These Crunchy Oven-Baked Chicken Fingers are coated with panko and spices to ensure the crunchiest, most flavorful chicken fingers possible.
Like many kids, my kids are fans of chicken fingers. Both of them will often order them at both fast-food and sit-down restaurants. While I haven't made them at home often in the past, that might change now that they know that I can.
After recently publishing the recipe for Oven-Fried Chicken Drumsticks, I soon started thinking about other cuts of chicken I could coat with the crunchy and flavorful panko coating and bake. These Oven-Baked Chicken Fingers were the first I decided to try, and they were a big success.
How to Make Oven-Baked Chicken Fingers
Making these chicken tenders starts with mixing up the panko-based coating. This simply involves adding all of the ingredients (panko, flour, salt, garlic and onion powder, paprika, celery salt, dried basil, and pepper) to a bowl and stirring them together.
I found that the amount of the coating mixture was just enough to coat 1 ½ pounds of chicken breast with no leftovers, so if you're increasing the amount of chicken at all, you'll want to increase the amount of the coating ingredients you use.
The next step is to prep the chicken. First, pat the chicken dry with clean paper towels. Cut each breast lengthwise into 3-4 strips and lay them on a wire rack over a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil (the foil is optional, but very helpful when it comes to clean-up).
Scoop some mayonnaise into a small bowl (I needed about 2 Tablespoons to coat 1 ½ pounds of chicken strips) and use a silicone brush to brush both sides of the chicken strips evenly with mayonnaise.
Working with one chicken strip at a time, place the strip into the bowl containing the panko mixture. Gently toss the strip in the mixture until the strip is evenly coated with breading. Return the strip to the wire rack and repeat with the remaining strips.
Bake the chicken until the coating is golden brown, about 10-15 minutes, flipping once halfway through the baking time for the best results.
Crunchy Oven-Baked Chicken Fingers Make-Ahead Instructions
If you want to prep your chicken fingers ahead of time and save yourself some time when it comes to mealtime, it's completely possible. Simply prep and coat the chicken strips, then place the baking sheet containing the panko-coated chicken into the fridge uncovered for up to 4 hours (longer than that, and the chicken may start to dry out). Bake as instructed in the recipe after preheating the oven.
Oven-Baked Chicken Fingers Ingredients
- Panko - or use gluten-free panko to make your chicken fingers gluten-free
- All-purpose flour - or use a gluten-free all-purpose flour blend to make your chicken fingers gluten-free
- Kosher salt - or you can use MSG-salt
- Garlic powder or granulated garlic
- Onion powder or granulated onion - pro-tip: If you only have onion flakes, simply grind them in a clean coffee grinder to turn it into onion powder.
- Paprika - I recommend using hot or sweet paprika for this recipe vs smoked paprika.
- Celery salt - note that celery seed and celery salt are two different things. Celery salt is basically celery-flavored salt (sometimes made from mixing ground celery seed with salt). You can find celery salt in the spice aisle. Don't substitute celery seed for celery salt in this recipe.
- Dried basil
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Chicken breasts - you will need about 3-4 breasts for this recipe
- Mayonnaise - I used regular mayonnaise, but I think light mayonnaise would work here too.
Want more chicken breast recipes?
Oven-Baked Chicken Fingers Nutrition Notes
The nutrition information in the recipe below is for ¼ of the recipe. This will be approximately 2-3 chicken tenders.
This recipe is dairy-free as written. To make your chicken tenders gluten-free, use gluten-free panko and a gluten-free all-purpose flour blend in the coating.
Serve with cooked grains or potatoes and/or a green salad or other vegetable-based side dish to make a complete meal.
Oven Baked Chicken Fingers
Equipment
- Silicone brush
- Wire Rack
- Aluminum foil optional
Ingredients
- 1 cup panko use gluten-free panko to make your chicken fingers gluten-free
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour use a gluten-free all-purpose flour blend to make your chicken fingers gluten-free
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt or MSG-salt
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon celery salt
- ¼ teaspoon dried basil
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 ½ pounds chicken breasts (about 3-4 breasts)
- 2 Tablespoons mayonnaise
Instructions
- Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with aluminum foil (this is optional, but it makes cleaning up much easier) and fitting an oven-safe wire rack inside it. Heat the oven to 425°F (use the convection setting if possible).
- Stir together 1 cup panko, ¼ cup all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, ½ teaspoon garlic powder,½ teaspoon onion powder, ½ teaspoon paprika, ¼ teaspoon celery salt, ¼ teaspoon dried basil, and ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Prepare 1 ½ pounds chicken breasts by patting them dry with clean paper towels and cutting each breast lengthwise into 3-4 strips. Lay them on the prepared wire rack.
- Put 2 Tablespoons mayonnaise in a small bowl. Use a silicone brush to brush both sides of each chicken strip with mayonnaise. Once coated, toss each strip gently in the bowl containing the panko mixture until it's completely coated. Return the coated chicken strips to the wire rack.
- Bake the chicken strips until golden brown, about 10-15 minutes. For best results, flip the chicken strips once halfway through cooking. Serve immediately. Reheat any leftovers in an air-fryer for the crispiest results.
To Make-Ahead
- Complete the recipe to the end of step 4. Place the baking sheet into the fridge uncovered for up to 4 hours. Complete step 5 of the recipe, pre-heating the oven before you bake the chicken.
Nutrition
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