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Air Fryer Chicken Tenders

Chicken tenders on a plate with sauce on the side.

Whoa. We Love These.

Lindsay Ostrom headshot.

Everybody in my house is 5 stars for these chicken tenders. We just all genuinely love them.

Chicken tendies for dinner is really an awesome meal formula:

  • a platter of hot, crispy, perfectly breaded chicken tenders
  • everybody picks their favorite sauce
  • whatever random veggies are hanging out in the fridge (a fun salad, frozen mixed veg, or even just a plate of raw veggies, which we often do!)

Favorite sauces for your consideration: honey mustard, gochujang sauce, yum yum sauce, or just the standard storeboughts – ranch, ketchup, etc. My husband has been doing ranch mixed with hot sauce lately and he is onto something. It’s so good.

I’m not the type of person to get excited to do the whole dredge and dip routine, but I recently got these pans and they make the process so much more enjoyable. (Plus, I use them to store the breaded chicken before baking, or the leftover chicken, if we have any.) They’re just a NICE quality product. They make me feel like I have my life together.

And speaking of leftovers, I have really enjoyed these 1-2 days after the fact with a quick reheat in the air fryer. Crisped and golden all over again.

Hope you love these (I mean, it’s hard not to). 🙂

Lindsay signature.

My Favorite Air Fryer

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Chicken tenders on a plate with sauce on the side.

Air Fryer Chicken Tenders

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  • Author: Lindsay
  • Total Time: 25 minutes
  • Yield: 6 servings (about 12 total tenders)
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Description

These chicken tenders made in the air fryer are a favorite in our house! Golden, hot, and crispy with your favorite sauce on the side!

Ingredients

Units
  • 2 lbs. chicken tenderloins (about 12 pieces)
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • one 1–ounce packet ranch seasoning (optional, see notes)
  • 1 egg
  • 1–2 teaspoons hot sauce (optional)
  • 3/4 cup milk + 1 1/2 teaspoons vinegar
  • 2 1/2 cups breadcrumbs
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons seasoning mix (I use the McCormick rotisserie chicken seasoning)
  • avocado oil spray

Instructions

  1. Prep your dipping stations:
    Bowl 1: Combine the flour, salt, and ranch seasoning.
    Bowl 2: Mix the milk and vinegar; let it sit for 5 minutes (you’re making a “buttermilk”). Add eggs and hot sauce; whisk to combine.
    Bowl 3: Stir the breadcrumbs with the seasoning mix.

    Prepping ingredients in containers.

  2. Flatten Chicken Tenderloins: Smash each of the chicken tenderloins a few times on a cutting board using the flat side of a knife (see video). You want them to be slightly flattened or fanned out.

    Flattening chicken tenders with a knife.

  3. Batter Up: Time to coat! Dip each chicken tenderloin in flour; shake off excess. Dip in the buttermilk mixture; let excess drip off. Then coat in the breadcrumbs, flipping and gently pressing a few times until the whole surface is covered. Set aside and repeat with all the chicken tenderloins.

    Three containers filled with flour, egg wash, and breadcrumbs with chicken tenderloins.

  4. Place in Air Fryer: Place as many as you can fit into the air fryer, keeping them in one flat layer (mine can usually get 6 in at a time). Spray generously with avocado oil spray until the surface is lightly moistened with oil – this helps them get that evenly golden brown, fried look.

    Spraying chicken tenderloins with avocado spray.

  5. Cook and Serve: Air fry at 400 degrees for 7-9 minutes. You want them to be golden brown on the outside, and somewhere between about 165-180 degrees on the inside. Serve with your favorite sauce! SO yummy!

    Breaded chicken tenderloins cooked in an air fryer.

Equipment

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Notes

Seasonings: If you don’t have the seasoning mixes or don’t want to use them, just add 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and a bit of freshly ground pepper into each of the flour and breadcrumb mixtures and it’ll taste great. But I LOVE max flavor, and I feel like using both the ranch seasoning and the rotisserie chicken seasoning was such a good flavor move, so that’s my preferred way to do it!

Hot Sauce: This is optional; it’s just there for flavor and a bit of zing, but it won’t taste spicy! Promise. My kids wouldn’t let me publish this if the chicken tenders were spicy. 😉 

Breadcrumbs: I have used all types of breadcrumbs but I really like Trader Joe’s breadcrumbs or Progresso plain breadcrumbs for this. The Trader Joe’s breadcrumbs are a bit chunkier than the Progresso ones, but they both work great. In the photos I was actually using half of each because I ran out of my TJ’s ones! So I had to go half and half with it, and it ended up turning out great. 

  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 10 minutes
  • Category: Dinner
  • Method: Air Fryer
  • Cuisine: American

Keywords: air fryer chicken tenders, chicken tenders recipe, homemade chicken tenders, air fryer recipe

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More Really Good Air Fryer Recipes

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Air Fryer Salmon
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Air Fryer Broccoli
Crispy rice salad in a bowl.
Crispy Rice Salad

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