Baked Buttermilk Chicken Strips
Baked Buttermilk Chicken Strips are a budget-friendly homemade dinner that is easy to make. The oven-baked chicken strips recipe is breaded in buttermilk, parmesan cheese, herbs, and Panko bread crumbs for a delicious and tasty dinner. The chicken strips, aka chicken fingers, are a big hit around here!
| Prep Time | Cook Time | Servings | Prep Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 minutes | 45 minutes | 12 | Beginner + |
Why I Love This Recipe
- It’s super easy to make.
- If you have a picky eater, they will love this recipe.
- The chicken is tender and the breading is so flavorful.
Crispy Chicken Tenders Ingredient List
- Chicken tenderloins
- Dijon mustard
- Mayonnaise
- Salt
- Black pepper
- Flour
- Buttermilk
- Panko breadcrumbs
- Parmesan cheese
- Butter
Full printable recipe with ingredients, measurements, and instructions listed at the bottom of the post in the recipe card.
Step-By-Step Instructions For Oven-Baked Chicken Tenders
Toasting The Breadcrumbs
Add the butter to the saucepan and let it melt. Next, add the Panko bread crumbs. Watch them closely as they like to toast fast. I like to toast them a little before I bread the chicken because I think it adds a little more crunch factor. But toasting the Panko breadcrumbs is optional. After you toast them a little, add them to a bowl and set them aside.
Add the parmesan cheese and stir it up. You can add onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, or Italian seasoning for added flavor. I don’t have it in this recipe, but it gives you the option of changing it occasionally.
Add the Dijon mustard, mayonnaise, salt, pepper, and flour to a small to medium bowl and mix well. Next, add the buttermilk to the flour mixture and stir. It will be a pretty thick mixture. This is your buttermilk marinade.
Dip the chicken strip into the buttermilk mixture and then into the Panko bread crumb mixture. If you don’t have any Panko, you can use regular breadcrumbs for this recipe.
Place the chicken strips on a prepared baking sheet and bake to crispy perfection for approximately 45 minutes or until the chicken is cooked. And, oh, your house is going to smell delicious.
TIP: I use a rimmed baking sheet so the juices don’t run off the pan and get the oven dirty. You can use this same recipe for chicken breasts, as well. It’s a super tasty breading and it turns out golden brown, crispy, and delicious. You might need to cook a full chicken breast longer, though.
Homemade Chicken Tenders
These are the perfect finger foods for the entire family. You can dip them into ranch dressing, honey mustard sauce, bleu cheese, ketchup, or your favorite sauce. If you have a kiddo with a picky palate, this is a recipe they will love. I have a picky one; he always asks for extra chicken tenders.
If you don’t have any chicken tenderloins on hand, you can cut boneless, skinless chicken breasts into strips. I’ve done that a few times, and it works great.
More Delicious Chicken Recipes
- Loaded with crispy bacon, creamy ranch flavor, and gooey cheddar, this easy crack chicken casserole is the ultimate comfort food for busy nights.
- Crispy on the outside and juicy inside, these air fryer chicken strips with rich, peppered gravy make a quick and satisfying meal the whole family will love.
- These crispy Parmesan ranch chicken tenders are a hit with both kids and adults alike.
What to Serve with Chicken Tenders
There are a lot of great recipes out there to serve with chicken tenders. Here are a few of our favorites.
- Honey mustard sauce for dipping – this is a great five-minute recipe from Pinch of Yum that is perfect for dipping chicken tenders.
- Moist Jiffy cornbread – if you love cornbread, you will love this recipe. By adding just a couple of ingredients, you will have a moist and incredibly tasty side dish.
- Jiffy cornbread hush puppies – Jiffy always tastes great, and it’s even better in a hush puppy.
- Oven baked potato wedges – these are just like french fries, but they have a ton of flavor. And they are super easy to make.
Baked Buttermilk Chicken Strips
Ingredients
- 12-15 chicken strips
- 1 Tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1 Tablespoon mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 2 Tablespoons flour
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1 cup Panko breadcrumbs
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 Tablespoon butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350-degrees
- Melt butter in saucepan and brown Panko crumbs. Pour into small bowl. (optional)
- Add the parmesan cheese to the Panko breadcrumbs and stir together.
- In a small bowl add dijon mustard, mayonnaise, salt, pepper, flour, and buttermilk. Stir until well blended.
- Dip each chicken strip into the buttermilk mixture and then into the Panko mixture.
- Set the chicken strips on the baking sheet.
- Bake chicken tenders for 45 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. They will end up with a breaded crispy coating.
- Dip in ketchup or ranch dressing or your favorite dip.
Mmmm…these sound so good! Much better than fried! And the oven baked fries go perfectly with these chicken strips!!
Thanks Kelly! I literally kept asking the kids if they were going to eat all of theirs!!
I feel naturally drawn to this blog! lol I keep finding recipes on MPM that I like and they happen to be yours. I’m a wanna be southerner.
These chicken strips are something I’d love!
Hi Joanne! You’re so sweet and you made my day! You’re so cute! Thank you!! I think the chicken strips are one of my favorite recipes. They turned out so good and they were a cinch to make. If you make them, I hope you love them, too! Come back soon and visit!
What can I use instead of mayonnaise?
Hi Stella!
You can use Greek yogurt, avocado, olive oil, pesto, or cottage cheese! Let me know if it turns out if you use one of these. I think the Greek yogurt or pesto sounds good.
Have a good day!
Made it for dinner tonight and everyone loved it!
I made this and it was simply delicious! What an awesome meal for the first time making chicken strips. Will definitely make these again. Yummly!
Hi Greg! That’s great to hear! We eat them a lot here.
Not able to see whole ingredient list like mayonnaise and mustard! How much? Like to cook this today but not the “chef” so need a little help. Thanks
Hi Mia,
Did you see the list at the bottom of the page? It has the exact ingredient. It’s one tablespoon of dijon mustard and one tablespoon of mayo. Let me know if you need more help!
These baked chicken tenders were a huge hit with the whole family.
We usually deep fry chicken tenders but are trying to eat a little healthier. These baked chicken tenders were super crispy and so delicious, I will be making them like this from now on.
So glad to hear!
The addition of parmesan was amazing! My kids are begging me to make these again after we had them just a few nights ago. Thanks for a winning recipe.
I love the breading on this chicken! It got rave reviews from the whole crew!
That’s so great to hear!
I loved how crispy this chicken got in the oven! It was such a great dinner!
Thanks so much, Deb!
We enjoyed this recipe for chicken strips and made several sauces for them to be dipped into. There wasn’t enough panko coating for more than 10 strips though, I had to make more to have enough. I will make these again.
So glad you all liked them!
This recipe will be put into my rotation. When my hubby says “that one is a keeper” he means it and he said that about these chicken tenders. They were fun to make and delcious to devour.
I love that you all loved it! Thank you so much!