Crispy Fried Chicken Tenders
Truly crispy fried chicken tenders are a dinnertime staple you’re whole family will love. Get all my tips for making that crispy crust you crave, seasoning like a pro (and shortcuts if you don’t know how), and fry them up like “cast iron skillet” is your middle name.
Key Points for this Recipe
- Learning to fry is tricky at first. If you want to use an electric skillet to keep the heat even, you can do that. Otherwise cast iron will give you the most even heat.
- Expect that you may get the oil too hot and burn your chicken tenders or too cool and cause the breading to fall off. This happens as you’re learning. Adjust your heat up or down as needed.
- Make sure your flour is well seasoned. You can also just season the chicken directly. You’ll need more seasoning than you think you will for the flavor to carry over to the final product.
- Consider adding garlic powder, onion powder, or other seasonings to the flour. 1-2 teaspoons should do it, or to taste.
- Press the breading on your chicken tenders very firmly and let them sit 5 minutes before frying. This helps the breading really bond with the chicken.
- I like to use chicken breasts sliced in to strips as my “tenders” instead of actual tenders because of the tough tendon that runs through them.
- Refined coconut oil is excellent for frying if you don’t want to use vegetable oil.
How to store leftover chicken tenders
Store leftovers in the fridge in an air tight container for up to three days.
Seasoning options
Try these as cajun chicken or Nashville hot versions.
How to know if chicken tenders are done
Cook your tenders to an internal temperature of 165 f, and there should be no pink inside when you cut them open. You can use a meat thermometer to check the temperature if you are unsure.
Watch me make the full recipe on YouTube
Add a skillet of cornbread and you’ll be all set! You can learn how to make cornbread here if you don’t know how or get brave and learn how to fry bone-in buttermilk fried chicken.
Crispy Fried Chicken Tenders
Ingredients
- 1-2 pounds chicken tenders or 2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts sliced into 1-inch thick strips
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 egg beaten with 2 tablespoons water
- vegetable oil for frying
Instructions
- Fill a 9-inch cast iron or standard skillet with about 2 inches of oil. Start heating it over medium-high heat while you bread the chicken. (Keep an eye on it!)
- In a large bowl, mix the flour, salt and pepper.
- In another large bowl, beat the egg and water
- Dredge the chicken in the flour, coating well. Shake off excess flour and dip in the egg, the back in the flour.
- Set the chicken to the side to rest for about 5 minutes. (This helps the coating stick better)
- Check your oil temperature with a candy thermometer if necessary (you should be around 365-375 degrees) or drop in a little bit of flour–if it sizzles immediately, you can add one piece of chicken.
- If the chicken sizzles, add about 5 pieces at a time and cook until golden brown on that side–about 8 to 10 minutes or so.
- Turn, and repeat until all brown.
- Cook the rest of the chicken in batches.
- Transfer to a paper towel lined plate and sprinkle with a little more salt if needed.
Thank you so much??‍♀️. There so good and juicy. I made them again the next day. I no longer have to eat KFC chicken tenders I can fry my own ?
Im trying to limit my fried foods so after doing the flour-egg-flour and letting it sit i deep fried it for maybe 3 or 4 minutes, it got the crispy coating i wanted, and sealed the chicken.
I pulled it out and let it drain on some paper bags and finished the rest of them (3 breasts total).
I placed them on a rack on a baking sheet (don’t want them cooking in grease) and baked them at 350° for 20 minutes in the oven.
Holy juicyness! The coating and deep fry sealed the juices in and allowed the chicken to bake in its own juices.
Ty Rachel for sharing your recipe
Great! I’m glad you enjoyed them!
Why have music playing in your video? Wish I could have heard what you were saying. I’ll pass.
It’s a sample video that leads to YouTube which is linked several times throughout the post.
First time making fried chicken. loved it!! I put a twist on the recipie though, followed all the cooking instructions but I mixed a packet of Thai green chicken seasoning seasoning through the flour and served it with a supermarket bought asian salad in wraps with sweet chilli sauce. Family loved it. Will definitely be going on to my favourite recipie list.
That sounds like a delicious twist Paul!
@Paul Stares THAT, sounds fantastic!
@Paul Stares, Wow. Sounds so good it gave me cold chills just reading it. Cant wait to actually Try it. Thank You!!!
We made this and it was AMAZING works well with whole wheat flour as well!
Yes Ava! I have never used a flour that didn’t work! –Rachel
Just a couple of tips…
Using peanut oil is our preferred method… it just seems to work perfectly every time and never “burns”.
Also, using a 1:1 mix of flour and cornstarch instead of just flour gives it a crunch from another universe!
@Rawkkah, I wonder how sesame seed oil would taste? Hmm.
Is it 8-10 min per side or total? Thanks.
It’s about 8 minutes per side, depending on how thick they are. Mine are usually 1 1/2 to 2 inches. –Rachel
I followed your advice and my chicken turned out great! I did add a few additional seasonings ( paprika, garlic salt, garlic powder, cayenne pepper) since I like spicy chicken. Thanks for sharing!
Two questions, can you use olive oil instead of vegetable oil, and, can you re-use the oil?
Olive oil isn’t great for deep frying. It depends a bit on what kind of olive oil you have of course, but extra virgin is the only one you could use (smoke point 410 degrees) but the flavor won’t be ideal in your chicken. I use avocado oil or refined coconut oil now. Second, anytime you heat an oil it destabilizes the molecules in it making it more likely to turn toxic when heated too many times. It can also change flavor, go rancid or catch fire. Fried chicken leaves a lot of flour in the oil and it’s hard to get it clean enough to re use. –Rachel
@GREG DENNY, That’s all I use and it’s delicious!
@Rachel Ballard, Extra virgin olive oil for frying? If you are going to use olive oil for frying, I think you need regular olive oil. Extra virgin oil has a lower smoke point and really isn’t a good choice for frying.
There are virgin and some extra virgins than can go to 405/410. Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Smoke_point_of_cooking_oils
Either way I’d not use any of it. 🙂 –Rachel
These were delicious, such a simple thing, “flour,egg,flour” nice tip. Thanks!