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.
Will Canola oil work?
It will if that’s what you use.
This is not a comment, but rather a question that I hope you or someone can answer very quickly…Can I fry the tenders in EVOO instead of vegetable oil? I hope so, because it’s all I have right now.
Hey Renee, sorry I didn’t get to your question faster. EVOO does have a high enough smoke point if you wanted to use it (374-405) but of course it will add some flavor to your fried chicken that you may not like. I no longer fry in vegetable oil at all and have moved to refined coconut oil for all of my frying. There’s some research that says heating olive oil isn’t super healthy for us so we made a switch on that. –Rachel
I followed the recipe. It turned out great! First time trying to fry in oil. Thanks for the recipe!!
Congratulations Nick! Great job. 🙂
@Rachel Ballard, processed vegetable oil is very far from real food I would say, along with processed white flour.
Agreed Caitlin. That’s why I no longer recommend the use of vegetable oil and do my best to give options for alternate flours when readers ask for those. This blog has been a work in progress and of course I always view anything you cook at home as healthier than a fast food version, frozen food version, etc. There are lots of levels to real food and that looks different from person to person. –Rachel
I made this yesterday and it came out perfect! I did add other seasonings
@Rachel Ballard, That was kind of rude sounding when you said that your a teacher of, “real food”. But that’s how I took it.
It may take a few efforts to obtain the perfect fried tenders. Cooking them at 8-10 minutes, then turning them over for another 8-19 minutes is way too long.
Do you mean 8-9 or 8-19 there Dennis? If the oil temperature isn’t too hot and the chicken is cut as directed, it usually take 12 to 15 minutes or so total to cook a batch. If the tenders are thinner, you can do a batch in 8 to 10. It just depends on a lot of factors. –Rachel
Thank you for the detailed guidance! I’ve attempted several times over the years to fry chicken and this is the first time it’s ever come out perfect!
That’s so great to hear Alicia! –Rachel
I’m about to make this dish right this minute I mean craving it for a while and you gave the exact recipe that I can follow over along to so I really do enjoy your cooking I’ll be looking at other recipes for me and have a good day
Glad to hear that Kenya! I hope you enjoyed them!
Is it ok to cook them early put them to 1 side then just put them back in oil to reheat and will it be ok to freeze them
I’d never put them back in oil. Yikes that would be a greasy disaster. You can cook them and keep them on a baking rack on a cookie sheet in a 170 degree oven to keep them warm if you’d like and fried food just doesn’t freeze well, so no on that. The breading will go soft and fall off. –Rachel
@Rachel Ballard, but there are so many recipes where they are fried a second time….
Hey Bernard. You’re right–but they are usually doing that as a two-phase process for bone in fried chicken and fried within seconds if not minutes of each other. To ensure that bone in cooks completely through, they will cook at a lower temperature, around 360 or 365 then turn up the heat for a final fry to get the outside nice and golden–about 375 degrees with only a brief pause in between while the oil heats the ten degree difference. If I understood Mary’s question she was hoping to fry, let them cool then reheat them in oil later which would lend an unsatisfactory final result. –Rachel
@Rachel Ballard,
Would it work to reheat in air fryer? I’m not familiar with it but have heard folks like for reheating stuff
Yes Sandi I think that would work just fine. –Rachel