Oven Fried Chicken Tenders

These Oven Fried Chicken Tenders are nice and crispy on the outside and tender and moist on the inside. Perfect for dipping in your favorite sauce and ready in about 30 minutes.

I’m the type of person that goes in spurts with foods. 

For example, I never order chicken tenders at a restaurant…until I do. And then that’s all I order for months at a time until suddenly, nope. I never order chicken tenders at a restaurant. 

Anyone else do that? 

The same goes for home cooked food and I’m currently on a chicken tender trend.

These Oven Fried Chicken Tenders are seriously so good – they taste like they were fried with that crispy exterior that has just the perfect hint of greasy goodness to it. No, I’m not saying these are greasy at all. I’m just saying they have that perfect crispy coating that tastes like it was deep fried!

Our chicken tenders recipe is a definite kid favorite. Partially because what kid doesn’t love chicken and partially because you can serve these with allllll the sauces for dipping. My current favorite is this honey mustard dressing recipe or copycat Chick Fil A sauce!

Ingredients Notes:

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Chicken – You can either use a couple of chicken breasts that you’ve cut into strips or you can purchase chicken tenderloins. Both work great!

Panko Bread Crumbs – Panko is a Japanese bread crumb that is light, airy, and crispy. This produces a much more crispy final product than traditional breadcrumbs.

Butter – Baking these in a bit of melted butter is the secret for making your oven fried chicken tenders taste like they were deep fried. Don’t skip this vital step!

Seasoning – We keep it simple here with garlic, onion, paprika, salt and pepper, but you can get as creative as you like with these baked chicken strips. Tony’s is a great seasoning blend that we often use on chicken.

How To Bake Chicken Tenders in Oven: 

Breading: You’ll need three shallow dishes for the breading. One to stir together the flour + seasonings, one to whisk the eggs, and one to stir together the panko with salt and pepper.

Coat: Dredge each piece of chicken first in the flour, then egg, and finally the panko. Make sure you coat the chicken fully for the best breading.

Butter: Melt some butter and pour it over your baking sheet. This is the key to making these chicken tenders taste like they were fried!

Bake: Pop the chicken on the pan in the butter and bake for 10 minutes. Flip carefully and bake for another 10 minutes until they appear crispy fried and golden!

Tip: I know this is a baked fried chicken recipe, but you could easily turn this into an actual fried chicken recipe! Or even better, an air fried recipe! Just follow all the steps to coat the chicken in the Panko mix and then cook in a deep fryer or air fryer with your choice of oil.

These air fryer chicken tenders are looking pretty good too!

What To Serve With Baked Chicken Tenders: 

Obviously, you’ll want one (or two…or thirty) of the dipping sauces I mentioned up above, but beyond that there are so many options!

My kiddos love when I make chicken strips and this crockpot hashbrown casserole. It’s hard to go wrong with cheesy potatoes and I love how easy they are in the crockpot.

Loaded mashed potatoes, ranch roasted potatoes, and baked potato salad are more tater favorites around here.

The family also loves our crock pot macaroni and cheese and broccoli cheese casserole.

How Long To Bake Chicken Tenders:

We bake these crispy oven fried chicken tenders at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, flipping them halfway through cooking.

The higher heat allows the breading to crisp up nicely while the chicken stays moist and tender.

FAQ:

This post was originally published in November of 2013. It was updated with new photos in February of 2020.