Crunch into these oven baked chicken tenders with panko and parmesan crust, served with a crisp Waldorf salad for a yummy dinner.
We’ve used a few tricks up our sleeve to make this oven baked chicken tender recipe the tastiest and crispiest chicken tenders you’ll find.
What makes our baked chicken tenders so crispy?
First, we mix finely grated parmesan cheese, garlic powder and Dijon mustard in with the egg mix, which gives a mouth-watering, delicious flavour to those chicken tenders, and keeps them moist when cooking.
And second, we roll them in panko breadcrumbs that we’ve toasted in the oven while we’re waiting for it to heat up. This gives them some beautiful extra crunch.
The third thing is that chicken tenders have a higher surface area to chicken ratio than chicken breast, so you’re going to get a lot of crunch, and you’ll need more panko crumbs to coat the same weight of chicken tenders than chicken breast.
What temperature should you bake chicken tenders at?
Hot hot hot! 200 C / 400 F. Because chicken tenders are so small, you can bake them for just 15 minutes and they’ll be ready. Cooking them in a hot oven gives that extra crunch to the crumb and keeps the chicken moist.
What do we serve with chicken tenders?
Because chicken tenders are so juicy and crunchy I thought they’d go really nicely with a crisp Waldorf salad of finely sliced apple, radish, softly boiled greens and crunchy walnuts. We’ll drizzle over a beautiful coleslaw type dressing made from Greek yoghurt, miso paste, maple syrup and mustard.
Bringing them all together you have a deee-licious dinner that you can make in just half an hour.
Baked Chicken Tenders Ingredients
- Crumbed chicken - chicken tenderloins, panko breadcrumbs, olive oil, parmesan cheese, eggs, garlic powder, Dijon mustard
- Waldorf salad - apple, radish, sugar snap peas, asparagus, frozen baby peas, walnuts, rocket and baby salad mix.
- Dressing - yoghurt, lemon, miso paste, Dijon mustard, maple syrup.
Top tip
Use block parmesan and then grate it with a fine grater so that it mixes in with the egg and coats the chicken. If you use pre-grated parmesan it might come in pieces that are too big to coat the chicken.
Substitutions
- Alternative proteins - You can use chicken breast and cut into smaller pieces or half breast fillets, or use firm white fish.
- Vegetarian - Swap chicken for starchy vegetables like sweet potato and carrot, just make sure they are parboiled first so they cook in the time allocated in the oven. Otherwise you can use tofu slices or future chicken.
- Gluten Free - Use gluten free panko crumbs.
- Dairy Free - Use dairy free cheese or nutritional yeast in the crumbing. Use dairy free yoghurt or mayonnaise in the dressing.
Kid-Friendly Variations
- Option to reduce or skip the Dijon in the chicken coating.
- Serve your child chicken tenders with slices of apple, asparagus, sugar snap peas, baby peas and some yoghurt dressing on the side.
Equipment
You will need an oven, a baking tray, a saucepan, a stovetop.
More recipes which use a Crumb
If you like these chicken tenders you should try
- Chicken Cordon Bleu
- Panzanella Salad with Panko Baked Fish
- Baked Chicken Schnitzel with Minted Potatoes
Recipe
Baked Chicken Tenders with Waldorf Salad
Equipment
- Oven
- Baking tray
- Saucepan
- Stovetop
Ingredients
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 40 g parmesan cheese
- 2 eggs
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard 1.5 teaspoon total for the recipe
- 500 g chicken tenderloins
- 1 apple
- 4 radish
- 200 g sugar snap peas
- 1 bunch asparagus
- 1 cup frozen baby peas
- ½ cup walnuts whole
- ½ cup Greek yoghurt
- 1 lemon
- 1 teaspoon miso paste
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard 1.5 teaspoon total for the recipe
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup
- 120 g baby rocket and spinach mix
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Turn your oven on to 200 C. Add panko breadcrumbs to a baking tray, spray with olive oil, and place in the oven for 3 minutes to brown while the oven is warming up. Set aside once done.1 cup panko breadcrumbs, 1 teaspoon olive oil
- Finely grate parmesan cheese into a bowl, then whisk egg, garlic powder, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper.40 g parmesan cheese, 2 eggs, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard, Salt and pepper
- Once breadcrumbs are golden, add to a plate. Spray the baking tray to prepare it for the chicken.
- Using just one hand (keep the other clean), dip your chicken tenderloins in parmesan egg mixture then coat in the panko breadcrumb mix. Place on the tray, and in the oven for 15 minutes, or 20 if you have large pieces of chicken.500 g chicken tenderloins
- Place a large saucepan of water on to boil.
- Slice apple into very thin slices. Slice radish into thin rounds. Trim sugar snap peas. Trim wooded ends from asparagus. Measure out baby peas.TIP: You can squeeze a bit of lemon juice over the apple to stop it going brown.1 apple, 4 radish, 200 g sugar snap peas, 1 bunch asparagus, 1 cup frozen baby peas
- Place sugar snap peas, asparagus and baby peas in boiling water and cook for a minute or two, then drain. When 5 mins are remaining for the chicken, place walnuts on another baking tray (or on the side of the chicken tray) and place them in the oven to toast them.200 g sugar snap peas, 1 bunch asparagus, 1 cup frozen baby peas, ½ cup walnuts
- Mix Greek yoghurt, lemon juice (about 2 tablespoons), miso paste, Dijon mustard and maple syrup to create a sauce.½ cup Greek yoghurt, 1 lemon, 1 teaspoon miso paste, 1 teaspoon maple syrup, 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- Serve kids asparagus, peas and apple with chicken tenders and sauce on the side.To serve adults, on a large serving dish layer out rocket and spinach, asparagus, sugar snap peas, peas, apple, and radishes. Add walnuts. Serve with chicken tenders and drizzle over dressing.1 apple, 120 g baby rocket and spinach mix, 4 radish
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