These chicken fingers were the bright spot in a week that was full of otherwise uninspiring dinners at our house. Actually, we ordered takeout on our anniversary and that was tasty too, but most other nights we did that thing where you dig through the pantry and fridge putting miscellaneous odds and ends together and calling it a meal. Please tell me you do that at your house too… On the plus side, I usually feel extra motivated to come up with fun, new dinner ideas the following week so we’ve got that to look forward to in the days ahead.
There’s almost nothing not to like about these chicken fingers. They’re quick enough to put together on a weeknight – always a huge bonus in my book. The coating is not only super crispy, but it doesn’t fall off, even when you cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces. You can serve them with lots of delicious dipping sauces too! I made a simple one for myself, but honestly I didn’t love it so I’m not going to post the recipe. If you have a favorite homemade dipping sauce, feel free to leave me a link in the comments. I have a feeling we’re going to be making these chicken fingers a lot so I’ll have plenty of chances to try out everything you suggest 🙂
Baked Chicken Fingers
from America’s Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook
2 cups panko breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 large egg whites
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 1/2 lb chicken tenderloins (or boneless, skinless breasts cut into 3/4-inch strips)
Preheat oven to 475 F. Set a wire rack inside a rimmed baking sheet and spray the rack with cooking spray.
Combine the breadcrumbs and canola oil in a 12-inch skillet, and cook over medium to medium-high heat, stirring almost constantly, until golden brown.
Transfer the breadcrumbs to a wide, shallow dish and set aside to cool. Mix the flour, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper together in a second wide and shallow dish. Add the egg whites, water, Dijon mustard and thyme to a third dish and whisk vigorously until the egg whites are broken up and the mixture is foamy.
Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Dredge each piece of chicken in the flour mixture (shaking to remove excess) then dip in the egg whites coating both sides completely. Finally, place in the toasted breadcrumbs, turning to coat both sides. Transfer to the wire rack and repeat with all chicken.
Spray the chicken lightly with cooking spray then bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.
With the amount of amazing recipes you post here, I can’t imagine anything “uninspiring” coming out of your kitchen!
Hi Tracey!
this chicken looks really delicious! will possibly make them soon, as I got so curious about the texture 🙂
This is great. I imagine toasting the bread crumbs made for a nice crispy final product.
Yes, we eat leftovers all the time but we are fancy and call them L.O.’s. :).
@Mary – I wish this had been on the level of leftovers, but I don’t even know if I can call it that. Last night I found corn tortillas, cut them into triangles & baked chips for myself. In other words, eating things that don’t even really qualify as dinner 🙂
I love baked chicken. It doesn’t feel as dry as pan roasted chicken, which is what my mom usually does when it’s too cold to put chicken on the grill. This looks like an awesome recipe!
Yum! I love chicken with crunchy coating. I usually just throw some panko and seasonings on it, but maybe I should try an actual recipe next time.
Oh, yum…I know these would be a big hit with my children!
ohh yum and it’s not deep fried which is excellent . I am making this tonight ! 🙂
Looks fantastic! iknow my whole family will enjoy this.
Miscellaneous odds & ends–the story of my life. =) These look really yummy. Plus I’m really excited that the recipe just uses egg whites, since I always have lots of extra ones around.
Actually we just spent the last week with leftovers and misc stuff in our fridge. These little tenders look so good though that my leftovers are starting to look and sound boring.
Your chicken looks scrumptious and yes I love leftovers. Somehow tastes even better the next day!
chicken fingers with a twist! A healthy one at that! I’m a huge fan of chicken fingers ever since they’ve had them for an option on the kids menu (thankfully they have an adult option too) and i’m not a huge fan of eating fried food; i’m trying to cut back and stick to fresh fruits, fish, and other natural greens but this recipe sounds delicious and baked chicken seems a lot more healthy and adds a different look to the “original fried chicken tender”. I’m also a huge fan of any quick an easy recipe and so far your recipes do the trick! Keep em comin’
My goal this entire week is to only use up the things in the pantry. It’s leaving me so uninspired!! But seriously, it’s time to thin out the growing stock.
These chicken fingers may ironically be used to clean out some chicken I need to use. 😀 They look great.
Love chicken fingers in this household, and I love that these are baked, can’t wait to give them a try!
We just had these chicken fingers for dinner, they are de-li-cious!!!! And great fun to make with my 2-year-old 🙂 Thanks for posting it!
Made these today and it was the first time I had baked chicken fingers that were as good (if not better) than their fried counterpart!
I used whole wheat pastry flour instead of AP and those egg whites from a carton because I didn’t feel like having leftover yolks, and it turned out just perfect. I think the toasting of the Panko really makes the recipe!
Thanks so much for sharing 🙂