Chicken tenders are probably a common favorite meal especially with children. These chicken tenders are sure to please any kid at heart and as a bonus, they're easy to make and healthy as well. I made these in advance for the freezer and they turned out fantastic... and I'm willing to bet that these are better than any frozen nuggets you'll find in your grocer's freezer aisle. The recipe calls for crushed cornflakes used to coat the chicken. I added a few spices for additional flavor but feel free to omit them if you want to stick to the original recipe. These chicken tenders are baked, making them a healthy way to prepare without sacrificing the crunchy texture. I served these with loaded mashed potatoes and a spinach salad.
Cornflake Chicken Tenders
recipe adapted from Pennies on a Platter
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch strips
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
8 tablespoons (1/2 cup) butter, melted
2 cups finely crushed corn flakes cereal
Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 400˚F. Place an oven-safe cooling rack on a baking sheet and set aside.
Combine the flour and spices in a small bowl; set aside. Place melted butter in another small bowl; set aside. Place the crushed cereal in a medium-sized bowl or pie plate.
Dip the chicken pieces in the seasoned flour, then the butter, then the cereal. Place the coated chicken strips on the rack in the baking sheet.
Bake the coated chicken pieces in the preheated oven for 20 – 25 minutes, until chicken is no longer pink. Serve with your favorite sauce.
* To make ahead/freezer meal - Prepare as directed to coat the chicken and spread them on a wax paper lined baking sheet after coating. Place the baking sheet in the freezer uncovered and flash freeze for half an hour, until mostly firm. Transfer the strips to a gallon sized freezer bag labeled with the date and cooking instructions. When ready to prepare, preheat oven to 400˚F and bake from frozen (do not defrost) for 25 minutes on the baking sheet with the cooling rack.
7 comments:
Thanks for sharing your recipe. My husband makes something similar but with captain crunch.
We absolutely love these! They're always in our freezer to just pop in the oven on a moment's notice. Like your idea of adding spices! :)
How's that adorable baby??
I've done a similar recipe, only I used ranch salad dressing mix (made up according to package directions) and dredged my chicken tenders in the ranch mix before coating with cornflakes :-)
We finally tried this recipe this evening, and it was a HUGE hit! My son scarfed it down, and he's a super picky eater. My husband actually commented many times that he liked it (usually he just says, "Good meal, thanks Babe" once while he's putting his plate away) So success! Thanks! It's going to be a prefect freezer meal for when the baby comes.
So I don't cook the chicken before freezing it? Is that correct? Then I put the frozen chicken right in the oven to cook, no thawing?
Anonymous - for this recipe, the chicken tenders are not cooked before freezing and are cooked from frozen, no thawing. (Thawing will affect the texture of the coating.)
My kids are eating these right now for lunch. Success! Thank you, I will be making a big batch of these and freezing them over the weekend.
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