Oven Baked Chicken Tenders

These. are. so. good. and easy.

Crunchy and flavorful chicken tenders that are healthier and much easier to prepare than frying them up.  I have always had a thing for Panko bread crumbs (they are just so versatile) so I found a recipe for chicken tenders and substituted the bread crumbs and cereal mixture for my main squeeze panko and voila, here is a pretty darn good recipe if I do say so myself.

From my little kitchen to yours... Enjoy.

p.s. have you bought a meat thermometer yet?? I really hope you have because this is another great recipe where having a meat thermomter allows for perfectly cooked, tender, juicy chicken tenders.  I promise you will not regret this purchase.

Oven Baked Chicken Tenders

Recipe Notes

The spices of one of the recipes I was combining called for Allspice.  I didn't realize until right before making these that I didn't have any so I cam up with my own subsitute... half ground cloves and half cinnamon.  If you have those two on hand, they will work just great.  If you have never used Panko, they are a Japanese bread crumb and I find that most grocery stores carry them now.

2 cups panko bread crumbs
2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice (see recipe note)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 pounds chicken breast tenders, 2 packages
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup barbecue sauce

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Pour the Panko bread crumbs in a shallow dish. Mix in sugar, salt, pepper, and allspice. Place flour in a separate shallow bowl. Place eggs in another separate bowl.

Drizzle about 3 tablespoons vegetable oil evenly over the breading, tossing and turning it to mix the oil all through the panko mixture.

Dredge the chicken through the flour, egg, the flour again, the egg again and then the panko mixture. Arrange the tenders on a nonstick baking sheet. Place the chicken tenders in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes, turning over once. If you have a meat thermometer, heat to 165 degrees. Serve hot chicken tenders barbecue sauce for dipping.