Do you remember those occasions when you were dead tired, you had no desire to cook at all but in the end you had to, after all, and, surprisingly, the meal was remarkably good? Well, these effortlessly delicious Spicy Oven Chicken Tenders are one of those meals.
They require little work, only a handful of ingredients and they bake fast! And, frankly, they are so addictive!
I am a beef and pork person, but these Spicy Oven Chicken Tenders and my beloved Crispy and Delicious Chicken Taquitos are my all-time favorite chicken dishes. They encompass everything I love: crunchiness, spiciness and mouthwatering flavors!
The key factors to achieve juicy Spicy Oven Chicken Tenders are: 1) the high oven temperature, and 2) the brief baking time.
I also love the layered crunchiness of the breading. It is not too thick, it sticks very well to the chicken and it is so full of flavor.
These chicken tenders are a great dish to fix today, or any day for that matter. They are ready in a jiffy. Also, it is pretty sure you already have all or most of the ingredients in your pantry. They are very tasty, not to mention healthier than if you deep-fry them.
I include two alternatives for your dipping sauce: Mango Chipotle Dipping Sauce or Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce. Make one or make them both!
Spicy Oven Chicken Tenders
Ingredients
- For the Chicken Tenders:
- 1 cup all purpose flower
- 1 tbsp salt
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 units large eggs
- 2 tbsp Valentina or Cholula sauce alternatively, you can use Tabasco sauce.
- 1 cup cornmeal
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 2 tbsp chili powder
- 1.5 lbs Chicken Tenders
- extra olive oil to drizzle
- extra salt to season
- For the Honey-Mustard dipping sauce:
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1/3 cup stone-ground mustard
- dash salt
- dash freshly ground pepper
- For the Mango-Chipotle dipping sauce:
- 1 large ripe mango or two small ones
- 1 unit canned adobado chipotle seeded
- 1 tbsp adobo (sauce) from the canned chipotles
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- dash salt
- dash freshly ground pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Place a sheet of foil on a large baking sheet and grease/spray it with olive oil.
- Bread the Chicken Tenders:
- In a large bowl, mix together with a fork the flour, salt and black pepper. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs and hot sauce. In a third bowl, mix together with a fork the cornmeal, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper and chili powder. Using kitchen tongs, dredge the chicken in the flour and then into the egg mixture. Then coat thoroughly the chicken in the cornmeal mixture.
- Place the breaded chicken in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet. Drizzle with the extra olive oil and season with salt, to taste. Bake until golden and cooked through, about 15 to 17 minutes.
- While the chicken tenders are in the oven, prepare the dipping sauces:
- Honey-Mustard Dipping Sauce: mix well all the ingredients in a bowl.
- Mango Chipotle Dipping Sauce: process all the ingredients in the blender for 1 minute.
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