🍗 What Makes This Method So Good
Frozen chicken tenders are best when they’re tender and juicy inside and crispy and crunchy outside. You can get that result from deep frying, sure, but then you’ve got to mess with a pot of hot oil and everything, plus the heaviness that comes with deep fried food. The oven eliminates all the oil, but it does a lousy job of crisping up the breading, and it’s not the fastest method. The air fryer, though? With the air fryer you get all the goodness of deep fried chicken tenders without any of the oil and in roughly 10 minutes. It’s the best of everything! You can cook chicken tenders in the air fryer right out of the freezer, which makes them great for a quick lunch or a last-minute dinner. Almost anyone in the house can prepare them, too, so it’s a great way to help your kids learn a little independence in the kitchen.
♨️ Chef’s Tips
If you can, try to cook similarly sized chicken tenders together. That’s not always possible since frozen chicken tenders are a mixed bag (literally). If you’re cooking really large chicken strips and really small chicken strips together, though, the smaller ones will cook much faster. You’ll run the risk of them overcooking before the larger ones are ready. You don’t need any oil at all for this air fryer …recipe? If you like really, really, really crispy chicken strips then you can totally give them a light spritz with a neutral spray oil that’s safe to use in air fryers, but I think they get plenty crispy without it. We used fully-cooked frozen chicken tenders in the air fryer this time, but you can also cook frozen raw chicken strips this way. You’ll just need to adjust the cook time by a few minutes to ensure they cook all the way through. If you’re at all unsure, check the chicken tenders with an internal meat thermometer before serving them.
🍗 Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinners
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