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.
I’m not going to lie or sugar coat this. If you haven’t ever fried anything, you’ll more than likely mess this up.
Because there’s some sort of rule that says that if you don’t get your first cast iron skillet by the age of 5, you won’t be able to hack it as an adult. No–frying takes practice. Lots of it.
Sometimes you’ll burn things, sometimes you’ll cook it too low and all the breading will fall off. Sometimes it will be golden on the outside and raw in the middle.
You just can’t give up. If you need to, use an electric skillet where you can set the heat or a fryer for safety. Please don’t burn your house down.
Don’t walk away from it. Don’t do laundry. Don’t take a nap. (I know a friend who has!)
My crispy fried chicken tenders don’t have any buttermilk listed, but if you want to wet yours in some before you drop them in the first round of flour, you can do that. I just didn’t here because I get the best crust with egg and flour.
No matter what–once you get the hang of this, you can FRY ANYTHING.
You can make your family the most unhealthy ones on the block. I mean–think about it: donuts, pickles, Twinkies, funnel cakes. Oh man. Funnel cakes. I’m just looking out for your best interests here.
I am your enabler.
Tips for the best crispy fried chicken tenders
-Make sure your flour is well seasoned. If you aren’t confident in that area, I’ve given you measurements for salt and pepper in the recipe.
-Use a good skillet that controls heat well. Of course I’m going to recommend cast iron.
-Press the breading on your chicken tenders really firmly, then let them sit for a couple of minutes before you fry them. This makes the breading soft of gooey and it crisps up even better.
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.
By far the best recipe I’ve tried and the best tenders I’ve ever cooked. Thank you for the tips and clever dialogue. Made the meal that much better!
LOL Jen! I’m full of clever dialogue 🙂 I’m so glad they worked well for you! Make ’em again! –Rachel
Definitely will make this recipe again. Very good! I added a little red pepper to it for some heat. Turned out great.
Yay Jocelyn! I’m so glad they worked out well for you! Nothing like a good piece of crispy fried chicken, is there? 🙂 Way to go! –Rachel
Can I season the flour before I batter the chicken?
Yes! Feel free!
Can I use milk instead of water?
Hey Amberly, sure. You can use either one and it will be fine. –Rachel
First time fryer here, used an old Griswold cast iron that my parents got as a wedding present. Turned out Awesome! WAY better than anything from those fast food joints. It did nuke the corn oil supply, took most of the bottle. Is bacon grease OK for frying or is that probably a dumb question ha ha. The only downside is it splatters a bit on the stove and now the house smells funny. Crispy and tender and just DAYUM they are good.
Any idea if coconut oil would be good to use for frying chicken?
Hey Jessica, No, coconut oil isn’t a good one for frying. There are a couple of reasons. First is because coconut oil has such a strong flavor, unless you like your fried chicken to taste like it’s been to Tahiti, it’s gonna be gross. Second (and most importantly) every oil has a maximum temperature it can be heated to before it starts to break down and become unstable. It’s called a smoke point. Some oils tolerate higher temperatures and some do not. Coconut oil’s smoke point is 350–and chicken needs to fry between 365 and 370 and if you tried to heat coconut oil to those temps you’d have a fire on your hands. Vegetable oil, peanut oil and even avocado oil can handle higher temps (but avocado oil is way too expensive for frying in) so go with vegetable or canola if you can. –Rachel
If I put oil in pan and use it can I save it and use it again
Hey Maggie, This may be a more scientific answer than what you were expecting but the answer is that even though people do it, I don’t recommend it. Here’s why: first, when you heat oil to a frying temperature (365/375 degrees) the oil can build up a compound called HNE that basically makes the oil unhealthy–HNE has been linked to higher rates of stroke, high cholesterol, even Alzheimers and Parkinsons. Second, oil that’s been fried in once is also more likely to take on odd flavors and/or spoil more quickly which gives your food an off taste. You should never fry oil you want to save in cast iron because it tends to go rancid more quickly.
See? More than you wanted to know. 🙂 –Rachel
My life became so much easier when I discovered the pure simplicity of the fried chicken tender. I have a deep fryer. Less than $40, WORTH EVERY PENNY. I use 2 cups of flour, and two large capfuls of lawry’s (or simialar) seasoned salt, some Accent and a TON of onion powder. Put it all in a large ziploc bag, blend the sry ingredients up, while your chicken tenders are taking a nice relaxing egg bath. Put them babies straight on in the bag, coat well, shake off the excess and fry for 5-6 mins tops. Bonus: you can refrigerate the leftovers and throw em’ back in the frywr the next day, and they come right back to life (though you want to only fry them at that point for abt 1and 1/2 mins. Most importantly: After you fry a batch of flouerd ANYTHING–DUMP YOUR OIL AND CLEAN THAT FRYER. Amen ?
Sounds like you have the right recipe Jenne! So funny! We love our fried chicken. 🙂
Rachel, it shows 499 calories – is that per serving or the calorie amount for the whole recipe?
Hey Alex–you know those calories are SO HARD to calculate for fried food. I’m going to say that’s for a “serving” which depending on how big you make them would be 3, maybe 4 tenders. Please take those calories as a rough estimate. So much rides on the size of your chicken and what oil you fry with (though vegetable oil is best) you’d want to avoid Crisco or lard. Lord have mercy…
Thank you so much!
Will try this next time I fix chicken. So as long as the oil stays same temperature it will be done if you cook on each side 10 minutes each with no touching it until ready to turn over? Does it need a lid while cooking? This would save me so much time cause now I cook it slow on lower temperature for a longer period of time an it still not crispy. As always thanks
Hey Sandy, if you’ve been cooking your chicken longer and slower and it’s not crispy you’ve had your oil way too cool. It’s a wonder your breading didn’t totally fall off because it will if your oil is too cool. And it’s going to be super hard for me to say yes for sure that 10 minutes each side will do it because you have to get your oil to around 375 or so for that to work. Buy a thermometer made for that to check it if you are unsure what that should “look” like when you put your chicken in. If it’s too hot, you’ll brown the outside and the inside won’t be cooked, but this is my method and it always works great for me. 🙂
How do you get 1 tablespoon of egg and 2 tablespoons of water?
Sorry Anita–that was a software glitch. Gotta love technology. That’s 1 egg beaten with 2 tablespoons water. I fixed it in the recipe. –Rachel