Fun and Creative Chicken Tender Recipes for a Weeknight Dinner!

It’s no secret how much we here at Kate’s Kitchen love chicken tenders! And after we posted our recent chicken tenders deep dive with a simple chicken tenders recipe included, we’ve had a lot of people asking us to do another one of our semi-regular recipe round-ups.

That’s as good an excuse as we’ve ever heard to share another selection of the new recipes we’ve been trying out at home—chicken tenders edition! And as a bonus, all these recipes are quick and easy enough to get on the dinner table on a weeknight!

Easy Clean-Up Homemade Fried Chicken Tenders

Yes, you read that right: this is a homemade fried chicken tenders recipe without having to dispose of a fry basket full of used cooking oil. What’s the secret? Why, it’s 2017’s favorite on-trend kitchen gadget, the air fryer! Easier, safer, and only using a fraction of the amount of oil needed for deep-frying, air fryers are also super affordable—especially if you consider the electricity savings versus heating a deep fryer or a standard oven.

Air fryers can also be used to make the most authentic faux fried chicken tenders of your life with this recipe for The Best Air Fryer Chicken Tenders from Delish. The recipe also includes dipping sauces!

Who Needs Breading When You Have Parmesan?

If you’ve been looking for a lower effort version of chicken parmesan that doesn’t skimp on the flavor or the presentation, allow us to direct your attention to this recipe for My Chicken Parmesan from Allrecipes. When we tried this one out at home, we were shocked to discover we were out of breadcrumbs! Instead of making our own, we substituted more parmesan instead. We encourage you to repeat our mistake. It was delicious!

Who Needs Breading When You Have Quinoa?

Anyone looking to add more protein to their protein should seriously consider trying this recipe for Crunchy Quinoa-Crusted Chicken Tenders from Catherine McCord on Food Network. Quinoa is a nutritional powerhouse that’s been living in the shadows of rice and couscous for too long.

We want to see quinoa get its turn at the top of the food trend pile, and making this chicken tenders recipe can help make that happen! Plus, the lemon yogurt dipping sauce included in this recipe is very worth trying.

Who Needs Breading When You Have Bacon?

This recipe for Grilled Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Tenders from Allrecipes won first prize in both the categories of ‘Most Bonkers Breading Substitute’ and ‘Why Didn’t We Think of That?!’ Using BBQ dry rub or seasoning on the chicken before wrapping it in the bacon gives the finished result a different vibe than you’ll get if you do the same thing with BBQ sauce instead. Our recommendation? Try it both ways!

Chicken Tender Taco Tuesday

What is a chicken tender really? We’ve answered this question before in detail, but the point we want to lead you to here is that chicken tenderloins are just unbreaded chicken tenders. With that explanation out of the way, we present this recipe for Slow-Cooker Chicken Tinga Tacos from Delish.

That’s right, we love Taco Tuesday so much, we found a way to celebrate our favorite weekly holiday with our new favorite obsession—that new favorite obsession is chicken tenders, just to make sure we’re on the same page!

This one is especially good for when you planned to try out a bunch of new chicken tenders recipes and you’re feeling a little chicken tendered out but you still have all those chicken tenderloins in the fridge. (We recognize this is a very niche problem to have and it might be so niche it’s just us!)

Chicken Tenders and Waffles

We have a riddle for you: What do waffles and chicken tenders have in common? The answer is buttermilk in this recipe for Buttermilk Waffles with Buttermilk Fried Chicken Tenders from Bobby Flay on Food Network! 

If you’ve been reading our stories here for a while, you may have noticed our affinity for buttermilk to add a rich and creamy tanginess that can bring out a whole new dimension of flavor in baked goods and breaded meats. With that knowledge, it was nothing less definite than inevitable that we’d try a recipe like this and love it so much that we put it into our usual dinner rotation at home. We recommend you try it, and we think you’ll love it as much as we do!

Chicken Tenders and Waffles Again

Next up, we’re looking at something a little less like chicken tenders and waffles and more like if you were making a sandwich and decided to use waffles instead of bread—and make it savory! This recipe for Crispy Chicken and Scallion Waffle Sandwich from Jeff Mauro on Food Network balances heat and sweet: spicy maple butter enhances the extra fluffy waffles and extra crispy chicken while tomatillos and chopped scallions contribute brighter flavors.

Once More, with Chicken Tenders and Waffles

This last chicken tenders and waffles recipe is for the people who want flavors that are less afternoon tea and more afternoon football! When you’re looking for a game day snack that eats like a meal or a game day meal that eats like a snack tray, Jeff Mauro has you covered with this second version of Crispy Chicken and Waffle Sandwiches on Food Network.

Is this basically the same as the previous recipe, but with sliced tomatoes instead of sliced tomatillos? Yes. Is the waffle part of the recipe honestly and objectively very, very good and something we want you to try so much that we’ll post it twice to get our point across? Also yes. The good news is we promise not to post this waffle recipe again for a third time in this story!

Come On Down to Kate’s Kitchen to Get Your Chicken Tender Fix

Whether all this chicken tender talk has you craving chicken fingers, fried chicken, grilled chicken, or chicken salad, if you don’t have the ingredients on hand or don’t feel up to the hassle of cooking, we can make all of your chicken dreams come true at Kate’s Kitchen!

Take a look at our lunch menu!

Give us a call if you would like to place a to-go order!

Kate’s Kitchen… (816) 436-7200

Ronnie’s Restaurant… (913) 831-8600