Who Needs Fast Food?~Oven Baked BBQ Chicken Tenders

My kids LOVE chicken nuggets. My middle daughter would eat them for every meal if we let her. I have bought the Purdue premaid ones for them (I buy very few premaid items- this happens to be one of them because they are dairy free.) We also take them to Chick-fil-A for a treat now and then. But I'm tired of feeding them junk, even in the very small amounts that we actually buy. So the other night when they were asking for Chick-fil-A, I decided to make it for them instead. They were fine with this compromise because they happen to love these chicken tenders. I found the recipe in one of my "Eating Well" magazines a while ago and have made it several times. These chicken fingers, paired with Trader Joe's new fries, and fresh veggies made up a very kid friendly dinner. (And Mom and Dad friendly too!)

There are 3 steps: Marinate, bread, bake.

Ingredients:
1 cup barbecue sauce- I used Sweet Baby Rays
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons honey


1 1/2 pounds chicken tenders (I used chicken breasts and just sliced them)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 large eggs
1 3/4 cups coarse Panko breadcrumbs,
Olive oil cooking spray




Prep Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 1 1/2 hours (including 30 minutes for marinating)


Directions:
Preheat oven to 450F. Line rimmed cookie sheets with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick spray.

1.Combine BBQ sauce, mustard and honey in a measuring cup. Cut any large chicken tenders in half lengthwise or if using chicken breasts, cut them into strips. Place chicken in large dish and add the sauce, tossing to coat evenly. Marinate covered in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to 1 hour.


2.Combine flour, salt and pepper in one shallow dish, lightly beaten eggs in another, and put breadcrumbs in a third dish. Coat each tender in flour, shaking off any excess. Dip in egg and let any excess drip off. Then roll in the breadcrumbs, shaking off any excess.

Place the tenders on the prepared baking sheet. Spray both sides of each piece of chicken with cooking spray

4.Bake for 10 minutes. Turn each tender over and continue baking until the outside is crisp and the tenders are cooked through, about 10 minutes more.


We served it with Trader Joes Fries:

So so good!

We also cut up some fresh veggies- cucumbers and carrots- to serve with it. Kids love finger foods, and my kids especially love fresh veggies. They had Ranch dressing with theirs, I had garlic hummus.




We turned the leftovers into sandwiches the next day.


Happy Cooking!

From EatingWell: January/February 2010