Air Fryer Chicken Tenders are perfectly seasoned and air-fried until a perfect shade of golden brown. These tenders are super simple to make and are ready to hit the table in 20 minutes.
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Using an Air Fryer is a great way to get those perfect chicken tenders every time. No dealing with hot oil or getting soggy chicken from the oven. These tenders go with just about any side dish and pair perfectly with your favorite dipping sauce.
Why This Recipe Works
These lightly breaded Chicken Tenders are perfectly cooked, golden-brown chicken tenders with a juicy interior and a crunchy coating! delicious dipped into my Yum Yum sauce. If you love making chicken in the air fryer try these Air Fryer Sweet and Spicy Chicken Legs or Old Bay Air Fryer Chicken Wings.
Chicken Tender Recipe Ingredients
- Chicken tenders: you'll need about 6-8 tenders
- Panko bread crumbs: I prefer panko over regular breadcrumbs for the flavor and texture in this recipe
- Paprika: Regular, sweet, or even smoked will work.
- Ranch seasoning: Homemade or store-bought works.
- All purpose flour: Allows the egg mixture to stick to it.
- Eggs: Helps hold the breading on.
- Parmesan cheese: grated not shredded
How to make air fryer chicken tenders
- Step 1: Add Panko breadcrumbs and seasonings to a shallow bowl and mix together.
- Step 2: Add flour to a second shallow bowl. Place chicken tenders in the flour and toss to coat the raw chicken.
- Step 3: Whisk eggs in another shallow bowl. Place coated chicken tenders in the egg mixture and coat well.
- Step 4: Use tongs to transfer egg coated chicken to the breadcrumb mixture bowl and gently press the coating on the tenders.
- Step 5: Transfer tenders to the Air Fryer basket. Spray the chicken tenders with nonstick cooking spray and air fry.
- Step 6: Flip tenders, coat again with cooking spray and finish frying. Repeat with the rest of the chicken until all have been fried. Serve with your favorite sauces.
Recipe Tips
- You may need to adjust the cooking time depending on the size of your chicken tenders. Thinner ones will need less cooking time.
- Work in batches if needed. Don't overcrowd the Air Fryer basket or the chicken won't cook properly.
- You can change up the seasonings if needed. Other ideas to try are Italian seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper.
- Store leftover chicken fingers in an airtight container and keep in the fridge for up to 2-3 days. Reheat in the Air Fryer.
- Use a meat thermometer to make sure the internal temp reaches 165F before consuming.
Recipe Faq's
Yes, the easiest swap would be to use chicken breasts cut into strips or cut small chicken pieces to make Air Fryer Chicken Nuggets
instead of strips. You could do this with whole pieces of boneless skinless chicken breasts too. But you'll likely need to increase the frying time.
Homemade french fries or potato wedges, sweet potato fries, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn casserole, corn on the cob, creamy mac and cheese, etc would all be good. And, of course, don't forget your dipping sauce options like ketchup, honey mustard, bbq sauce, ranch, or even some hot sauce.
Sure, Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Bread your chicken tenders using the same step by step instructions, through step 4. Instead of placing them in the Air Fryer basket, place the breaded chicken on a baking sheet and spray with cooking spray. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the internal meat thermometer eaches 165F according to the meat thermometer.
You can freeze these for later. Once the Air Fryer Chicken Tenderloins have cooled to room temp, transfer them to a freezer-safe freezer bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Reheat from frozen in your Air Fryer. Preheat the fryer to 380F for a few minutes before placing frozen chicken tenders in the basket to reheat for 5-6 minutes, or until they're warmed through again.
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Air Fryer Ranch Chicken Tenders
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds chicken tenders approx. 6-8 large tenders
- 1 cup Panko bread crumbs
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 3 tablespoons ranch seasoning or 1 oz pkg ranch seasoning
- ¼ cup parmesan cheese
- ¼ cup flour
- 2 medium eggs
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Preheat your air fryer to 380 degrees
- In a shallow bowl add the panko crumbs, paprika, and ranch seasoning and parmesan cheese and mix until combined.
- In a shallow bowl add the flour. In a second shallow bowl add the eggs and whisk until combined.
- Place a couple tenders into the flour and toss until coated. Then toss into the egg mixture.
- Place the egg coated tenders into the bread crumbs mixture and gently press the coating on, place on a sheet pan and repeat until all are coated.
- Place a few tenders into the air fryer basket (don’t overcrowd the basket) and spray the tops of the tenders with cooking spray. Fry for 6-7 minutes. Flip the tenders give them another spray of cooking spray and fry another 5-6 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. Repeat until all tenders are fried.
- Season with salt to taste and serve with your favorite dipping sauce.
Yay Shirley, happy you enjoyed it. I enjoy this chicken on a salad or even as a sandwich, so good!
Just made this wonderful recipe. Fabulous flavors very easy to make. I made a few substitutions, used smoked paprika and used can’t believe it’s not butter on the top. Definitely a must try recipe.
Fantastic Joan!
So easy to make and very good.