Chicken Tenders Minus The Fast Food Bag...

I don't know about you, but I love chicken tenders. They're easy to eat, and pretty darn tasty! But chicken tenders from a fast food place(where we all usually get them from) are not the best. I wont get to nitty gritty because by now most people know the kinds of things that get put into fast food, but it's safe to say there are a lot of things in fast food chicken tenders that are not very food like. So here is my slightly altered version of Giada De Laurentiis Spicy Chicken Tenders...

The prep time is about 15min and the cook time is around 20min.

You're going to start with well, chicken. You can usually find "chicken tender" cut chicken anywhere. Make sure it's boneless skinless. Now, I am a big proponent of organics; particularly with meat but sometimes you can't find it(like me here in Daytona). If you can't find organic just make sure it's antibiotic free, this goes for organic too, sometimes they sneak that stuff into "organic" meats.

1 1/2 lb of chicken. This is not an exact, you can add or take away.
Olive oil for drizzling
Salt (I like sea salt)
Breading:
1 Cup all purpose flour
1 Cup cornmeal, or breadcrumbs (I use bread crumbs)
3 eggs
3 Tablespoons hot sauce of your choosing
2 Tablespoons(ish) of cajun seasoning, or chili powder
Sprinkling of red pepper flakes

Spray a cookie sheet with veggie oil spray so they tenders don't stick, and set it aside.
Now for the mixing part. You'll need 3 pans or bowls. In the first pan mix the Flour and salt and set aside. Next mix the eggs and hot sauce, then in the 3rd bowl mix the corn meal and seasoning and pepper flakes.
Pre-heat oven to 425

Coat the chicken in Flour, then the egg mixture (let it drip a little) and finally coat in the cornmeal mix and set onto the cookie sheet. Once you've done that for all the chicken drizzle some olive oil over the tops and then place them in the oven and bake for 15-20 min until the chicken is fully cooked and crispy outside.

You can also make a honey mustard to go with it if you want. I didn't  because I just don't like honey mustard.
In a small bowl mix 1/3 of a cup of Dijon or whole-grain mustard and 1/3 of a cup of honey and blend until smooth.

I also made a salad and used a light vinaigrette and toasted a couple of slices of sour dough bread that I got fresh from the bakery. Just pop the bread in your broiler for a few minuets until toasty.

 

There you have it. Spicey Chicken Tenders that are not full of chemicals and didn't take you that long to make! With some easy side dishes you have a full, healthy meal, and left overs. You can even make up some french fries if you feel so inclined. Just make sure to read the back of the packaging if you're using frozen fries. My tip for the day is read the labels. If you can pronounce and know what the ingredients are chances are it's not to bad for you. 

Beware the long odd sounding words.

The price break down:
Chicken $4.71
Flour $2.00
Bread Crumbs $1.70
Hot Sauce $1.80
Bag o' Salad $3.00
Bread $1.81

Whole meal= $15.02 and if you divide that by the roughly 3 meals you get out of this recipe makes it about $5.00 a piece.
Plus things like the hot sauce, flour and bread crumbs are good for other things.

xoxo Enjoy!