Batter Fried Homemade Chicken Strips/Nuggets – An Experiment

I can’t say for sure but I suspect that when chicken tenders are offered on a menu, they are really just sliced breast and I assume the same thing for chicken nuggets, although some seem to be formed, processed chicken.  Where tenders are generally the length of a breast, nuggets are generally more round or square and mine are a combination of both. 

Most chicken strips are cooked with a dry breading but I wanted to try them with a wet batter similar to what is often on fish – such as Long John Silvers.  There weren’t many recipes but I finally found one that looked good for The Best Crispy Fried Battered Chicken Tenders from “This Silly Girl’s Kitchen” site and I doubled it for my two pounds of chicken.  I also drastically changed how the batter got on the chicken but you can click on the above link for the original recipe.  The above shot is from her site.

Batter Fried Homemade Chicken Tenders/Nuggets - Adapted from Silly Girl's Kitchen

Ingredients:

2 pound chicken tenderloins

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon season salt

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

2 1/2 Cup flour

2 Cup cold water

peanut oil for frying or vegetable oil

Kosher salt for sprinkling

Instructions:

Use a Jaccard to tenderize the breasts and pound them to a thickness of an inch or so.

Lay them on a cutting board and season with a little S&P and seasoning salt (I used Tiger Seasoning)

Slice them crosswise into pieces about ¾“ wide and you will end up with pieces about ½“ x ¾“ x 3-4” long and a few nugget shaped.

Add the next six ingredients to a bowl and mix well.

About 30 minutes before cooking, mix the water into the flour mixture.  Adjust water amount to get desired thickness.

Meanwhile preheat oil in your deep skillet or deep fryer to a temperature of 350F.

Remove chicken from fridge 30 minutes before cooking.

Add the chicken to a bag with flour and shake to coat them lightly or dredge and shake off extra.

Dip the chicken strips into the batter, remove one at a time, let excess run off and add them to the hot oil, but don’t overcrowd them.

Cook until crust is brown and flip as needed to brown evenly then remove when they reach an internal temp of 165F.

Fry in batches and put the cooked strips on a rack over a pan and keep them warm in a 155F oven while the others cook.

When all were done, we served them with honey mustard, ranch, creamy Caesar, and creamy feta salad dressings as dipping sauces and we sided them with oven baked frozen steak fries and a Bev salad, which we ate first with the same dressings plus Italian.

I got so busy cooking and serving that I forgot to take pics of the plated meal but this is what they looked like - giant difference from the top pic which is what I was expecting.

The Verdict:

They had a very good flavor and they were a hit with the group.  They were crispy but I wish I would have dry breaded a few for comparison.  They didn’t get very brown and the chicken got more done than I wanted to get as brown as they did.  I cooked them in 350F oil but in the future for wet batter on meat or fish, I’ll go with 375F oil so they will brown faster and maybe use the meat right out of the fridge so it won’t cook as quickly.  While they were good cooked this way I believe I'll reserve the wet batter for fish and use dry breading on chicken but now I know.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

3/22/24 event date