Crispy and bold, Buffalo Chicken Tenders are oven-baked and coated in a crunchy and flavorful breading. Serve them as an appetizer or a spicy main dish!
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With a crunchy breading that's packed with spicy, cheesy flavor, these homemade chicken tenders with buffalo sauce crisp up perfectly in the oven. This recipe takes my Cheez-It Chicken Tenders and gives them a kick of heat!
Why this Recipe Works
Ready in just 30 minutes, this easy recipe is ideal for a quick weeknight meal. A hearty snack to eat while watching the game, or a delicious finger food appetizer for parties like these buffalo chicken potato skins.
Thanks to crushed Cheez-Its crackers, these buffalo chicken fingers have the perfect amount of crunch with a tender interior. Serve them with these Air Fryer Frozen French Fries a side of ranch, blue cheese dressing, or some extra buffalo sauce on the side!
Leftover tenders are also great to repurpose for recipes like my Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta or a Crispy Chicken Salad.
Ingredients Needed
- Cheez-It Crackers: I prefer to use the hot & spicy variety, but any cheesy cracker works well as a breading ingredient.
- Parmesan Cheese: Enhances the cheesy flavor.
- Panko Bread Crumbs: You could use regular bread crumbs as well, but Panko breadcrumbs are great for a nice hearty crunch.
- Seasonings: Garlic powder and salt are all you need, but feel free to add more seasonings if you like.
- Butter: Gives your tenders a fantastic buttery flavor that pairs well with the hot sauce.
- Hot Sauce: Use your favorite hot sauce--Frank's RedHot is a classic choice for buffalo sauce!
- Mayonnaise: Helps the breading adhere to the chicken tenders.
- Chicken Tenderloins: If you can't find actual chicken tenderloins at the grocery store, you can also buy chicken breasts and cut them into the appropriate shape and size.
- Dipping Sauce: Pair your tenders with blue cheese or ranch dressing.
How to Make these Homemade Chicken Tenders
- Step 1: In a well-sealed plastic bag, crush the Cheez-It crackers. Use a rolling pin or another flat, heavy object to make your life easier.
- Step 2: Mix together melted butter and hot sauce in a separate mixing bowl.
- Step 3: On a plate or in a shallow bowl , combine Panko, crushed crackers, Parmesan, garlic powder, and salt.
- Step 4: Pour the spicy buffalo sauce into the breading and mix until well combined.
- Step 5: Pat the chicken strips dry with paper towels, then coat each piece of chicken with mayonnaise.
- Step 6: Evenly coat each chicken tender in the breadcrumb mixture.
- Step 7: Arrange chicken tenders on a wire rack over a baking sheet.
- Step 8: Bake at 400 degrees F for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown and cooked all the way through. Let them cool for a couple of minutes, then serve and enjoy!
Recipe Tips
- Use a meat thermometer to check that your tenders reach an internal temperature of at least 165 degrees F.
- To more easily crush the crackers, blitz them in a food processor. Just be sure not to over-process them! You want decent sized chunks and crumbs rather than a powder.
- For a spicier result, add some cayenne pepper, chili powder, black pepper, or red pepper flakes to the breading mixture.
- Pair your tenders with additional buffalo sauce, ranch dressing, blue cheese dip, or something even more decadent like Garlic Parmesan Sauce.
- Feel free to use Greek yogurt instead of mayo for a slightly lighter take on this recipe.
- This recipe can be halved or doubled fairly easily. I've found the leftovers keep well and are easy to reheat in the oven or the air fryer. Allow leftover to cool and transfer to an airtight container in the fridge or freezer.
- You may need to adjust the cook time depending on the size of your chicken pieces.
- Serve alongside celery sticks or carrot sticks.
Recipe FAQ's
Yes, buffalo sauce has a bit of a kick to it because of the hot sauce. Use a little less if you prefer a milder flavor, but buffalo chicken tenders are meant to have some heat to them.
Be sure your tenders aren't overlapping while they bake. I highly recommend using an oven safe rack instead of baking them right on a sheet pan. This will allow for better air circulation, which will help the tenders get crispy on all sides!
Yes, to make air fryer buffalo chicken tenders. Instead of the oven, air fryer them for 24-25 minutes at 400 degrees, flipping halfway through. Give them a spritz with olive oil spray or cooking spray for a nice crispy finish.
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Buffalo Chicken Tenders
Ingredients
- 2 cups hot and spicy Cheez It crackers crushed
- 3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 2/3 cups panko bread crunbs
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 4 tablespoons butter melted
- 2 tablespoons hot sauce
- 2 1/2 pounds chicken tenders
- Ranch or blue cheese dressing
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place a wire cooling rack on a baking sheet and spray it with nonstick cooking spray. If you don't have a rack just place them on a baking sheet sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.
- Place cheez it in a ziplock freezer bag and smash the crackers up (you want about 2 cups crushed). You can also place them in a food processor and pulse them several times, (Careful not to over-process them)
- Place the cheez it, parmesan cheese, panko breadcrumbs, garlic powder and salt.
- In a small bowl add the melted butter and hot sauce and mix until combined.
- Pour the butter mixture into the breading and mix until combined.
- Pat the tender dry with paper towels
- Brush a layer of mayonnaise over the chicken tenders, be sure to coat evenly then place the tender into the bread crumbs and press firmly to make sure the coating sticks.
- Place the breaded tenders onto the rack on the baking sheet.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.
- Serve them with ranch, blue cheese or buffalo sauce.
Notes
- You can substitute mayonnaise for Greek yogurt.
- This recipe can easily be halved but the leftovers are delicious and heat up well.
- I use larger chicken tenders; if yours are super small you'll have to adjust the cooking time.
- Air Fryer: Place a single layer of breaded chicken into the basket of a preheated air fryer. Spray the tops with nonstick cooking spray. Fry for 12 minutes at 400 degrees, flip them spray the tops, and fry for another 12 minutes
Happy you enjoyed them Lisa 🙂
Crunchy, love the flavors and a new family favorite! They turned out really tender too. Paired them with ranch—addictive. A definite keeper for our dinner rotation!
The crunchy breading was so good and the buffalo sauce added just the right amount of kick. I served them with ranch dressing for dipping and it was the perfect finger food for a movie night. So yum!
Me and my roomate love spicy food so I used Frank's RedHot sauce for that classic buffalo flavor, absolutely nailed it! They are so so addictive! And the Cheez-Its added a unique crunch.
Paired these with blue cheese dressing as suggested and the dip really elevated the flavor of the chicken. The tanginess of the dressing balanced out the spice. Really delicious!
Used regular breadcrumbs instead of Panko and they still turned out crispy and delicious. Definitely making these again!
It would be delicious in a meatloaf!
This recipe made my kids very happy. How knew to use spicy cheeze-it-crackers for a breading. The suggested I put them in the meatloaf too. Will obviously be making again.