The top recipe tip
Keep one hand for the egg and one hand for the flour. That’s the whole trick to breading these without the almond flour clumping up on your fingers. It’s a trick we learned in testing this recipe and once you’ve got that down the rest is dip, press, bake.
These have always been a favorite of mine and we served them last night to our toddler and he couldn’t get enough! A hit for the whole family.
Jessica
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Related ->> Crunchy Keto Chicken Nuggets (Oven or Air Fryer)
How to make homemade almond flour chicken tenders
Ingredient notes and substitutions
- Almond flour and tapioca flour: The breading is mostly almond flour with a little tapioca flour mixed in. If you don’t keep tapioca flour on hand, arrowroot, cassava or chickpea flour all will work as a sub.
- Turmeric: It gives the tenders an orange color and a savory flavor. Not everyone likes it, so leave it out if you want to.
- Chicken tenders: Buy pre-cut tenders to keep this quick, or cut your own from chicken breasts. Keep them close to the same size.
- Eggs: If you can’t do eggs, dip the tenders in about a cup of milk instead. A thick milk works best here, heavy cream if you do dairy. Full fat coconut milk or coconut cream if you’re dairy free (Aroy-D is the brand we use). They come out a little less crispy without the egg, but the recipe still works.
Notes from our kitchen
- Press the coating on: Lay each tender in the flour mixture, press it down, then toss flour over the top so it’s covered all over before it goes on the pan.
- Give them room: Leave a little space between the tenders so they cook evenly.
- Check the temperature: They take about 20 minutes, but all tenders are a different size. Check them at 15 minutes and pull them once the chicken is at 165 degrees.
- Making more: As written this is two servings. Change the scale in the recipe card under the ingredients heading and the amounts update for you.
How we serve these chicken tenders
With a dipping sauce, mostly. Our homemade buffalo sauce and our 5-minute chipotle aioli are two on the site that go really with these.
For a side, our air fryer frozen sweet potato fries take about as long as the tenders bake, so both are done at the same time. Beyond that they go with just about anything.
Other homemade chicken tender and nugget recipes
We have a few more options for you and your kiddos on the site 🙂.
If you’d rather cook these on the stove, try our paleo fried chicken tenders. Similar idea, but the coating uses coconut flour and arrowroot and they fry in avocado oil in a skillet.
If you like the almond flour coating but want a different flavor, our baked ranch chicken tenders use a homemade ranch seasoning in the coating.
If you have an air fryer, our air fryer chicken nuggets use a similar almond flour and tapioca flour breading but with cubed chicken breast. They cook quickly in about 10 minutes.
Baked Chicken Tenders with Almond Flour Breading
Ingredients
- 1 lb chicken breast tenders
- 3/4 cup almond flour
- 1/4 cup tapioca flour
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp paprika
- 2 tsp parsley
- 2 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 2 eggs
Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400° Fahrenheit.
- Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
- On a plate or shallow dish, combine the almond flour, tapioca flour, spices, salt and pepper.3/4 cup almond flour, 1/4 cup tapioca flour, 2 tsp garlic powder, 2 tsp paprika, 2 tsp parsley, 2 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper
- Whisk eggs in a separate bowl.2 eggs
- Place one of the tenders in the egg mixture and cover completely. It should be well coated.1 lb chicken breast tenders
- Next, dredge the egg-covered chicken tender in the flour mixture. Coat it well, pressing the chicken tender down into the mixture and tossing the flour all over the chicken.
- Place the coated chicken tender on your parchment lined baking sheet.
- Repeat until all of the chicken tenders are coated.
- Place chicken in the oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until the chicken has reached an internal temperature of 165° Fahrenheit.
- Remove and serve immediately.
Notes
- Nutrition estimates are per serving and an estimate provided for reader benefit. See our full nutrition information disclosure here.
I have used this recipe and LOVE it! Is there a substitute for the eggs? I want to make this for a friends shower and she has an egg allergy.
Thank you!
I think your best bet is to skip the egg and use more milk. If you are dairy-free we recommend a thick milk like coconut cream or full fat coconut milk, Aroy-D brand is our favorite. Since you are skipping the eggs you’ll have to use more milk than the recipe calls for. Or, if you eat dairy you could use a heavy cream. Hope this helps!
These have always been a favorite of mine and we served them last night to our toddler and he couldn’t get enough! A hit for the whole family.
We love hearing that! We look forward to trying them out with Nora when she gets bigger! Thanks for taking the time to come back and comment/rate this recipe!:)