Air Fryer Chicken Tenders
Juicy chicken tenders soaked in pickle-brine buttermilk and coated in a seasoned panko crust, then air fried crispy with a honey mustard dip.
Ingredients
Ingredients for servings
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Original recipe serves 4. Ingredient amounts adjust automatically. Cooking times and pan size may need adjusting separately.
Tenders
- 1 1/2 lb chicken tenderloins
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 2 tbsp dill pickle juice
- 1 tsp kosher salt
Coating
- 1 1/2 cups panko breadcrumbs
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- cooking spray
Honey mustard
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 2 tbsp yellow mustard
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 2 tbsp honey
Steps
Step 1: Mix the buttermilk, pickle juice and salt in a bowl. Add the chicken and soak 30 minutes (or up to 8 hours in the fridge).
Step 2: Mix the flour, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper in a shallow dish. Put the panko in a second shallow dish.
Step 3: Lift each tender from the buttermilk, roll it in the seasoned flour, dip it back into the buttermilk, then press into the panko. Set on a rack.
Step 4: Spray the air fryer basket. Lay the tenders in a single layer and spray the tops well with cooking spray.
Step 5: Air fry at 400°F for 6 minutes. Flip, spray again, and cook 4 to 6 minutes more until golden and 165°F inside.
Step 6: Whisk the honey mustard ingredients and serve with the tenders.
Swaps
- Chicken: Cut boneless breasts into 1-inch strips.
- Coating: Crushed cornflakes or crushed pretzels instead of panko.
- Spicy: Add 1 tbsp hot sauce to the buttermilk and 1/2 tsp cayenne to the flour.
Tips
- Panko browns better than regular breadcrumbs in an air fryer because its flakes are bigger and drier.
- Don’t stack them. Cook in batches so every tender gets hot air on all sides.
The story
HAM Cooking. Let’s fire it up.
Chicken tenders are not just kid food. Anybody who says otherwise has never stood at a counter eating them straight off the cooling rack. We’ve all been there. No judgment.
The pickle brine and buttermilk soak is a two-for-one trick. The slight acidity and salt season and tenderize the chicken, and pickle juice gives it a savory tang that’s hard to place, the same trick plenty of chicken sandwich spots swear by. The double dip in flour, buttermilk and panko builds a thick, crunchy crust.
Here’s the most important step people skip: spray the top of the breading with oil. An air fryer doesn’t have a pool of oil like a deep fryer, so the crumbs need a light coat to turn golden and crispy. Without it, they stay pale and dusty. A quick spray, and you’d swear they came out of a fryer.
HAM out.
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