Chicken Fingers

These Chicken Fingers are an easy, quick and satisfying way to get your fast food fix. The chicken is perfectly spiced, coated in flour twice and fried. Juicy chicken with a delicate and crispy crust that turns every bite into an adventure! Full Video and Ste by Step below.

This is one of those “what? fried? ” moments in life where I admit I have a tiny deep dark junky side that loves Fried Chicken Fingers. And if you have one too, keep reading it gets better!!

Similar to my popular Fish Fry, Fried Eggplant Salad, Calamari, Halloumi Fries and of course the spicy deicious Korean Fried Chicken Strips, these are a HIT! So many Moms and non moms have requested this recipe from me over the years as it’s a crowd pleaser.

It’s absolutely easier than you think, and super tasty–much tastier than what you get at restaurants or frozen at your grocery store. This recipe is the absolute homemade chicken fingers recipe and I dare you to find better 🙂

Why You’ll Love Homemade Chicken Fingers 

• It’s TASTY! Really flavorful chicken, not bland. PLUS really flavourful coating.
• The coating is extra crisp and thick.
• Your chicken is guaranteed super juicy, each time.
• So much cheaper than the frozen stuff or restaurants.
• You can use this recipe as a base and make into a few varieties like the Korean Fried Chicken Strips.
• Fool Proof process, nothing fancy or cheffy required to make this.
• Serve it with Air Fryer Frozen French Fries, Nacho Fries, Nacho Cheese Sauce Recipe, Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes
 and more!
• Make into a Buffalo Chicken Wrap tossed with buffalo sauce.
• WE LOVE IT with Blue Cheese Dressing and served in cups as below!

Ingredients to Make Chicken Fingers

You have three aspects to this recipe:

1. Dry coating 
2. Wet coating 
3. Boneless skinless chicken breasts.

Here’s the breakdown of each coating.

Dry Coating Ingredients 

• Flour: Use all purpose flour.
• Basic spice : Salt and Pepper
• Paprika
• Oregano
• Garlic Powder and Onion Powder

Wet Coating Ingredients 

• Eggs to bind the coating.
• Mustard.
• Ketchup.
• Fresh garlic, minced.
• Lemon juice
• Exact same spice mix as used above for the dry coating. Salt, pepper, paprika, oregano, garlic powder and onion powder.

How to Make Chicken Fingers

1. Use a scissors or knife to cut up the chicken breasts into strips or fingers. Make the cut according to the size and thickness you prefer. Immediately add them to the flavored flour mixture. 
   
2. Now you’ll give the chicken the very fist coating of flour. It’s important to make this coating as thin as possible, so do coat each piece of chicken, but make sure to shake off excess coating. 
   
3. After shaking off excess flour, you’ll carefully drop the chicken in to the bowl of the wet coating. This is where you need to mix the chicken really well. This coating is what makes the final crunchy flour coating stick, so make sure each chicken finger is well coated in the egg mixture. 
   
4. Now one by one, remove the chicken from the wet mixture and place it back again in to the flour bowl. Now here’s the thick coating that you need for the chicken fingers. Make sure you press the coating over the chicken really well and be generous with this coating. 
   
5. This what you’re looking for! A thick crinkled coating of flour over each piece of chicken finger. It’s best to do this step one by one to ensure a good layer of coating.
   
6. Now let’s deep fry! Similar to the Fish Fry, you need a deep layer of oil, this is not a pan fry. The chicken has to be submerged entirely into the oil for even cooking and crisp coating. If you have an electric dep fryer, set the temperature to 375 degrees F. If not, use a thermometer. 
   
7. When the chicken fingers have this gorgeous golden color, they’re ready. Make sure to drain the excess oil–whether in a deep fryer basket as shown above, or on paper towels. 
   
8. Look at these babies! BEST ever!

How to Serve Chicken Fingers

• You can serve them as is.
• With some French Fries, Pan Fried Potatoes, Wedge Salad, Avocado Orange Salad and more!
• You can toss them in Buffalo sauce and make them into Buffalo Chicken Wrap.
• Turn them in to Spicy Chicken Sandwich.
• With Blue Cheese Dressing at the bottom of a cup along side celery, carrots and lemon wedges as shown above.
• We love these cups for parties, BBQs, Potluck, Picnics and more!

Chicken Fingers Tips and FAQ

1. The best cut of chicken is a boneless chicken breast for this recipe.
2. The chicken fingers are ALL about the coating. So follow the exact steps of light flour, egg and finish off with heavy flour.
3. These steps ensure the coating also sticks very well and never separated when cooking.
4. If you don’t have a deep fryer, use a small pot with a smaller amount of oil and fry a few fingers at a time. This way your frying is much easier and you don’t have to worry about the temperature of the oil.
5. Also, when working in small batches, you don’t have to worry about one finger being ready to flip while the rest isn’t.
6. Make sure to drain excess oil in the basket or on paper towels.
7. Pretty little cups are one of my favorite ways to serve these Chicken Fingers on the go or to make them kid-friendlier. Arranged in cups, the chicken fingers make for the perfect easy snack food for garden parties.

Variations:

• Give them a Mexican makeover and spice up both bowls with cumin, chili powder, oregano and add some salsa to the egg bowl!
• To make them buffalo, add the Buffalo Chicken Wrap sauce to the eggs.
• Or add an Italian twist and throw some rosemary into both bowls and basil pesto to the egg mixture!
• Want to go for an Indian version?  Add garam masala, turmeric and curry powder to the egg mix.
• For an Asian version, try the Korean Fried Chicken Strips.

How to Reheat Chicken Fingers

We LOVE the air fryer. Add them into the air fryer at 375 degrees F for  5 minutes, and watch them get just as crisp and just as fresh! We love this with tip and use it on Air Fryer Pizza too!

How to Freeze Chicken Fingers

My favorite trick to have these handy anytime, is to make a large batch, fry them, cool them and then freeze them. The chicken tenders freeze so well once cooked and cooled down. To reheat them, use your air fryer as above, adjusting the time and temperature. Reheat them at 350 degrees F for 8-10 minutes if frozen. 

What are chicken breast tenders?

This is the small tenderloin flap that’s attached to the chicken breast. It’s the most tender part of the chicken and it’s perfect to use here, however ideally they’re best used when baked. That’s why we love frying them!

Baked Chicken Fingers

This is a whole other formula, and the coating is entirely different. You can get inspo from these Pecan Crusted Baked Chicken Tenders or this Baked Haddock. You’ll need to use panko bread crumbs as the final coating while keeping the egg mixture the same. We don’t use flour entirely and then bake the tenders in a single layer at 425 degrees F for 15 minutes until golden. 

Easy Chicken Breast Recipes

Pan Seared Chicken Breast with Walnut Sauce

Chicken Caprese

Air Fryer Chicken Breast

Chicken Scallopini

Buffalo Chicken Wrap

Grilled Chicken Parmesan

Lemon Chicken

Lemon Caper  Chicken Piccata

4.72 from 7 votes

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Chicken Fingers

These Chicken Fingers are an easy, quick and satisfying way to get your fast food fix. The chicken is perfectly spiced and very moist with a delicate and crispy crust that turns every bite into an adventure!

Course Appetizer, finger food, Main Dish, Snack

Cuisine American

Keyword chicken fingers, chicken fingers recipe, chicken tenders, fried chicken, fried chicken recipe, fried chicken tenders, how to fry chicken

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Servings 4

Calories 561 kcal

Author Mahy

Ingredients

• 2 lbs boneless chicken breasts cut into strips (size and thickness of your choice)

For the flour mix:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne spice (or to taste)

For the egg mix:

• 2 eggs (or 1 extra large egg)
• 2 tablespoons honey mustard
• 2 garlic cloves , minced
• 1/4 cup hot sauce (or to taste) optional
• 3 tablespoons ketchup
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

Instructions

1. Mix the flour mix ingredients in a wide bowl and the egg mix ingredients in another.
   

2. Cut the chicken into strips the size you prefer.

   

3. Place the chicken fingers in the flour mixture.

   

4. Shake away any excess flour from each piece of chicken before coating it in the egg mixture.

   
5. Preheat your deep fryer to 375 degrees, or alternatively heat a small pot filled half way with oil over medium high heat.
   

6. When you’re ready for frying, take out the chicken pieces from the egg mixture and dredge it back into the flour mixture.

7. Make sure to press it well and get a good coating of flour into each piece.

   
8. Place the chicken pieces in the fryer (if using) and fry for about 3-5 minutes (depending on the size and thickness of your chicken fingers) until golden and cooked through.
   

9. For stove top frying, place 2-3 pieces of chicken fingers at a time to control the oil temperature and to make sure they all cook at the same time. Fry the chicken fingers for 5-8 minutes (depending on size and thickness) until golden.

   
10. Drain the fried chicken fingers on paper towels for a minute and serve.

11. Enjoy

    

Recipe Video

Recipe Notes

• If you don’t have a fryer, use a small pot with a smaller amount of oil and fry a few fingers at a time. This way your frying is much easier and you don't have to worry about the temperature of the oil. Also, when working in small batches, you don't have to worry about one finger being ready to flip while the rest isn’t.
• Pretty little plastic cups are one of my favorite ways to serve these Spicy Fried Chicken Fingers on the go or to make them kid-friendlier. Arranged in cups, the chicken fingers make for the perfect easy snack food for garden parties.
• When serving these Spicy Fried Chicken Fingers in a cup, I layer the dip at the bottom (your favorite or this garlic blue cheese dip-recipe to come tomorrow!) and I top it with chicken fingers, then I wedge a few carrot sticks, sweet peppers and celery in between the chicken fingers.

Nutrition Facts

Chicken Fingers

Amount Per Serving

Calories 561 Calories from Fat 99

% Daily Value*

Fat 11g17%

Saturated Fat 2g13%

Cholesterol 229mg76%

Sodium 1614mg70%

Potassium 966mg28%

Carbohydrates 51g17%

Fiber 2g8%

Sugar 1g1%

Protein 57g114%

Vitamin A 455IU9%

Vitamin C 14.4mg17%

Calcium 36mg4%

Iron 4.4mg24%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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