Homemade Chicken Tenders (2024)

If you want a fun and easy meal that whips up quick you have to make these Homemade Chicken Tenders. The whole family will love them.

I’m a chicken kind of gal, I think you might know that since I’ve said it a few times over the years. But I’m especially keen on Chicken Tenders, they are my all time favorites.

We make these often and have been making Homemade Chicken Tenders for years now, my kids love them and they always ask for them, and I’m always happy to oblige.

Some of my other favorite chicken recipes we have on the site include Baked Cheesy Chicken, Chicken Fried Chicken and Boneless Chicken Wings!

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:

• With minimal ingredients it is super easy to whip up.
• You can fry in deep fryer or a pot of oil.
• You can easily double this recipe for serving more people.

This is really an easy recipe and sometimes it’s a lot cheaper to make your own Chicken Tenders at home than buying them from the store.

We usually just make ours homemade anyways, because the store bought ones are just too hard and crunchy with way too much batter on them.

These Chicken Tenders have a nice light crunch to them that isn’t over powering or hard, I think they are perfect and we absolutely adore them.

HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE CHICKEN TENDERS, STEP BY STEP:

1. Preheat your oil to 325. In a medium-sized bowl add the flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, and garlic powder, mix together well and set aside. In another medium-sized bowl add the buttermilk, egg, and hot sauce, whisk together until fully combined.
2. Dredge the chicken tenders by placing the tenders one at a time into the flour mixture. Coat the tender well, shake off any excess flour.
3. Dip the tender into the buttermilk mixture, allowing any excess to drip off. Place the tender back into the flour mixture and coat well, pat the flour down onto the tender to form a good crust.
4. Once the oil is ready, carefully place the tenders into the hot oil, do not crowd the pan, you will have to do this in batches. Cook for 3-5 minutes on each side, until the internal temperature reaches 165°F and they are golden brown and crispy. Place on a wire rack while you fry the rest of the tenders.

See how easy is this recipe! Let’s just say that it is super easy because it is. There really isn’t much to making your own Chicken Tenders.

Chicken, flour, egg, milk, seasoning and oil. That is pretty much it, I mean pantry staples am I right? We usually always have this on hand!

WHAT KIND OF CHICKEN DO I USE?

We normally purchase chicken tenders from the store, they are precut tenderloins from the breast of the chicken.

But if you can’t find those you can actually use a whole breast and just cut it into strips and do it that way, we have done that many times and it has always worked out well.

Look at that perfectly golden crust on those bad boys, don’t tell me that they aren’t calling your name right now! Because they are calling mine.

These are really good and you can doctor up your flour mixture any way that you like that suits your needs and flavor preference.

We do it how we do it because of kids, but we do like to add a little hot sauce to our milk mixture just to give it the slightest of kick that you really can’t tell is there.

WHAT TO SERVE WITH CHICKEN TENDERS?

Some of my favorite recipes that go with chicken tenders include:

1. Crispy Baked Oven Fries
2. Instant Pot Mac and Cheese
3. Coleslaw

Like listed above we love to serve our Chicken Tenders with Macaroni and Cheese. I don’t know why, it has just become a thing in our house and we absolutely love it.

Obviously that is just our side of choice, but it works well for the kids, even the older ones because you can never go wrong with Macaroni and Cheese!

HOW TO STORE:

Chicken obviously is one of those dishes that you do not want to leave out at room temperature for longer than about 2 hours or it will grow bacteria.

We store these in an airtight container like a ziptop bag or Tupperware and they should last in the refrigerator for about 1-2 days.

After that they will go soggy which you don’t really want, you can always reheat in the oven to crisp them up a bit as well opposed to the microwave.

You can also freeze this recipe if you have any leftovers, make sure they are fully cooled first then place in a freezer bag and pop them in the freezer where they will keep for up to about 1 month.

If you are wanting a quick and easy dinner time meal that will serve your whole family then this Homemade Chicken Tender Recipe is it!

It is quick on time and ingredients and you can serve so much with it. You can also use this batter to make chicken sandwiches as well or Chicken Fried Chicken which I linked above.

It is just an easy delicious meal that reminds me of diner food and take-out when I was a kid so thats why we keep making it today.

TIPS AND TRICKS:

• You can use chicken tenders or you can slice up chicken breasts into strips for this recipe.
• This can be frozen, see my tips above on how to do that.
• Easily double this recipe to serve more people.
• This needs to fry in batches so your deep fryer or pan doesn’t get overcrowded and the chicken cooks evenly.
• Serve with a variety of dipping sauces, my favorites are honey mustard and ranch.

If you want that perfect Chicken Tender Recipe then you’ve come to the right place, tasty, easy and everyone loves it!

If you like this recipe you might also like:

• Instant Pot Chicken Caesar Sandwiches
• Chicken Salad
• Baked Buffalo Wings

If you’ve tried these HOMEMADE CHICKEN TENDERSor any other recipe on my site, let me know in the comment section how it turned out, we love hearing from our readers! You can also follow along with me on PINTEREST, FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM to see more amazing recipes and what shenanigans I’m getting into!