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Home » Main Dish

Air Fryer Chicken Tenders

By Karly on July 14, 2020 | Updated October 4, 2022 | 6 Comments

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Cooking anything in the air fryer is easy, and that goes for these crispy chicken tenders for sure!  #easyrecipe #airfryer #friedchickenI love the classic chicken strip in my air fryer, but these are better!  #chicken #airfried #recipe

These AIR FRYER CHICKEN TENDERS are ready in about 15 minutes! The best part is there isn’t a big mess to clean up after!

Chicken strips near a white dipping dish of honey mustard.

Everyone likes chicken strips right? Every kid I know will choose chicken strips over just about anything else at a restraunt, every single time.

But we adults love them too, especially when they are so crispy you can hear it when you bite into it.

I am a huge fan of homemade honey mustard dressing and I was craving it with some crispy chicken strips so I started working on whipping up a batch and was out of bread crumbs.

So, I figured I would make this mistake a happy little accident and enhance the chicken tenders with some Ritz cracker crumbs to make them EVEN CRISPIER!

dipping a chicken strip into honey mustard.

Table of Contents

  • How to make chicken tenders in an air fryer:
  • Recipe Substitutions:
  • Which air fryer do you recommend?
    • More recipes you can serve with your chicken tenders:
  • Air Fryer Chicken Tenders
    • Equipment
    • Ingredients  1x2x3x
    • Instructions 
    • Notes
    • Nutrition
      • Did You Make This Recipe?

How to make chicken tenders in an air fryer:

This post contains affiliate links.  As a member of Amazon and other affiliate programs I earn from qualifying purchases.

You will need three small dishes to get started. And this is also part of what makes clean up pretty easy. The mess is pretty well contained to these dishes.

In one dish add the flour and seasonings, using only half of the salt and pepper. In a second dish add the eggs and mix them together. In the last dish, add the crumbled crackers, salt, and pepper.

Three clear glass dishes of breading ingredients.

Dip your chicken strips first into the flour, then the egg, and then into the cracker crumbs. Be sure to cover both sides of the chicken in each dish!

Raw chicken tenders dipped into breading.

Get your favorite cooking spray, I like to use avocado oil spray and liberally apply it to your breaded chicken.

When cooking it in the air fryer, cook each side for 5 minutes and check that it is cooked through. You will find the breading to be crispy and golden!

Uncooked chicken tenders in an air fryer pan.

Recipe Substitutions:

Most air fryer chicken strip recipes call for bread crumbs, but we used Ritz. You can also use Panko if you want. The Panko will also give you a good crispy breading.

If you don’t want to use eggs to get the breading to stick to your chicken you can try some melted butter or yogurt.

Chicken tenders on a white plate next to a white dipping dish.

Which air fryer do you recommend?

I am not recommending one brand over another, but I am willing to share what I most commonly use.

I use the OMORC Air Fryer XL. It’s 5.8 quarts which means that it’s large enough to hold plenty of food. Some of those air fryers are tiny (which is fine for small households!), but I wanted a bigger one for my family of four.

It’s dishwasher safe, too. Always a win in my book.

More recipes you can serve with your chicken tenders:

  • Roasted sweet potatoes
  • Waffle fries
  • Avocado and tomato salad
  • Million-dollar mac and cheese
  • Garlic French fries
Stacked chicken strips with a bite taken out of the top one.
Chicken strips and honey mustard on a white plate.

Air Fryer Chicken Tenders

Created by: Karly

Course Chicken
Cuisine American
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
4
These air fryer chicken tenders turn out so crispy thanks to the air fryer. We coat them in buttery Ritz crackers to add crunch and flavor.
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Equipment

  • Air Fryer

Ingredients
  

  • 1 1/2 pounds chicken breast tenderloins
  • 1 cup flour
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 cups Ritz cracker crumbs
  • 1 teaspoon salt divided
  • 1 teaspoon pepper divided
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • Avocado oil spray

Instructions
 

  • Add the flour, ½ teaspoon salt and pepper, paprika, and garlic powder to a shallow dish. Add the eggs to a second shallow dish and beat well. Add the cracker to a 3rd shallow dish along with the remaining salt and pepper. 
  • Dip the chicken strips in the flour, then egg, then Ritz crackers. Press the strips into the cracker crumbs to ensure the chicken is evenly coated.
  • Spray the chicken liberally with cooking spray.
  • Preheat the air fryer to 400 degrees.
  • Place chicken in a single layer in the air fryer basket. You may have to work in batches, depending on the size of your air fryer.
  • Air fry for 5 minutes and turn the chicken over. Continue cooking for 5 minutes more or until chicken is cooked through and the coating is crispy and golden.

Notes

You may swap the Ritz crackers for Panko bread crumbs, if preferred.

Nutrition

Serving: 3chicken strips | Calories: 644kcal | Carbohydrates: 48g | Protein: 62g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 14g | Cholesterol: 238mg | Sodium: 1009mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 3g

Did You Make This Recipe?

Share it with us on Instagram @air.fried and tag us #air.fried

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posted in: Air Fryer Snacks, Chicken, Main Dish

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    Comments & Reviews

  1. Deanna says

    December 19, 2020

    I have attempted air fryer chicken twice with no luck. It never gets crispy! I had it in there for nearly 30 minutes! Is the setting supposed to be air fry or bake?

    Reply
    • Karly says

      December 19, 2020

      Hi Deanna! It should be on the air fry setting. Are you using a basket style air fryer and spraying the chicken strips with oil? You could also swap the Ritz for panko for more crunch.

      Reply
      • Deanna Snowden says

        December 19, 2020

        I’m using a Chefman Air Fryer Toaster oven. I guess you can call it a basket. It’s more flat, wired and has an edge. It sits below the top shelf of the fryer. I sprayed them but maybe not enough. I used a pump virgin oil I think. Should I be using something else?
        Thanks!!!!

      • Karly says

        December 20, 2020

        Hi Deanna! We’ve found that the toaster oven style air fryers don’t crisp up as much as the basket style ones. They seem to be more like cooking in a small oven and the basket style seems to be more like frying. I’d try swapping out the bread crumbs and see if that helps a bit. 🙂

  2. Vicki says

    August 11, 2020

    Sounds so good! I love chicken tenders so I’ll be making this recipe soon!

    Reply
    • Karly says

      August 12, 2020

      Hope you love them, Vicki! 🙂

      Reply

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