Oven Baked Buttermilk Chicken Fingers ~Secret Recipe Club~

This month for the Secret Recipe Club I was assigned The Daily Dish. Nicole is a busy mom. and has a ton of busy mom recipes to share on her blog.

I loved so many things.... I tried two recipes from her blog! First last week I made her Bread Bowls for a broccoli cheddar soup. Mine did not rise up enough and get that dome shape ( you all know how challenged I am with yeast baking!) so we sliced it up and dipped it in our soup instead. It was still awesome awesome! My kids and husband gobbled it up like the carb addicts they are.

On a busy weeknight of my kids favorite meals is chicken fingers. I am guiltily, I ONLY make them IF they are frozen Tyson brand... OR I fry my own. I have been wanting to try an oven baked healthier version for a long time.

When I saw this post for a freezable bulk method. I jumped on it!  Nicole has instructions on making a large batch freezing the extra so you can pull them out and bake as needed. This is the type of recipe we busy moms need!

For the recipe I adapted it to my tastes, and used a different oven temperature. (our ovens may bake at different temps...every oven is slightly different)

Buttermilk Oven Baked Chicken Fingers:

Ingredients

3 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breasts sliced into tenders
2 cups buttermilk
2 cups of panko  bread crumbs
1/2 cup corn meal
2 cups of all purpose flour; divided in half
3 tsp salt ; divided in 3 parts
3 tsp ground black pepper; divided in 2 parts
3 tsp onion powder
3 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp smoked paprika

Directions:

In a shallow dish like a pie plate, add in your buttermilk whisk together with 1 tsp salt.

In a second shallow dish add 1 cup of flour with 1 tsp of salt and 1 tsp of pepper. Whisk together.

In a third bowl whisk together panko, corn meal, remaining flour, salt pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and paprika.

Dredge chicken pieces through the flour mixture, then the buttermilk then through the panko mixture completely covering each tender with your breading. Place onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

To Freeze:

First we want to "flash freeze them". Prepare chicken as instructed right up to the baking point. Place tenders on a plate stick in the freezer for about an hour or until they are slightly hard and not "squishy" anymore. From there you can place them in a freezer bag.

When you are ready to use them, preheat oven to 375 and  bake for 30-40 minutes.

~Family verdict? Kids and husband approved! These were perfectly crunchy on the outside with plenty of flavor and then super moist on the inside! Thanks Nicole for a great family friendly recipe!

Want to know more about the Secret Recipe Club? Click HERE for info.

Check out what some of the other members made this week  below......