Chicken Tenders

Aunt Deana makes chicken tenders when all of the kids are together. This is one of our most favorite recipes.

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into strips

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

2 eggs slightly beaten in a bowl

1-2 packages of saltine crackers

1 cup shredded pecorino romano cheese or shredded parmesan cheese

olive oil

1 butter stick

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Dry the chicken strips with paper towel and set aside. Set up your breading station in three separate bowls. Combine the flour and smoked paprika using a fork and set aside. The two eggs slightly beaten will be your second bowl. Using a food processor, grind the saltine crackers into fine crumbs and using a fork, stir in shredded pecorino romano cheese. This mixture is the third bowl.

Breading station:

  1. First, dip the dry chicken strips one at a time, into the flour mixture and shake off any excess flour.
  2. Dip the strips, one at a time into the egg wash and coat well on both sides.
  3. Finally, press the strips, one at a time into the cracker/cheese mixture. It is important to make sure that each strip is well coated on all sides with the cracker mixture, this will make your chicken tenders nice and crispy. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper on each strip and place the raw, breaded strips on a plate.

In a large frying pan, on medium heat, pour a mixture of 1/4 cup of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of butter. The oil will keep the chicken from burning and the butter will give it taste. When the butter has melted through place several chicken strips into the oil/butter mixture to crisp. Flip each strip halfway through cooking (about 5 minutes each side). The chicken tenders should be crispy and lightly brown but the chicken does not need to be cooked through.

Place chicken tenders on a cooling rack on top of your baking sheet. When you cook the chicken directly on the baking sheet it becomes soggy on one side. Using the rack will allow the heat to get to the chicken strips on all sides and prevent soggy chicken tenders.

Cook the chicken for 15-20 minutes on 350 degrees.

Serve with dipping sauces such as BBQ sauce, ketchup, honey mustard, ranch dressing.