stuffed mini chicken tenders
If chicken tenders are your love language, let me just go ahead and seduce you with alllll these babies.
First up, Cordon Bleu Stuffed Mini Chicken Tenders. One of ry’s favorite chicken recipes is Cordon Bleu and as I was thinking of new Superbowl recipes I wanted to whip up this year, I thought, “I need to make mini (healthified, of course) chicken tender versions of Chicken Cordon Bleu.”
They truly are an MVP appetizer. They pack a punch of flavor in just a couple bites - what with a crispy, tastes-like-fried-chicken taste on the outside and stuffed with ham and swiss cheese on the inside.
Ingredients:
Chicken tender pieces
Egg
Flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Flour)
Crackers/crumbs (I used Fat Snax Almond Flour Sea Salt Crackers)
Ham
Swiss cheese
For the dipping sauce:
¼ cup Greek yogurt
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp honey
Another winner: Pepperoni Pizza Stuffed Mini Chicken Tenders. Two of my favorite finger foods are chicken tenders and pizza. After I came up with my recipe for Cordon Bleu Stuffed Mini Chicken Tenders, I knew I had to continue on with this concept of stuffed chicken tenders. Because pizza and chicken tenders are two of my ultimate comfort foods, I thought the marriage of the two in Pepperoni Pizza Stuffed Mini Chicken Tenders would be perfect. And, I was right.
INGREDIENTS:
Chicken tender pieces
Egg
Flour (I used almond flour)
Cheddar crackers (I used Milton’s Organic Cheesy Cheddars)
Mozzarella cheese, shredded
Cheddar cheese, shredded
Pepperoni
For the dipping sauce:
Marinara sauce
My husband’s favorite rendition: Bacon Cream Cheese Stuffed Mini Chicken Tenders with Ranch.
INGREDIENTS:
Chicken tender pieces
Egg
Flour (I used almond flour)
Sea salt crackers
Pasture-raised bacon
Cream cheese
Ranch seasoning (you can make your own with a mix of onion powder, garlic powder, salt, parsley, black pepper and dill weed).
Ranch dressing (plus more for the dipping)
Stuffed mini chicken tenders are the perfect compliment to a salad too - like this arugula salad tossed with fresh basil, fresh parsley, thinly sliced green apple, shredded parmesan and a dressing of olive oil, apple cider vinegar, dijon mustard, sea salt and ground pepper, topped with Mozzarella Cheese Stuffed Mini Chicken Tenders Sprinkled with Parmesan Cheese.
When the weather shifts into colder temps (or you just love soup as much as me, then you’ll want to try Cheddar “Grilled” Cheese Stuffed Mini Chicken Tenders with Tomato Soup or Cream Cheese Stuffed Mini Chicken Tenders with Butternut Squash Soup.
If you want a little kick in your Stuffed Mini Chicken Tenders and love blue cheese, like me, then you’ll want to whip up some Buffalo Blue Cheese Stuffed Mini Chicken Tenders, that are coated with buffalo cheese crumbs from Whisps Snacks (but buffalo-flavored potato chips will work), stuffed with blue cheese crumbles and then drizzled with a healthy measure of buffalo sauce after they are baked.
If you’re eyeballing all these Stuffed Mini Chicken Tenders and thinking “they looks so crispy,” take note of these cooking tips:
BAKE, DON’T AIR FRY. Now, as much as I am a big fan of my air fryer - I find that the crust, especially when I use chips or crackers gets too crispy (almost burnt) before the center of the chicken tender is all the way cooked through if I use my air fryer to cook chicken tenders. I like to cook my chicken tenders at 425 degrees on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper that has been sprayed with avocado oil.
COAT, DUNK, ROLL. That’s my 3-step assembly line process for prepping my chicken tenders before baking them.
I first coat them with flour. I most regularly using cassava flour, almond flour, gluten-free flour or oat flour.
Second, I dunk the now-flour-coated chicken tender in an egg wash mix. This is either a bowl of whisked egg whites or an egg, or a mix of the two. I prefer using a whole egg - but if I only have egg whites, that will work. Using an egg versus egg whites allows the mix in step 3 to stick better.
Third, and last, I roll my chicken tender in a mix of crushed crackers or chips. Depending on the recipe, you’ll want to simply use sea salt crackers or chips, or put an extra cheesy flare to the stuffed mini chicken tenders with cheese crackers (like for the Pepperoni Pizza Stuffed Mini Chicken Tenders and Cheddar “Grilled” Cheese Stuffed Mini Chicken Tenders with Tomato Soup.)
Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. To prep the chicken tenders, carefully cut slits into them, creating a pocket for either: ham & swiss cheese for the Cordon Bleu Stuffed Mini Chicken Tenders, or mozzarella cheese, cheddar cheese and pepperoni for the Pepperoni Pizza Stuffed Mini Chicken Tenders or crispy bacon and cream cheese for the Bacon Cream Cheese Stuffed Mini Chicken Tenders or mozzarella cheese for the Mozzarella Cheese Stuffed Mini Chicken Tenders Sprinkled with Parmesan Cheese or white cheddar cheese for the Cheddar “Grilled” Cheese Stuffed Mini Chicken Tenders with Tomato Soup or cream cheese for the Cream Cheese Stuffed Mini Chicken Tenders with Butternut Squash Soup or blue cheese crumbles for the Buffalo Blue Cheese Stuffed Mini Chicken Tenders. Once you’ve done that, set them aside and set up your assembly line of dipping and dunking to bread your chicken tenders. Station 1 will be your flour (put in a shallow dish.) Station 2 will be a whisked egg (or two, depending on how much chicken you have), put in a deeper bowl than the one used for the flour. Station 3 will be your crushed up crackers/chips/crumbs (also put in a shallow dish.) Starting with the flour then dunking the chicken tenders in the egg mix then the crackers/chips/crumbs is the best method for creating crispy, tastes-like-fried chicken tenders in my opinion. After the chicken tenders are coated, find the slit in each piece and layer in your stuffing ingredients. (For the Bacon Cream Cheese Stuffed Mini Chicken Tenders, you’ll do one more step: sprinkle ranch seasoning over the stuffed mini chicken tenders and drizzle ranch dressing over top. For the Mozzarella Cheese Stuffed Mini Chicken Tenders Sprinkled with Parmesan Cheese, you’ll also do one more step: sprinkle parmesan cheese over the stuffed mini chicken tenders.) Lay out parchment paper on a baking tray and spray with avocado oil. Place the breaded chicken tenders on the baking tray and cook for 15 minutes. For the Buffalo Blue Cheese Stuffed Mini Chicken Tenders, you’ll finish off with one more step: a drizzle of buffalo sauce over top, after they have baked.