Crispy, Crispies! Crunchy, Crunchies! These air fryer chicken tenders are seriously the best. I love serving them with my house sauce but you can also serve these with your favorite dipping sauce like ketchup, ranch dressing, buffalo sauce, or honey mustard! And sometimes, I’ll even pop them into a warm tortilla and make wraps. Such an easy and versatile recipe. Don’t worry, if you don’t have an air fryer, I also provide directions on how you can make crispy chicken tenders in the oven. Chicken strips are some of my favorite things to order at a fried chicken restaurant. But oftentimes, I find myself ordering a salad to help balance all that fried food. That makes up for it, right? It’s like when you have a salad for lunch, you can automatically add fries to the order and it practically cancels the bad stuff out. If only the world worked that way! But luckily, these air fryer chicken fingers help cut out all the excess oil, and they still deliver that perfect crispy crunchy breaded exterior.
Ingredients to make air fryer chicken tenders:
Chicken: I like to use chicken tenderloin for this recipe as they yield the best results. But if you have chicken breasts on hand, you can thinly slice them to make mock tenders. Some of my tenders may look like chicken breasts, but they were just dyno-sized tenders!Buttermilk: I like to soak the tenders in buttermilk before we pop them into the flour mixture. The natural enzymes found in buttermilk help relax the protein in the chicken while helping it maintain its juicy interior! If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, feel free to use 1 cup of regular milk and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar. This will create a similar effect and add a similar flavor to buttermilk.Seasonings: For the seasonings, you’ll need kosher salt, garlic powder, smoked paprika, and onion powder. I like to use some salt in the buttermilk mixture and then a bit more in the flour mixture to make sure that the tenders are seasoned well. The other seasonings get added to the flour mixture so that they adhere to the chicken and don’t burn in the air fryer.Flour: Mixed with seasonings is the first step in the dipping stations. We’ll remove the tenders from the buttermilk, dip them in the flour mixture before moving on the beaten eggs.Grated Parmesan: Adds more flavor to the tenders. I toss this in with the flour and seasonings so that the cheese melts without burning!Cornflakes: Instead of using panko breadcrumbs for my tenders, I prefer to use crushed-up cornflakes for the ultimate crunch! Panko is great for coating tons of ingredients but for the crispiest air fryer tenders, cornflakes produce much better results.Cooking Spray: The oil spray helps get the exterior crust all nice and crispy!
How to make chicken tenders in the air fryer:
If you like this recipe, you might also like these:
Hot Honey Pretzel Chicken FingersSticky Baked Chicken Bites in Honey Sriracha SauceParmesan Chicken Cutlets in Lemon Butter SauceSuper Crispy Garlic Parmesan WingsCrispy Sticky Honey Garlic Chicken
House Dipping Sauce: Whisk together: 2 tbsp honey, 2 tbsp bbq sauce, 1 tablespoon dijon mustard, 1 ½-3 teaspoon sriracha sauce, and ¼ cup mayonnaise in a bowl until combined, then serve!
