Crispy baked chicken tenders with honey mustard

So I felt like I wanted to continue this ‘bar related food’ theme with a healthy twist for a little longer. Hence these delicious crispy baked chicken tenders with honey mustard were borne. It’s my quest to find ways for healthy alternatives to my husband’s favorite football dishes. Chicken tenders with honey mustard are on almost every bar menu and they’re super good, but unfortunately deep deep fried. I made mine baked with delicious seasoned rosemary, garlic powder and parmesan cheese panko breadcrumbs. They were so crispy that you couldn’t easily say that they weren’t actually fried. And dipping them in this sweet and tangy honey mustard, with some chopped rosemary, made both of us want to continue eating. Seriously we couldn’t stop. But we actually didn’t have to. They are a perfect healthy football appetizer. My husband isn’t totally happy with my new approach to our Sundays. So in adding all these healthy alternatives, I need to compromise sometimes and order a scrumptious pizza too.

Let me tell you how easy these crispy chicken tenders were to make. I cut each tender in half and didn’t season. I wanted to make the breadcrumbs really tasty so I decided to forgo any seasoning on the meat itself. Rather, I made my seasoned panko in food processor. I added parmesan cheese, black pepper, garlic powder and rosemary. I didn’t add any salt, as the cheese already made them pretty salty. For the breading process I used corn starch instead of flower, added mustard to the egg mixture and finish with season breadcrumbs. This worked out perfectly.

I made my own honey mustard sauce as well. Forget about buying one in a supermarket. It’s so simple to make and so inexpensive as well. Just mix in honey, mustard, red wine vinegar, water and chopped rosemary, and you’re done! I don’t know what is it, but there is something really special about this relationship between honey, mustard and rosemary. I cannot resist. Can you?

Crispy baked chicken tenders with honey mustard

Course: Appetizer

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Servings: 2

Author: Innocent Delight

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Ingredients

For the chicken:

• 1 pound chicken tenders
• 1 cup Panko breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon of dijon mustard
• 1/2 cup of corn starch
• 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

For the sauce:

• 2 tablespoons of honey
• 2 tablespoon of dijon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon of red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 teaspoon of water
• black pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 475F
2. In a food processor, combine: panko, cheese, rosemary, garlic powder and black pepper;
3. process on high for a few seconds until thoroughly combined
4. In a shallow bowl, whisk together the egg and mustard
5. Prepare the assembly line:
6. Plate with corn starch
7. Bowl with egg mixture
8. Plate with seasoned breadcrumbs
9. Place pieces of chicken in corn starch first, then egg, then breadcrumbs until all are fully coated
10. Place breaded chicken on the baking sheet with a rack
11. Bake for 20-25 minutes until cooked through
12. After 15 minutes of baking sprinkle chicken with olive oil to achieve a golden brown crust.