a family of four cooking & creating our way through tiny living
One of the most important part of the onion dill chicken tenders of course is the chicken tenders themselves. Have you ever noticed a piece of chicken breast that is almost separate but still attached? That is the chicken tender we all love to fry or grill. If the chicken happened to be a pig, it would be the pork tenderloin. If you are a gym rat, medical professional, or human anatomy expert, the chicken tender is the pectoralis minor of the chicken.
Chicken tenders are most commonly breaded in a chicken fry dredge. I do enjoy some good old fashioned fried chicken flavor. The chicken tenders are washed in egg and tossed in a flour or bread crumb dredge, then deep fried in oil.
I have always been a huge fan of onions and onion flavor. There is no mistaking that crisp spicy bite. Onion powder is often a key ingredient in many fried chicken recipes. I like to use granulated onion because there is no other ingredient but onion.
Dill has been shoved into the pickle corner but should not be overlooked because of it. Dill weed is another unmistakable flavor and smell. Take a whiff from the dill weed bottle and HOLY MOLY is it powerful. Take a bit of dill weed mixed with some onion powder and you have something completely different. I prefer granulated onion because there is no other ingredients but onion.
The air fryer works like a convection oven because of the powerful fan that blows hot air around the oven to cook the food. To get the breading or dredge to brown in the air fryer, the breading has to be wet. We have a layer of cream and then a layer of egg wash between each layer of dredge. This helps to wet the dredge but olive oil is needed to finish the job.
We use the EVO Olive Oil Sprayer. I love this thing. I have had two of the pump olive oil sprayers and broke them both quickly. The EVO Olive Oil Sprayer is a spray bottle with a directional fan sprayer. I put different oils in depending on what I’m air frying, some times peanut oil, sesame oil or olive oil.
Lets start the chicken tenders off right by giving them time to marinate. Pour 1/2 cup of cream and 1/4 cup of your favorite hot sauce into a one gallon zip lock bag. I like to use La Victoria’s Salsa Brava. Add 2 pounds of chicken tenders to the marinade bag, zip it closed, and shake it up good. Release all of the air from the bag and zip the bag closed. Make sure to let the chicken marinate for at least 1 hour. I start ours in the morning so they can marinate until dinner time.
When dinner time rolls around, pull the chicken tenders out of the fridge to sit on the counter. Mix 1 cup of plain bread crumbs, 1/2 cup flour, 1 Tbsp granulated onion, 2 tsp salt, 1 tsp dill weed, 1/2 tsp granulated garlic, and 1/2 tsp ground black pepper on a serving plate or shallow bowl.
The egg wash is what is normally used to get the dredge or breading to stick to the chicken tenders. Crack 3 eggs onto a serving plate with 1/4 cup of cream. Whip the eggs with the cream well and that’s your egg wash.
Take one chicken tender from the zip lock bag of cream and hot sauce. Roll around the chicken tender in the dredge ingredients to cover the chicken tender completely in the dredge.
Give the cream a chance to absorb the flour. Use one hand for your dry ingredients and the other hand for the wet ingredients. Shake off any extra dredge and place the chicken tender into the egg wash.
With the your we hand, wash the chicken tender well with the egg wash. You do not want there to be a dry spot on the chicken tender. Flip the chicken tender back and forth making sure it is well covered.
Pick the chicken tender up and let all of the extra egg wash run back onto the egg wash plate.
Place the egg washed chicken tender back into the dredge and then with your dry hand, cover the chicken tender in the dredge. Push down hard to get plenty of dredge to stick to the egg wash. Shake the extra dredge back onto the dredge plate and set the breaded chicken tender on an empty plate.
Preheat your air fryer to 400°F for 5 minutes.
While the air fryer is heating up, spray the top side of the chicken tenders with olive oil to wet the dredge. Spray the hot air fryer basket with olive oil.
Place as many chicken tender that fit into your air fryer basket with room for air to move around each one oiled side down. Spray the unoiled tops with olive oil and air fry at 370°F for 7 minutes.
Lightly spray the chicken tenders with oil, flip the chicken tenders over and then again spray the tenders with olive oil.
Air fry at 370°F for 5. I have learned air fryers all work a little differently; so, time may be different for every one. Keep an eye on the chicken tenders toward the end. If you see them burning you can turn the temperature down to 350°F or lower to finish cooking.
Use a cookie spatula to make sure there is no part of the chicken tenders stuck to the air fryer basket and move them to a warm plate to rest. Repeat to finish the rest of the chicken tenders. Enjoy your onion dill chicken tenders.
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