You probably have all the ingredients for the taco seasoning with you already, and making these taco spiced chicken tenders is ridiculously easy. So go ahead and make some flavor-packed crispy baked chicken tenders for dinner tonight!
Crispy baked chicken tenders
I love using chicken tenders for our everyday meals (these Asian style chicken nuggets are another favorite!). And I also have a lot of gratitude for them because chicken tenders were a life saver for me when I was a student and living by myself on a typical student budget. They are easy to cook and are the perfect size so that no cutting or chopping is required. Plus, when you cook them right, they are just so tender, juicy and flavorful. For me, chicken tenders are like a cross between chicken breast and thigh. They have the texture of a chicken breast, with the tenderness of a thigh, and it’s definitely my favorite cut. It’s fantastic to marinate and cook or fry for some delightful crispy chicken pieces. They’re perfect as a full meal with a salad or some vegetables on the side, or as a snack or an appetizer with a tasty dipping sauce. It’s even more guilt free with Crunchy Crispy BAKED chicken wings! All the flavor – No deep frying! With Cinco de Mayo just around the corner, tacos have been on my mind and my to-make list for a while now. Recently, I shared this amazing pork carnitas recipe and these pork carnitas tacos that I made with it. But if regular tacos aren’t doing it for you anymore though, then you guys should definitely try this taco seasoning! 🙂 These Taco Spiced Crispy Baked Chicken Tenders with a delicious dip would be a great place to start! Growing up in Sri Lanka, breading was a skill that we were taught at an early age. Or was that just me? These jackfruit croquettes, Sri Lankan fish cutlets, Asian style chicken nuggets, or these Sri Lankan Chinese rolls (don’t worry about that nomenclature, I know it makes no sense!) were a delicious and constant part of my life growing up. And I’d always help my mother and my grandmother prep them before they were fried. Fried fish was made so regularly since we loved it as kids. So I learned early on that the most effective way to prep food like this was to have a dry hand and a wet hand. One for the egg wash, one for the bread crumbs and each hand is assigned to an individual bowl. And breading chicken tenders is even less messy because it’s only a matter of pressing each side down in the panko crumbs. I’m using panko bread crumbs here because of that amazing golden, crispy coating that they give these crunchy chicken tenders. I first learned about panko crumbs years ago while watching Alton Brown. What I understood back then was that there was a wire mesh and electricity involved in the making of panko crumbs. I remember having this image in my head of someone grating bread on an electric wire mesh! Well, apparently that’s not how it works.
Recipe highlights
These taco spiced chicken tenders are baked until they are super crispy, and they are certainly healthier than their fried counterpart. And they are juicy and so flavorful thanks to that amazing taco seasoning, you’ll be looking for reasons to make these again and again. And from what I’ve read, this technique was discovered during World War II when Japanese soldiers wanted to eat bread out in the battlefield, so they started using the batteries in their tanks as the power source to “bake” the bread, and quickly realized that bread cooked this way was much softer and lighter in texture. This bread is then dried and shredded to form exceptionally light and airy bread crumbs. This is why panko has a texture unlike any other kind of bread crumbs. So because of that light and airy texture, panko crumbs become wonderfully crispy when fried or baked, and do not retain oil either. And of course that means healthier as well. I also made a lime and herb sour cream dipping sauce for these taco spiced chicken but it’s optional. There’s so much flavor in these crispy baked chicken tenders, you can eat them just like that. So go ahead, treat yourself with some taco chicken on Cinco de Mayo this year. And maybe while you’re at it, make yourself a glorious margarita ice cream float, made with homemade margarita ice cream! Alrighty then, let’s get to the recipe shall we? If you liked this taco spiced crispy baked chicken tenders recipe, don’t forget to subscribe for new (and free) recipes by entering your email address on the side bar (and get all these recipes delivered straight to your inbox, along with a fantastic FREE cookbook for 10 chocolate recipes), so you don’t miss out on a thing. You can find me on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, PINTEREST, YOU TUBE and GOOGLE-PLUS too.
