These healthier chicken tenders will be a sure hit with an oat breading crisped up in coconut oil, and the best copycat Chick-Fil-A sauce!
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First meet of the season, and a chicken tender request!
My littlest peanut had her first meet of the season last weekend, and quite frankly she knocked it out of the park! She is such a little performer, and the poise she has at age 10 truly blows me away. Some of her teammates were talking a *lot* about getting Chick-Fil-A, making her curious just what the fuss was all about! So, I’ve been spending some time playing around with a few packages of chicken tenders I picked up at Costco, as well as that famous sauce those restaurant tenders come with!
You’re in the driver seat!
The best part about making your own chicken tenders at home is that *you,* dear momma, get to pick what the ingredients are. The breading is in *your* hands. *You* get to pick what the chicken is cooked in, whether that is pan frying in heathy coconut oil, air frying, or sheet pan baking in the oven. This is such freedom! The kids want something fun for dinner? This can be on the menu on the regular because not only are the ingredients easily accessible and budget friendly, they are healthy too!
The crispy chicken tenders breading dilemma…
Homemade crispy chicken really couldn’t get any easier. A little egg coating, then a dip in some bread crumbs before frying – easy peasy! Except for if you are gluten free. Gluten free panko crumbs or bread crumbs not only don’t have the best of ingredients sometimes, they also have gotten *super* expensive in the last couple years. I use them on occasion, but limit it because of the cost. Earlier this summer, I had promised the girls some crispy chicken, only to discover I didn’t have any panko. I decided to bread them with what I did have, which was oats, and my, oh my, what a happy discovery! The flavor is as incredible as the crunch! Just buzz up some oats in a little blender, and you’ve got the best breadcrumbs for your chicken.
The Method :: The Chicken Tenders
I don’t typically buy chicken tenders. They can be expensive, but Costco is a great way to be able to afford the occasional organic chicken tender for this fun dinner night. If you have chicken breasts or even thighs on hand, those work for this recipe too! Just cut them up about the size of tenders, or into chicken nugget size. I start out by using some paper towel to pat dry the chicken tenders.
The Method :: The egg coating
Once the chicken is ready to go, toss them in a whisked egg. This will help the oat coating stick. If you cannot have egg, I have used a couple tablespoons of avocado oil for the oats to stick to, and it works great.
The Method :: The Crispy Coating
I like to get the breading ingredients into a zip top freezer bag before I get the chicken ready. Have you ever tried the old 1980’s classic “Shake ‘N Bake” method? Just toss the chicken into the breading bag, zip it up, and give it a shake! It is that easy to bread up a load of chicken tenders all at the same time. No fussy one at a time coating! I like to season the ground up oats with salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder. A little paprika lends a gorgeous color that makes your tenders look just like a restaurant too. I shake the chicken up in the bag, and then lay them out on a board or plate for easy cooking.
The Method :: Cooking the Chicken Tenders
While you are getting the chicken tenders ready, you can get the coconut oil in your pan really hot. I like to use my cast iron pan to retain heat the best. This is called “shallow frying” because the chicken will not be fully submerged. I use about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of coconut oil in the bottom of the pan, and the result is a super crispy coating, cooked in the healthiest, low smoke point oil!
Make your Chicken Tenders in Batches
You’ll notice there is a lot of room in between the tenders in my skillet. This helps the chicken tenders cook more evenly and quickly. When you finish one batch, place the chicken tenders on a wire rack and sprinkle with sea salt. The wire rack will allow excess oil to drip, and not make the bottom of the chicken tenders soggy. You can place the chicken in a 200 degree oven to stay warm while you cook if you want, but I find they cook so quickly that they are all done before you know it!
Cooking options and cooking oil swaps
If you have access to pastured lard or tallow, these cooking fats have a fantastic high smoke point, and are loaded with fat soluble vitamins for your family. When I have it, that is what I use hands down. Coconut oil or avocado oil have high smoke points as well, and work good for this kind of a recipe. You can also cook your chicken tenders in an air fryer if you have one. I do not, but I have used the convection setting on my oven like an air fryer, and it works great! You’ll want to do about 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes. You can also oven bake your chicken tenders at 425 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.
Chicken tender coating swaps
While we are just loving using the oats as breading in this recipe, I know some people cannot have them. In that case, you can use regular bread crumbs or gluten free bread crumbs or panko if you have them. Another great option is using nuts! You can see how I use blended walnuts to coat this crispy white fish here!
Gluten Free Crispy Chicken Tenders With Oatmeal Breading :: Plus a Homemade Copycat Chick-Fil-A Sauce!
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup coconut oil to cook in Pastured tallow or lard, or avocado oil have a high smoke point and will work too.
- 1 cup rolled oats I use these sprouted oats for best digestion
- 2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1 egg
- 10-14 chicken tenders pat dry with paper towel
Instructions
- Put the coconut oil into a large cast iron skillet and heat to medium high heat while you prepare the chicken tenders.
- Blend the oats in a blender by pulsing into a coarse meal. Put the blended oats along with the salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and paprika into a gallon freezer bag, and combine.
- Whisk the egg in a medium mixing bowl. Add the chicken tenders to the whisked egg, and coat the chicken in the egg.
- Pick up a handful of the egg coated chicken and let the excess egg drip before putting it all into the bag with the oat crumbs. Add all of the chicken into the bag, zip the top up, and give it a good shake to coat the chicken with the oat crumbs.
- Place about half of the chicken tenders into the hot oil in your skillet and cook until golden on the bottom, about 3 minutes or so. Flip the chicken over and cook another 3 minutes or so until the chicken is golden on each side. Place the cooked chicken on a wire rack so the excess oil drips off. Sprinkle sea salt on the top of the cooked chicken tenders.
- Cook the rest of the chicken in the skillet the same way you cooked the first batch.
Notes
Tell me about that SAUCE!
So this sauce has been a work in progress for a WHILE. You can find so many copycat Chick-Fil-A sauces online now, and for good reason, because the stuff from the restaurant and in the store don’t have the most stellar ingredient lists. If you take a peek at the ingredients, it is pretty easy to just make your own! You can play around with the mustard/BBQ sauce ratios to your taste. The recipe as follows is what I have found my family likes best. You could even make your own BBQ sauce if you can’t find a good on in the store.
5 Minute Chick-Fil-A Sauce with Kitchen staples!
I’m pretty certain most people will have the ingredients for this sauce right at home already. Just whisk some full fat yogurt or mayo with the honey, mustard, and BBQ combo. Start with what I have listed in the recipe card, and just adjust the ratios of flavors to your liking.
Healthier Copycat Chick-Fil-A Sauce
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup full fat coconut yogurt Or regular yogurt if you tolerate dairy. Mayonnaise works here too, but we prefer the yogurt
- 1/4 cup BBQ Sauce
- 2 tbsp yellow mustard
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tbsp raw honey
Instructions
- Whisk all ingredients together in a small mixing bowl. Store the sauce in the refrigerator as long as the date on the yogurt or mayo is good.
Notes
- Chick-Fil-A sauce tends to be a bit sweeter than this recipe, which is just way to sweet for my kids palates. You can bump up the honey if it helps your kids feel like it is really the same as their beloved Chick-Fil-A sauce!
- Try my 5 Minute BBQ Sauce if you haven’t! It is delicious!
We tried these tonight for the first time and also made the sauce. We used regular GF organic oats vs sprouted, and plain Greek yogurt because that’s what we had on hand. We put the chicken on a cooling rack on top of a sheet pan in the oven @ 400 on convection setting for 20 mins. It was SO GOOD! Def making again. And so easy too!
Hi Lisa! That is so good to know about the convection oven settings that worked for you! I am new to having an oven with convection setting, so I will be trying this soon too! Thank you for sharing!