Buttermilk Fried Chicken Tenders
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One of my most popular recipes, these chicken tenders are marinated in seasoned buttermilk and pan-fried to crispy, crunchy perfection.
Photo by Alexandra Grablewski (Chronicle Books, 2018)
Like most kids, my daughter prefers “kid food” to “grown-up food” any day of the week. Occasionally, it works to my advantage—a trip to McDonald’s makes excellent bribery—but most of the time I’m just dealing with a picky eater. Rather than desperately trying to coax her into eating dinner every night, sometimes I just make her favorites. These chicken tenders, marinated in seasoned buttermilk and pan-fried to crispy, crunchy perfection, are at the top of her list. They’re delicious plain, dipped in honey mustard sauce, or perched on top of a salad. And they’re not just for picky kids—everyone loves them.
What you’ll need To Make Buttermilk Fried Chicken Tenders
Step-by-Step Instructions
To marinate the chicken: In a large sealable bag, combine the chicken tenders with the buttermilk, paprika, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and salt. Seal the bag tightly and massage the chicken until it is evenly coated with buttermilk and seasoning.
Place in a bowl (in case of leakage) and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to 24 hours.
When you’re ready to cook them, make the breading: In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika.
Whisk until well blended.
Add the buttermilk and stir with a fork until the mixture is evenly clumpy.
Remove the chicken tenders from the marinade a few at a time and toss into the breading mixture.
Be sure to press the chicken firmly into the breading so clumps adhere to the meat. (It’s a messy job: use one hand to remove the wet tenders from the bag and the other to toss in the breading.)
Set breaded tenders on a foil-lined baking sheet.
To fry the chicken: Line a baking sheet with a few layers of paper towels and set next to the stove. Add oil to a large, high-sided pot until the level reaches about 3/4-inch. Heat over medium-high heat until oil is shimmering (about 350°). (If a cube of bread sizzles when you drop it in, it’s ready.) Using tongs, place several chicken tenders in the hot oil without crowding the pan. Cook until golden brown on the bottom side, a few minutes, then flip and cook until the second side is also golden, a few minutes more.
Set the cooked tenders on the paper towel-lined baking sheet to drain.
Fry remaining tenders in batches adjusting the heat as necessary (if the tenders are browning too fast, lower the heat). Serve hot with honey mustard sauce.
Photo by Alexandra Grablewski (Chronicle Books, 2018)
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Video Tutorial
Buttermilk Fried Chicken Tenders
One of my most popular recipes, these chicken tenders are marinated in seasoned buttermilk and pan-fried to crispy, crunchy perfection.
Ingredients
For the Marinade
- 2 pounds chicken tenderloins
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1½ teaspoons salt
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
For the Breading
- 1½ cups all purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 heaping teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon black pepper
- ¾ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¾ teaspoon paprika
- 3 tablespoons buttermilk
For Cooking
- 3-4 cups vegetable oil, for cooking
Instructions
- To marinate the chicken: In a large sealable bag, combine the chicken tenders with the remaining marinade ingredients. Seal the bag tightly and massage the chicken until it is evenly coated with buttermilk and seasoning. Place in a bowl (in case of leakage) and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to 24 hours.
- To make the breading: In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika. Whisk until well blended, then add the buttermilk and stir with a fork until the mixture is evenly clumpy.
- Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil for easy cleanup. Remove the chicken tenders from the marinade a few at a time and toss into the breading mixture. Be sure to press the chicken firmly into the breading so clumps adhere to the meat. (It's a messy job: use one hand to remove the wet tenders from the bag and the other to toss in the breading.) Set breaded tenders on the prepared baking sheet.
- To fry the chicken: Line another baking sheet with a few layers of paper towels and set next to the stove. Add oil to a large, high-sided pot until the level reaches about ¾-inch. Heat over medium-high heat until oil is shimmering (about 350°). (If a cube of bread sizzles when you drop it in, it's ready.) Using tongs, place several chicken tenders in the hot oil without crowding the pan. Cook until golden brown on the bottom side, a few minutes, then flip and cook until the second side is also golden, a few minutes more. Set the cooked tenders on the paper towel-lined baking sheet to drain. Fry remaining tenders in batches adjusting the heat as necessary (if the tenders are browning too fast, lower the heat). Serve hot.
- Note: I find that it's hard to tell how golden the chicken is when it's immersed in the oil. It may only look lightly golden, but it's actually a perfect fried chicken golden brown. If you're unsure, simply pull a tender out of the oil and rest it on the paper towels to see the true color.
- Note: Nutritional information was calculated assuming that approximately ¼ cup of the oil is absorbed into the chicken tenders when frying.
- Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The cooked chicken tenders can be frozen for up to 3 months. To reheat, put the frozen tenders on a wire rack on top of a rimmed baking sheet and warm in a 350°F (175°C) oven until heated through and crisp, about 25 minutes, flipping halfway through.
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (4 servings)
- Calories: 925
- Fat: 51
- Saturated fat: 1
- Carbohydrates: 75g
- Sugar: 5g
- Fiber: 4g
- Protein: 41g
- Sodium: 1866mg
- Cholesterol: 96mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Comments
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O.M.G. This was delicious! And thank you for the wonderful honey mustard recipe too. I will be making these all the time. Thanks Jen!
How would you change the breading to make it spicy? Since Popeye’s seems to be out of the new sandwich for the foreseeable future, I want to try making my own!
Hi Callie, To add some heat to these, you could add 1 or 2 tablespoons of hot sauce to the marinade and/or substitute a little of the buttermilk in the breading for hot sauce. Please LMK how the tenders turn out if you make them!
This is a fantastic recipe. I’m making it for the second time today. I let the chicken rest in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes to help the batter stick to the chicken. There will be no need to try any other recipes after this one. I also like the recipe doesn’t use eggs. Thank you.
Help!!!
I love this recipe, the marinade is simple and the chicken turns out delicious but the breading is just impossible. What am I doing wrong?
Thanks in advance
Charo
Hi Charo, What kind of problem did you have with the breading? I assume getting it to stick to the chicken? If so, the oil may not have been hot enough – a good way to ensure the oil is hot enough is to drop a cube of bread into the oil; if it sizzles when you drop it in, it’s ready. Hope that helps and that you have better luck next time around!
I want to try this with 1 bone-in chicken breast and 8-10 chicken wings. Should I adjust the recipe some how?
Hi Roxanne, You’ll have to finish cooking the chicken pieces in a 350°F oven, as they won’t cook fully in the pan before getting too dark. I’m guessing they’ll need at least 30-40 minutes in the oven after frying, but not certain how long so keep a close eye on them.
I tried this recipe last week and I must say that this the best chicken tenders recipe that I’ve ever tried! My whole family loves it and I am already making it again today! The breading is delicious and the chicken is moist. Thank you for sharing this!
I’ve made this recipe lots of times and I love it. It’s very easy to follow also I play around with the seasoning a bit and I now add a little mild curry powder.
There’s never ever any leftovers….absolutely gorgeous 😍
These are literally the best! My boys lost their minds over these! And, they are moist as well as flavourful. Jen, have you tried to bake these? Did they come out ok? Any suggestions if they are baked? Ps, also made the honey mustard sauce attached to the recipe, except subbed pure maple syrup as I didn’t have honey. So delicious!
Glad you enjoyed them, Jennifer! I haven’t tried baking them; unfortunately, I don’t think they’d be nearly as good. 🙂
I cooked them in a deep fryer and served them with a ranch dip for a back porch dinner. They were by far the best chicken tenders I have ever had. This is a great recipe and easy to make.
Hi Jenn! What temperature should the oil be at when ready to fry?
Hi Jenn, it should be between 350 and 375 degrees. (You’ll want the oil hot enough that if you were to drop a cube of bread into it, it would sizzle.) Hope that helps!
My son wanted popcorn chicken so I cut the tenderloins into small bite sized chicken pieces at the preparation stage. My son loved it! My husband and I also loved it! Will definitely make it again. Thank you!
So easy and delicious! Thank you so much for this recipe! Definitely my new go-to family pleasing chicken finger recipe😊
Oh my GOODNESS! This is so delicious! This is the first time I’ve ever made anything deep fried before, after being married for 30 years. I decided to try it because of all the great reviews. They weren’t lying! I’m a pretty good cook and I rarely follow a recipe exactly. But I did follow this one exactly, and wow! So yummy…. And it wasn’t the least bit greasy. Just crispy on the outside and soft and juicy on the inside.
My husband just said “I can’t stop eating this”. We’ll definitely be having this again. Thank you so much!!!!
Again, these were the BEST chicken tenders I have ever made or eaten. Everyone in my family loved them. I marinated them with the buttermilk for 24 hours. WOW they were delicious. Jenn, every recipe on your site is 5 star. I’m a reborn cook :))) I love making them and hearing the reviews from my family. Thank you. PS-I think I’m going to throw away all my cookbooks too
❤️
Made these for the first time a few months ago….. fantastic!! My 6 year old Grandson wants them EVERY time he comes for tea!! Easily done as I make a huge batch, gorge on them until we can’t eat any more, then freeze the rest. 20-25 mins on a baking tray from frozen and hey presto…..just as good second time round!!
Thank you for the recipe!!
Perfection, the breading is great. Made these a couple of weeks ago. Making again tonight! Great dipping with anything. I like sweet and sour sauce. A couple on a hoagie type bun makes good for lunch too.
Came out perfect! Ate the leftovers cold the next day and they were still fantastic!
Cooked as suggested, love the batter, learned a method. Awesome, thanks!
Winner Winner Chicken Dinner! This is delicious, moist, bursting with flavour. Plus i managed to wake my mother up with the smell of these frying and she was raving about how good they were. First recipe of yours I tried and, I will proceed to bookmark this website for later use.
🙂 Glad you enjoyed them!
Hi Jen,
I wanted to make batch of these and freeze them for quick snack/meals for my son but unsure how to go about it.
Should I prepare the chicken tenders and freeze uncooked or 1/2 fry them and then freeze?
Thank you.
Hi Amal, I would fry them and then freeze. Hope that helps!
I have made these 3 times to my picky eaters and each time they LOVED them… no left overs… shucks
One of my daughter has a very particular taste and diet. She ate 2 big pieces of buttermilk fried chicken with tomato sauce. It tastes like McDonald’s chicken nuggets (the only nugget she would eat), but only taste much much better. The rest of the family love it so much. I am no big fans of cooking, I only cook because someone needs to eat. So this recipe is a big success for me. Easy to make and everyone likes it, including the picky eater!
Let me just say that my son is one of the pickiest and most meticulous eaters. I was, literally, writhing, with fear and intrepidation, to discover if he would like this masterful concoction. Well, he did! Not only did he yet I, too!! I ended up eating MORE than he did and eating the leftovers. To say the least, I am preparing for my mother, for her to envelop the freshness, the juiciness, and the delectable taste, of these magnificent tenders. These have become a staple, in my home, in Saturdays. YOU are a saint, to concoct these. Food must prove grand, in your home!
I made these for my very picky grandson, and let me say Thank You! He loooves this chicken and as much as I try to avoid deep fried foods I couldn’t help myself! Yumm!
Hello Jenn, I made a mistake and bought chicken breast instead- I marinated them but i did roll them out and cut them to the tenderloin size- when cooking what should I keep in mind? I plan to marinate it for Atleast 10 hours. Btw I cooked these before – they were such a hit! – thank you for the perfect recipe!
Hi PB, based on the fact that you pounded them and cut them to tenderloin size, the cooking time should be about the same. (And glad you enjoy these!)
Thank you!!
Made this tonight after marinating for almost 24hrs.
Was probably the best thing I’ve ever made, everyone loved it!
Followed recipe to the tee. Terrible fed them to the dogs
Jane Feher, you did someting wrong if you gave this one star and said you fed them to your dog. These are the best. I do add a little bread and butter pickle juice to mine during marinade.
This is always a winner whenever we cook them! Really delicious recipe. You’re my favorite chef 🙂
I just made a batch. I finally found my go to recipe. Best damn tenders I’ve made in long time. Thank you. Very much.
I love love love love love this recipe! When I first discovered it, I ate this every day for 3 weeks. It’s so tasty and the batter is so delicious and crunchy. Sometimes, I’ll throw it the bits of leftover batter to crisp up. Crunchy goodness! My one modification—I use chicken breasts and just slice up into the size I want. Sometimes I even make popcorn chicken-sized portions! I’ve also used this chicken as filling for soft tacos. It was a HIT!
I was thinking of using this recipe for chicken sandwiches for my daughters birthday. If I needed to make 16 using breasts. Could I dredge them ahead of time then deep fry them right before we eat?
Sure, Erin – just hold them in the fridge.
If I were to do these in an air fryer would the quality be significantly different than frying in oil?
Hi Matty, I’ve never used an air fryer and don’t know much about them, so I can say for sure how it would work for this recipe. Sorry I can’t be more helpful!
I don’t know much about air fryers but what i do know is that they’re basically counter top convection ovens. If it was me I would just set it to 350 and let it go till they’re golden and cooked through
I was wondering if you need to remove the tendon in the chicken tender prior to making. I have used some recipes that has you remove the tough tendon,,,, which is difficult (for me anyway), without destroying the meat.thanks
Hi Ck, I would just use kitchen shears to snip off the part that sticks out. Hope that helps!
So delicious!
This recipe is very good, kid and adult approved! To make life a little easier I put the flour mixture in one ziplock bag and shake it after I take it out of the buttermilk mixture. If you have too much buttermilk on the chicken the breading won’t adhere to the chicken, so run your fingers across the tenders before dumping in the bag. I like to serve this with a simple ranch salad.
These tenders are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! Why go out for juicy tenders when you can make them at home…even better?!?! I tweaked it just a bit for some heat with crushed red pepper flakes which gives it a little umph of bite back! 😉 Simple, quick (if you marinate overnight), and OH MY delicious. Winner winner chicken dinner delicious.
I like to serve Garlicky Roasted Broccoli (also found in Once upon a Chef’s recipe archives) and baked macaroni as my sides. These are my kids and my husband’s favorite! Try them… you will then have to add them to your weekly meal plans!
I have made this recipe for my family of 5 four different times now. It comes out perfect every time! Thanks for making such a classic comfort food so easy. Yummy!
I didn’t have any cayenne so I just doubled the garlic powder in the breading mix and it turned out great! Because I bought chicken breast fillet instead of tenders, I had chicken skin to remove. I coated the chicken skin with the breading mix and fried them too, they turned out great! My whole family loved the chicken fingers and are begging me to make some more. Thank you for sharing your recipe!
I’ve made this twice now, and both times it was great. The first time, I didn’t read the instructions carefully beforehand, and didn’t realize I needed to marinate the chicken overnight. I only had a half hour I could spare to marinate in the buttermilk, and it was still delicious. I also didn’t have cayenne and just added more paprika, and it tasted great still. I paired it with waffles for a brunch I was hosting and my guests loved it. I made it a second time and this time marinated it overnight, and it was even more delicious than the first time. My only issue is that I ran out of batter to coat the chicken (I made 1.5 times the recipe, so maybe my calculations were off or perhaps my chicken tenders were too big), so I had to think fast. Luckily, I had some breadcrumbs in my pantry and made a quick batter using that. Not only is this a great recipe, but this recipe is pretty much idiot-proof. It’s super easy and tastes very impressive. If I made it, ANYONE can.
This recipe is fabulous! Instructions were easy to follow and the result was so moist, tender and easy to make. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Jenn, just wanted to say I LOVE THIS RECIPE! 👏🏽 It’s so easy to follow and the results are excellent. Thank you so much! Xxx
Delicious! Tender and crunchy and easy to make. Second night we lightly broiled them on both sides and they did not loose their crunch. Yum : )
Another winner from Once Upon A Chef! I made a Japanese teriyaki dinner with this one. Jasmine rice, grated carrot+bell peppers, buttermilk fried chicken tenders, homemade teriyaki sauce (1/2 cup soy sauce, 2 tbsp sweet rice wine, 1 1/2 tsp minced garlic, 1/2 small lime juice, 1tbsp+2 tsp brown sugar, 1/4 cup sugar mix in the small pan, taste then adjust the sugar to own liking then thicken the sauce with slurry from 1/2 tbsp cornstarch+1 tbsp water). Thank you Jen for a terrific recipe, even the batter is the perfect amount, not much leftovers…
Omg, this was amazing….. the whole family loved it!
Amazing old fashioned flavour.
While I’m not a “picky kid,” I agree with your daughter. These are great! Not only delicious, they even looked like yours, which was a great plus. Thanks for another recipe to add to my “Once Upon A Chef” collections.
🙂 Glad you enjoyed them!
Winner winner, chicken dinner!!! This is an amazing recipe. I can’t say enough good things about it. I only wish I doubled the recipe from the start.
🙂
This was my first time making fried chicken tenders. Marinated in the buttermilk for about 8 hours. I also made Jenn’s green sauce from her Peruvian chicken recipe for dipping since we aren’t honey mustard or BBQ sauce lovers. Roasted carrots and mashed potatoes rounded out the meal. A delicious “comfort food” dinner. One of my sons said they were the best chicken tenders he has ever tasted and thought the green sauce was great on the carrots too! It can be a little challenging flipping the chicken, because they seem to like to roll in the bubbling oil, but 3 minutes /side seem to be plenty. Very tasty and surprisingly not greasy after letting them sit on the paper towels for a bit after frying.
ANOTHER WINNER! Thank you Jenn! My son took a bite and said “Wow Mom, you need to write this woman some reviews!” Thankfully, I already had. Thank you Jenn!
😊
If I use a deep fryer, what should I set temperature to on fryer? Thank you
Hi CC, The oil temperature should be between 350 and 375 degrees. (You’ll want the oil hot enough that if you were to drop a cube of bread into it, it should sizzle.) Hope that helps!
Oh wow! These are incredible! I love chicken tenders and these are exceptional. The recipe was extremely easy to follow and the results were fantastic.
I’ve never deep fried anything before and I was a bit apprehensive about all that hot oil. I nearly chickened out and baked them in the oven even though you’ve replied to other comments saying that doesn’t work so well. But I decided to be brave and it worked just fine — the high-sided pan was a great tip.
My only problem was that the coating was coming away from the chicken a bit in the pan and on the plate. Not sure what I did wrong there. Didn’t affect the taste though! Mine may not look as pretty as yours but they taste divine and that’s what counts.
I’ll be making these again and again and again. Wish I could could give this more than 5 stars!
OMG- I never knew I could make restaurant-like chicken tenders at home. Obviously, I am not very creative in kitchen…but I do know how to follow a recipe. This was sooo yummy. My husband and son loved it too. I have even used the batter on wings (when that was all we had in the house). So easy, yet so flavorful. Our go-to recipe now. Thanks.
Jenn…after reading all..and I mean ALL the reviews, I feel I MUST try this. We are having 4 of our grandkids for the weekend and the kids and I are going to make this. Will post updates as we go and give it a rating after we try.
Hope everyone enjoys!