Wondering what to do with chicken tenders? This guide covers how to pick them, cook them, store them, and swap them, plus 27 recipes to put them to work.

What are chicken tenders?

Chicken tenders are the chicken tenderloin: the slim strip of breast meat that runs along the underside of each whole chicken breast, loosely attached and easy to peel away. Each bird gives you two, so they're sold separately as a small, uniform cut.

This page is about that raw cut, not the battered restaurant snack.

The confusion is worth clearing up. On a menu, "chicken tenders," "chicken fingers," and "chicken strips" almost always mean breaded, deep-fried pieces. The raw tenderloin is the muscle those are often cut from, but on its own it's just lean white meat that cooks in minutes.

One feature defines the cut: a thin white tendon running down the length of each tender. It's tough and chewy if you leave it in, so most cooks pull it before cooking.

Working With the Cut

To remove the tendon, lay the tender flat and find the white cord at the thick end. Grip it with a paper towel, lay a fork over the meat with the tendon through the tines, then pull the meat away while you hold the fork down. It slides out whole.

Skip this on long-simmered dishes where the tendon softens anyway. Do it for anything quick.

Tenders are small and thin, so they cook fast and dry out faster than a whole breast. Treat them as a quick-cooking cut. They sear in about 2 to 3 minutes a side, poach in 8 to 10 minutes, and grill on skewers in well under 10 minutes.

Pull them the moment they're cooked through; a few seconds too long shows up as dryness here.

Their size is the selling point. Cut crosswise, they become bite-size pieces with no knife work.

That's why they show up in stir-fries like Easy Chicken & Vegetable Stir Fry and skewered dishes like Thai Chicken Satay with Spicy Peanut Sauce. Whole, they take a breading well, as in Goldfish Crusted Chicken Fingers.

Cooking and Pairing

Because the meat is so lean and mild, it leans on whatever you cook it with. A good marinade or a spice rub does the work. Barbecue Chicken Tenders-Super Bowl coats them in a sweet-smoky glaze; Cajun Style Jambalaya leans on andouille to carry them.

They pair naturally with peanut, ginger, citrus, and garlic.

The mistake almost everyone makes is overcooking. A tender has no fat and little connective tissue to forgive you, so a breast that would be merely dry leaves a tenderloin stringy and tight. Watch the timing rather than the color, and rest them a couple of minutes off the heat.

The second mistake is crowding the pan. Tenders throw off moisture, and a packed skillet steams them gray instead of browning them. Work in batches and give each piece room.

Substitutes

Boneless skinless chicken breast is the closest swap. Slice a breast lengthwise into strips and you've essentially made your own tenders, though they cook a touch slower.

Boneless skinless chicken thighs work when you want more forgiveness, since the extra fat resists drying, but they're darker and richer. For breaded-snack recipes, either one stands in fine. Turkey breast cutlets are a leaner, larger alternative that behave much the same on a grill or in a pan.

Buying and Storing

Look for tenders that are plump and pinkish-white with no gray edges or strong smell. Many packs are sold with the tendon still in; that's normal, and you'll remove it at home. Buying the breast whole and cutting your own strips is usually cheaper per pound than pre-cut tenders.

Keep raw tenders in the coldest part of the fridge and cook them within one to two days of buying. If you're not using them that fast, freeze them in a single layer, then bag them once solid so they don't clump; they keep about nine months frozen.

Thaw in the fridge overnight, never on the counter. As with all poultry, cook to an internal 165°F (74°C) and wash anything the raw meat touched.

Nutrition

Quick facts

Where to find chicken tenders: Chicken tenders are usually found in the poultry section or aisle of the grocery store or supermarket.

Food group: Chicken tenders are a member of the Poultry Products US Department of Agriculture nutritional food group.

In Chinese

鸡投标

British (UK) term

Chicken tenders

en français

offres de poulet

en español

ofertas de pollo

How much do chicken tenders weigh?

Amount	Weight
1 unit (yield from 1 lb ready-to-cook chicken)	71 grams
½ breast, bone and skin removed	118 grams

Related

Poultry Products

Recipes using chicken tenders

There are 27 recipes that contain this ingredient.

All 27 recipes