paper towels.
- Heat a pot of oil on medium-high heat.
- Cover each chicken strip in the batter, then drop into the oil. Cook each strip for 3-5 minutes until golden brown.
- Place the chicken strips on paper towels to drain excess oil after cooked.
- Sprinkle the sea salt over the strips and serve.
Texas Roadhouse Cajun Horseradish Sauce
- Mix the mayonnaise, sour cream, chili sauce, horseradish sauce, and cayenne pepper together.
- Refrigerate for 2 hours before serving.
Nutrition
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Table of Contents
About this Recipe
Can you relate to having a kid who eats almost exclusively chicken tenders everywhere you go? Texas Roadhouse Chicken Critters are a favorite that folks feel okay with the kids ordering, with no mystery ingredients or frozen bulk chicken. Simple, fresh ingredients also mean you can easily recreate these Chicken Critters at home.
Chef’s Note
Now if you are a long-time fan of Texas Roadhouse, rest assured this is the old recipe for their Chicken Critters. I saw that petition that came out when they switched up the recipe. Don’t worry, this is the original crispy, flavorful, battered version! What sets Texas Roadhouse Chicken Critters apart is that they use an airy batter that’s kept light with club soda. Soaking in buttermilk tenderizes the chicken and makes it so much more flavorful. If you don’t have any buttermilk on hand, there are some substitutes down below.
Tips and Tricks: Buttermilk Substitutions
- Lemon Juice: Place 1 tablespoon of lemon juice into your measuring cup and fill to the 1 cup line with whole, 2% milk, or even non-dairy milk. Leave at room temperature for at least 10 minutes.
- Vinegar: Use white vinegar in the same way as lemon juice. Add 1 tablespoon vinegar and fill with whole milk to 1 cup and allow to sit for 10 minutes. You can use this method with 2% or non-dairy milk too.
- Yogurt: For every one cup of buttermilk, substitute a mixture of ¾ cup of plain yogurt and ¼ cup whole or 2% milk. Whisk the milk and yogurt until smooth and thick like buttermilk. You can also thin out yogurt with water until the right consistency.
- Sour Cream: Thin sour cream with water, about ¼ cup water to ¾ cup of sour cream. This method can be used with milk, using more or less milk depending on the thickness of your sour cream.
- Cream of Tartar: If you have Cream of Tartar on hand from lots of baking, use 1 ¾ teaspoons whisked into a full cup of milk.
How to Store
- Serve: Chicken Critters are best fresh and they can be kept at room temperature for up to 2 hours.
- Store: Cool completely before storing in an airtight container for up to 3 days. For best results, place a paper towel at the bottom to soak up any moisture.
- Freeze: Freeze Chicken Critters in a single layer on a baking sheet for 1 hour. Transfer to a freezer bag and keep frozen for up to 3 months.
What Serve with Texas Roadhouse Chicken Critters
- Serve these Chicken Critters with Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes to copy the tasty sweet potato side option from Texas Roadhouse. To make a loaded version, top with Salted Caramel Sauce and toasted Marshmallows.
- t’s a great choice to dip these Chicken Critters in homemade sauces like Honey Mustard, Ranch Dressing, or BBQ sauce. A popular favorite store-bought brand of BBQ sauce is Sweet Baby Rays. It is smoky, sweet, and not super expensive!
- These crazy popular Chicken Critters would be an excellent choice for a game day platter, or any other gathering for that matter. Cook them up, keep them warm in an oven on a low setting. Make sure to place them on a pan lined with a rack or some other tool to keep them drained of any oil that might pool underneath them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Buttermilk has a slight acidity and that really helps make the chicken nice and tender.
Vegetable oil is a great choice when frying chicken tenders. It has a high smoke point, which means it takes a higher temperature for it to start smoking and burning.
Chicken Tenderloins are a more tender cut of the chicken breast, removed from boneless chicken breasts and sold separately at a higher price. You can always substitute chicken breasts, cut into 1 1/2- to 2-inch wide strips, aka chicken tenders, to save on the pricey cut of chicken tenderloins.
Variations
- Chicken Critter Basket: For a kid-friendly Chicken Critter Basket, serve with baked Potato Wedges and Green Beans.
- Chicken Critter Salad: Turn your Chicken Critters into a Texas Roadhouse’s popular salad. Top a bed of mixed green lettuce with shredded jack and cheddar cheese, sliced hard-boiled egg, diced tomatoes, bacon crumbles, and these chicken pieces.
- Seasoning: Use your favorite dry seasoning mix, like Taco Seasoning or Cajun seasoning, instead of the spices in this recipe for different flavors.
- Oven Baked: For a healthier recipe, oven bake Texas Roadhouse Chicken Critters. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Use panko or regular breadcrumbs instead of flour and leave out the club soda. Spray your breaded chicken with cooking spray or brush with melted butter. Bake for 20-25 minutes.
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Sorry, forgot to rate…go to recipe for football season! Buttermilk is the secret…don’t tell anyone!
Amen.
Definitely not similar to Texas Roadhouse. It tastes good but it’s more a tempura batter.
Ah shucks. Sorry we missed the mark on this one for you.
would I be able to use an air fryer & the turn out the same
Have you seen our recipe for Super Crispy chicken Tenders using an Air Fryer on the site? https://dinnerthendessert.com/super-crispy-chicken-tenders/?swcfpc=1
I haven’t tested this recipe using an Air Fryer but I’m sure it’s doable!
This isn’t one of my favorites. It tastes good but it ended up more like tempura.
The dry and then 1/2c of club soda turned into a ball of dough and I had to double up on the soda to get it to be batterish…
Oh no, sorry it didn’t turn out for you. Did you happen to stir in the 1/2 cup of club soda into the flour only or to all the dry ingredients?
Ditto…added another 1/2 c club soda to flour and seasonings…smooth as silk now…used ap flour and Slap Yo Mama spice and Jerk seasoning…(2 T)…excellent Chef!
Amen.