Crunchy Nut Encrusted Chicken Tenders
I love chicken tenders. I am not ashamed to admit that on the rare occasion that I eat fast food, I always go for the chicken tender. Not sure why, but I do. I love the crunchiness of the outside and the piping hot chicken on the inside. And I love dipping anything in a mixture of yellow mustard and ketchup. Or bbq sauce.
So when I saw Michelle post these crunchy nut encrusted chicken tenders I knew I had to make them. What a great way to get my chicken tender fix in a healthier manner! Not only do they use ground up nuts for the coating, they’re baked not fried. Anything you make at home is going to be MUCH better for you than something from a fast food chain.
I just used the ingredients I had on hand and they came out great. I had a pretty big thing of chicken tender meat, so Hubby and I enjoyed these for a couple days in our lunches too.
I always always toast nuts before using them in any recipe. It’s just a habit, but I love how it brings out the nuttiness of nuts more so than just using raw nuts.
One Year Ago: BBQ Chicken Pizza Sticks
Crunchy Nut Encrusted Chicken Tenders
These chicken tenders are crusted with a variety of nuts instead of breadcrumbs!
Yield: Serves 6-8
Ingredients:
2 lb chicken tenders
2 cups nuts (any variety), toasted
4 Tbsp dijon mustard
2 Tbsp horseradish mustard
2 Tbsp whole-grain mustard
4 tsp yellow mustard
2 Tbsp smoked paprika
1 Tbsp worcestshire sauce
2 Tbsp water
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Line a pan with foil and place a cooling rack on top of the foil.
Rinse chicken and pat dry.
Pulse nuts in food processor until they resemble course bread crumbs. Be sure not to process too much, so you don't make a nut butter.
Combine the remaining ingredients in a shallow dish.
Dredge the chicken tenders through the mustard mixture, then coat with nut crumbs. Place on cooling rack (using a cooling rack will result in a crispy chicken tender). Repeat until all chicken tenders are coated.
Place pan of tenders in the oven for 15 minutes. Flip tenders and cook for an additional 15 minutes.
Recipe adapted from Fun and Fearless in Beantown
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
I’m planning to make these tonight! They sound so good!
I love anything with cilantro in it! Thanks!
WOW, what a great combo! I will definitely be trying these some time soon!
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http://www.brisbanebaker.blogspot.com
I love Cara’s blog too! These look delish, I love the drunken peppers too!
Wow, the drunken peppers sound like such a nice touch! These could easily evolve into Cuervo & Carona burgers – catchy, right?!
These look really yummy! You mentioned tequila but it doesn’t appear in the recipe… I definitely want to try these, but I need to know how much tequila to use because, well, not having tequila is not a problem in my house, haha!
Suzi,
The original recipe from Cara’s blog uses Tequila. I didn’t have any in the house, so the recipe I posted is the adaptation that I made instead. Click here to see Cara’s original version.
I was just wondering if it mattered what type of oatmeal we used in the recipe. Instant, slow cooking?