Air Fryer Chicken Tenderloins
These crispy air fryer chicken tenderloins are breaded with a delicious, seasoned coating and come together quickly in your air fryer for an easy and satisfying meal for busy weeknights.
Servings: 8
Calories: 169kcal
Ingredients
- 1 pound chicken tenderloins, approximately 7 to 8 pieces
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- ½ cup plain panko breadcrumbs
- ½ cup plain original breadcrumbs
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat the air fryer for 5 minutes at 400°F. While your air fryer is preheating, you can coat your chicken tenderloins with the egg wash and breadcrumb coating.
- In a shallow dish, whisk together the eggs and Dijon mustard. Set aside.
- In a second shallow dish, combine the panko breadcrumbs, original breadcrumbs, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, smoked paprika, and black pepper until all the spices are thoroughly distributed in the breadcrumbs.
- Add the olive oil to the breadcrumb mixture and combine until the breadcrumbs have been evenly coated with the olive oil. This will not be a greasy mixture, but you should not have any big lumps of oil-coated breadcrumbs.
- Add 3 to 4 chicken tenderloins to the egg wash and toss to coat. Be sure to allow any excess egg mixture to drip back into the dish before proceeding to the breadcrumb coating.
- Carefully add the egg-coated chicken tenderloins to the breadcrumb mixture. Coat the chicken tenderloin strips with breadcrumbs on both sides. Allow any excess breadcrumbs to fall back into the dish and place them onto a plate while you repeat steps 5 and 6 until all the chicken tenderloins have been coated.
- Arrange 3 to 4 coated chicken tenderloins into the preheated basket of the air fryer and cook at 400°F for 12 to 13 minutes. Flip the chicken strips half ways through the cooking time to ensure even browning of your chicken tenderloins.
- Repeat steps 5 to 7 until all the chicken tenderloins have been cooked.
- Serve these air fryer chicken tenderloins alongside a small bowl of chicken finger dipping sauce. These should be served while they are still warm. You can store the cooked chicken tenderloins in an airtight container, in the refrigerator, for up to 3 days. You can reheat them in the air fryer at 400°F for 5 minutes or until warmed through.
Notes
- Allow your chicken tenderloins to sit at room temperature for a few minutes to allow the chill to come off them. This will help ensure that your chicken cooks evenly.
- This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled if serving a large crowd. You will need to allow for enough time to cook multiple batches depending on the size of your air fryer. You do not want to overcrowd the basket of your air fryer. Do not allow the pieces of breaded chicken tenderloins to overlap. This will ensure that you get a beautiful golden brown evenly on each chicken tenderloin.
- You can use a digital thermometer to check the internal temperature of the cooked chicken to be sure that it reaches 165°F on a meat thermometer for safe consumption. You may notice that some of your pieces are larger than others in your package of chicken tenderloins. You can add 1-2 minutes to your total cook time if your pieces are a little larger.
Nutrition
Calories: 169kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 16g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 83mg | Sodium: 349mg | Potassium: 262mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 117IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 37mg | Iron: 1mg