Pancake Battered Chicken Tenders
The Ultimate Chicken Tender
Experience a delightful twist on a classic favorite with these Pancake Battered Chicken Tenders! Crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside, and bursting with flavor these chicken tenders are sure to please the whole family.
The batter, made with pancake mix and a blend of savory spices, adds a unique touch that elevates these tenders to a whole new level of deliciousness. Whether served as a hearty snack, appetizer, or main course these Pancake Battered Chicken Tenders are guaranteed to be a hit at any mealtime gathering.
Enjoy them dipped in your favorite sauce for a satisfying and flavorful dining experience!
There is a full, printable recipe card at the end of this post. You can hit the print button for the recipe to come up on one screen to print it or screenshot it to save to your phone.
I also have added a Pinterest button that you can use to save this recipe to your Pinterest page. If you would like to follow me on Pinterest, you can find me there as The Tipsy Housewife.
Below I have included some information regarding the ingredients. There are also tips to make sure it will turn out as amazing as possible.
Complete Pancake Mix
A lot of people ask me what complete pancake mix is. If you look at the picture above, you can see that it says COMPLETE right on the box.
This may be something you have never noticed before. It means that all you have to add to this is water.
The other, incomplete pancake mix, if you will, means you usually needs to add eggs and oil and water.
I like to use the complete one because it is fewer steps and fewer ingredients. You will notice this now that I have pointed it out to you!
Another Alternative For The Batter
While it is very easy to use the pancake mix in the box for this recipe, I do have a very delicious pancake batter recipe on my site.
The recipe makes the best pancakes, but you can also use the batter to make these chicken tenders!
Feel free to try both ways if you have the time, so you can see if the extra effort is worth it to you.
Another Delicious Tender Recipe
If you love tenders like I do but want something ever so slightly lighter, try this recipe pictured above. My Oven baked Parmesan Tenders are ALWAYS a hit with kids, grown ups, and especially teens!
Make a big batch of these and use them on salads the rest of the week!
Pancake Battered Chicken Tenders
Experience a delightful twist on a classic favorite with these Pancake-Battered Chicken Tenders! Crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, and bursting with flavor, these chicken tenders are sure to please the whole family. The batter, made with pancake mix and a blend of savory spices, adds a unique touch that elevates these tenders to a whole new level of deliciousness. Whether served as a hearty snack, appetizer, or main course, these pancake-battered chicken tenders are guaranteed to be a hit at any mealtime gathering. Enjoy them dipped in your favorite sauce for a satisfying and flavorful dining experience!
Ingredients
- 2 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
- 2 C Complete Pancake Mix
- 1 C Milk
- 1 T Paprika
- 1T Garlic Powder
- 2 t Chili Powder
- 1 T Onion Powder
- 4 Cups Vegetable Oil
- Salt
- *Use a Cast Iron Skillet if possible
Instructions
*The day before you plan to make this dish, place breasts in a bowl, cover with water and add 2 – 3 T of salt, let sit in fridge over night. When you plan to cook, take breasts out of the salt water and dry breasts on paper towels.
- Mix the pancake mix, spices and milk in a bowl really well until the consistency is smooth.
- Dry the chicken thoroughly, slice into strips. You should get about 20 strips total depending on how thick or think you want your tenders.
- Heat the oil in your cast iron skillet until it is very hot but not smoking.
- Test the temp of the oil by dropping a little of the pancake batter into the oil, its ready if the batter immediate turns brown and floats to the top.
- Cover a cookie sheet in foil and keep next to the frying skillet.
- Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
- Set up your batter station near the skillet. Chicken – Batter – Skillet
- Dredge each tender through the batter until it’s well coated and let the excess drip off.
- Immediately place battered tenders in skillet.
- You must work quickly and try to get 4 to 6 in the skillet at a time so the oil doesn’t cool from too many tenders at once.
- The tenders should float and you need to turn once while frying.
- Take the tenders out and place on the cookie sheet and fry a new batch.
- When finished frying all the chicken, place cookie sheet in oven and bake tenders for 20 minutes more.
- Serve with your favorite dipping sauces.
Do you want a creative dip for your tenders? My famous Pepper Jelly Cheese Dip could be just what you’re looking for, and it’s perfect with chips, pretzels, veggies, or crackers as well!