I am so excited to share this Air Fryer Chicken Tender recipe with you! I make these a few nights a week and it is one of my favourite healthy dinners as it is healthy as it is air fried and yet has the crunch of a deep fried chicken tender. Chicken tenderloins or chicken strips are marinated in a spiced yogurt (or buttermilk) mixture that tenderises the chicken so well (trust me, there's no dry chicken here!) and then we crumb the chicken in a mixture of crushed cornflakes and parmesan for the most delicious, healthy dinner around - cooking time is less than 15 minutes! These are also easily made gluten free. This is a pushy recipe Dear Reader.
I make these chicken breast tenders more often than I would like to admit. I make a big batch of the chicken to marinate and then just cook them fresh in the air fryer because it takes exactly 13 minutes to make these in my Instant Pot. By the time they're done I've made a salad and poured drinks and fed the dogs their meal and then our dinner is ready. Also this is a great recipe for saving money. If you've bought chicken tenders at a fast food place, they're $6.50-$8 per tender! If you make these at home you can get 9 free range chicken tenders for around $12 so these home made chicken tenders are definitely worth trying.
The main secret to getting these chicken tenders unbelievably tender is the yogurt marinade. When I made these straight away without marinating the chicken it was nice but a funny thing happened when I was air frying the marinated tenders every night. On the second and third nights they were unbelievably tender. It was just the yogurt doing all of its work!
Tips For Making INCREDIBLE Air Fryer Chicken Tenders
1 - The acids in the yogurt tenderise the chicken over 2-3 days so please don't skip this step! You can also use skim natural yogurt if you prefer or you can also easily sub yogurt with buttermilk (2 tablespoons of lemon juice mixed with 3/4 cup/175ml/5.9flozs milk). The buttermilk does give this a slightly thinner coating as yogurt is a bit thicker in texture.
2 - You can use cornflakes for the coating or panko breadcrumbs (I like the peri peri panko breadcrumbs). I actually tried making both and there isn't much of a difference honestly!
3 - I found that bashing the cornflakes with a rolling pin produced inconsistent sized crumbs-some were still quite big. I prefer to do it in a Thermomix where you get just them at the right size. Place cornflakes in the TM bowl and set to 15 seconds, speed #5 for the perfect size.
4 - I used my new Instant Pot Duo Crisp + Air Fryer and the cooking time of 13 minutes is perfect for tenderloins that are up to 90g/3ozs in size because in a packet you may end up with some large ones and some small ones (around 60g/2ozs). This timing is for chicken straight from the fridge too.
5 - These are amazing when freshly cooked so I usually just leave the chicken marinating in the fridge and then pull them out to coat them when I want to cook them. I usually make one batch last over 1-2 meals.
6 - I like making a dipping sauce out of honey mustard mayo dipping sauce. But use ranch sauce, bbq or blue cheese or whatever sauce you love with chicken tenders!
7 - This recipe is easily made gluten free and coeliac friendly by using gluten free cornflakes.
8 - If you don't have an air fryer you can bake these in an oven with the fan setting at 200C/400F for the same amount of time.
- Side Dishes To Go With Chicken Tenders:
- Sizzler Cheese Toast
- 5 Minute Bean Salad (Vegan)
- Jalapeno Potato Salad
- Greek Salad Recipe
- Mexican Street Corn
Dear Reader, we were recently offered a new addition to our family! On the night that I first made these I had just come back from getting my nails done. I was at the nail salon and I asked the owner where her dogs were. Sometimes they run through the salon when they come home from day care and I always pick them up for a cuddle because they are absolutely adorable.
"Where are your dogs?" I asked her looking around. She leaned in and pointed a nail file at me. "I'm selling Chanel, do you want to buy her?" she asked. "Hang on, what?" I asked confused.
She explained that having one dog was easy but having two was harder. Her father often looked after them but as he was elderly he found two too much to look after. We went through the exact thing with Tuulikki - she would happily look after Teddy but both Teddy and Milo were too much for her. The salon owner offered to sell Chanel for $800. She is the cutest little dog and very friendly and she is also an apricot toy cavoodle so she would almost help me complete my dream line up of a white, brown, apricot and black oodle family. She also has a very similar face and long legs just like Teddy.
I messaged Mr NQN excitedly. We had already arranged for him to pick me up from the salon with the dogs so he said that he would come and meet her. Ten minutes later he walked into the back of the salon with Teddy and Milo and they played with Chanel. She had pink ribbons in her hair and was a real girly girl dog and Teddy absolutely adored her. They have the same delicateness and light touch. Milo who is a bit bigger and a lot stronger gave her a hello but wasn't really interested - Milo is more about balls and humans. We watched Teddy and Chanel play together so beautifully and it was almost like they were long lost siblings. I could easily picture them sleeping in the same bed companionably.
But then Mr NQN reminded me that having a third dog adds a lot of expense as we travel so much. You have to pay the dog sitter per dog per night and that really adds up a lot. So I had to sadly have to let the idea of Chanel go although I do catch Mr NQN now and then sighing and remarking on how besotted Teddy was with tiny Chanel.
So tell me Dear Reader, how many pets would be your maximum? And what is your favourite fast food?
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