Easy Fried Chicken Tenders Recipe – Crispy Chicken Tenders Everyone Craves!

Buttermilk Fried Chicken Tenders with Homemade Ranch (MAX Crunch) Crispy, juicy tenders packed with flavor and crunch!

Ingredients:

Marinade:
2 lbs chicken tenderloins
1½ cups buttermilk
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp poultry seasoning

Breading (MAX Crunch):
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cornstarch
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper or Gochugaru Korean red chili pepper powder
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp garlic powder

Homemade Buttermilk Ranch:
½ cup mayonnaise
½ cup sour cream
½ cup buttermilk
1 tbsp fresh dill (minced)
1 tbsp fresh chives (minced)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp black pepper
2 tsp lemon juice
Kosher salt to taste

👨🏾‍🍳 Instructions
1. Make the Ranch:
In a bowl, whisk together all ingredients except the buttermilk.
Slowly whisk in buttermilk until your desired dipping consistency is reached. Chill in the fridge up to 1 week.

2. Marinate the Chicken:
Mix all marinade ingredients in a large bowl.
Add chicken tenderloins and coat well.
Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

3. Prepare the Breading:
In a shallow dish, combine all breading ingredients.
Remove chicken from marinade, shaking off excess.
Dredge tenders in the breading, pressing to build texture.
Let coated tenders rest on a rack or tray for 10–15 minutes.

4. Heat the Oil:
Fill a deep, heavy-bottomed pot with 2–4 cups of oil.
Heat oil to 350°F using a thermometer.

✅ Single Fry Method (Quick & Crispy):
Fry tenders in batches at 350°F for 8–9 minutes, or until golden brown and internal temp reaches 160°F.

Transfer to a wire rack to drain and stay crisp.
Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.

✅ Serving:
Serve hot with ranch or your favorite dipping sauce. Perfect for content, comfort food cravings, or crispy domination.

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hey guys and welcome back to my channel Cook Plate 
Repeat Today we’re making a simple chicken tender   recipe Let’s get started Here are our ingredients 
We have black pepper poultry seasoning salt   cayenne pepper smoked paprika and onion powder We 
also have our chicken here our chicken tenders we   have Frank’s Red Hot we have our buttermilk and 
we have our container that we’re going to put our   buttermilk and spice mixture in So let’s go ahead 
and start with our buttermilk and spice mixture   All right guys This is a super simple recipe okay 
all of these these ingredients you have at home   you can find in your grocery store Let’s go ahead 
and get our buttermilk mixture together All right   guys We have a lot of chicken tenders to cook so 
we’re going to use this whole bottle of buttermilk And what this buttermilk is going to do is going 
to tenderize our chicken tenders to make them nice   and juicy and flavorful All right we’re going to 
use Frank’s Red Hot as well Okay now you’re going   to use about half a cup of this And what this 
is going to do is going to spice up our chicken   tenders and it’s going to act as a tenderizer as 
well And now guys all we do is just dump and go or   have our seasonings So we had onion powder smoked 
paprika cayenne pepper salt poultry seasoning and   we have our black pepper Let’s go ahead and start 
making our buttermilk ranch dip First we’re going   to start with our sour cream And basically guys 
this is just dump and go So this is our sour cream our mayonnaise Now guys I’m a Miracle 
Whip kind of guy And I might be opening up a   a little battle here but I was raised on 
Miracle Whip Light Now some people like   Dukes and that’s okay And you guys let me know 
which mayonnaise you like Dukes or Miracle Whip   Let me know in the comments below All right we 
have our buttermilk We have our lemon juice We   have our garlic powder We have our dill weed We 
have our pepper and we have our salt All right   So we’re just going to mix this all together Make 
sure everything’s nice well and combined And guys   you might be like saying to yourself “This is a 
lot of ranch buttermilk dressing.” Well we got a   lot of tenders to cook And any dressing you 
have left over you can use it for something   else the next day Keep it in your fridge All 
right You just want to mix that Fold that in And guys these are just the ingredients I 
use You don’t have to use these You can you   know put other type of seasonings in your 
buttermilk ranch dressing You let me know   Do you like these seasonings what else 
would you add in your buttermilk ranch   dressing and some of you might like uh blue 
cheese A lot of you like blue cheese Let me   know in the comments What type of dip do you 
like for your chicken tenders blue cheese or ranch Now I’m going to get my whisk and whisk 
this a little bit more Just going to set our   spatula to the side here Give this a good 
whisk Try to get as much of the lumps out   as possible That looks pretty good I like that 
As always every good home chef tastes what he   makes So let’s go ahead and give this a taste 
Oh wow That’s very good That’s on point right   there All right guys So our buttermilk ranch 
um dressing is done So now let’s go ahead and   get our breading mix seasoned and ready to 
go Now guys you might be asking why did I   use poultry seasoning well poultry seasoning 
adds a more herby savory depth and it allows   the chicken to taste seasoned all the way 
through And poultry seasoning has herbs in   it like rosemary and thyme and other herbs in it 
So it’s just going to enhance the flavor of our   chicken tenders Now before I use my immersion 
blender I like to give this a good whisk first Now we’re going to use our immersion blender 
to make sure that everything’s nice and combined All right and we’re done All 
right guys Before we move on to the next   step I just want to remind you make sure 
that your chicken tenders are washed and   clean before you start okay and then make 
sure that they’re patted down as dry as   you can get them Okay they’re always going 
to hold some moisture but you need to make   sure they’re patted down dry All right So now 
we’re going to pour in our buttermilk seasoning mixture And what we’re going to do 
here we’re going to get a little   dirty and get our hands in here and 
make sure that everything’s mixed well Okay make sure this buttermilk gets everywhere 
because we want to make sure that our chicken   is nicely seasoned When you bite into it it’s not 
just crispy and crunchy but it is tender and juicy   and flavorful All right Now what we’re going to 
do is we’re going to allow this to marinate When   I marinate chicken I always do it do it for at 
least 1 hour Now you can do it 2 to 4 hours or   you can do it overnight The more you let allow 
it to marinate the better flavor is going to   have when you fry it So just keep that in mind 
We’ll see you back in about an hour Okay here   are our ingredients for our breading mixture We 
have allpurpose flour corn starch smoked paprika   gouaru flakes I hope I’m pronouncing that right Go 
Yes I’m pronouncing it right All right guys This   thing gets me all the time I don’t know why but 
this is gouugaru flakes Poultry seasoning garlic   powder black pepper salt All right so let’s go 
ahead and start making our breading mixture All   right guys This is basically dump and go We’re 
going to start with our allpurpose flour Now our cornstarch We want to make sure we 
get out get all that cornstarch out   of there Sometimes cornstarch is so light it 
sticks to a lot of things our smoked paprika   our goaru flakes our poultry seasoning our 
garlic powder our black pepper and our salt   We’re just going to make sure that this is mixed 
up and well combined cuz this is going to be the   breader for our chicken tenders guys And that 
cornstarch is going to make sure that everything’s   nice and crispy and crunchy And that flour is 
going to give us texture and structure Okay so   the combination of allpurpose flour and cornstarch 
is a good combination And we are also going to use   rice flour So rice flour is going to enhance that 
crispy and crunchiness of our chicken tenders Okay   And again the ingredients are in the description 
box below Mix that in And what what I like to do   guys like I said before in previous videos I 
like to use a spatula Make sure everything’s   mixed in You know fold it in So I start from 
the outside work my way in make sure you know   there’s nothing is separated Cuz sometimes what 
happens is when you use your spatula and you you   you go in and mix it mix it in You can see that 
the flour is not all the way mixed in properly   with the cornstarch and your other ingredients 
that you have So it’s good to use a spatula   just to make sure that everything’s worked in 
And what I’d like to do is go back in with my whisk Okay so our breading mixture is done 
Now it’s time to go ahead and bread and fry   our chicken tenders All right so these are the 
steps we’re going to go in We’re going to go   in from our marinade to our breading mixture 
into the pan So let’s go ahead and do that Okay guys our chicken tenders are breaded and 
you can see that the coating is sticking very   nicely to our tenders And so now it’s time 
to fry them All right so let’s go ahead and   get our chicken tenders cooked So we’re going to 
do our first batch As you can see that’s nicely coated So we’re just going to lay put it in 
and lay away Now these should only take about 5   minutes 5 to 8 minutes to cook but as like I said 
before our oil temp is going to go down and that’s normal Now I have a a 9 quart 
pan here What I mean is I have   a 9 quart pan here and I can put more 
chicken tenders in here at one time But   definitely try not to overcrowd your 
pan I’m going just do about one or two more So again we’re going to 
allow this to cook for about   5 to 8 minutes and we’ll see you back 
here around that time 5 minutes later   All right guys Our first batch of 
our first fry is done Let’s look at it All right Got some nice chicken tenders there 
Look at that one That’s really nice The crust   formed really nicely on this and it’s nice and 
crispy It looks nice and crunchy as well So let’s   go ahead and let these rest So we’re going to go 
ahead and take these out and put our next batch in Also guys as I’ve said in my previous 
videos when I before I put these chicken   tenders in or before you put chicken in 
when you’re frying always make sure the   temperature is raised past the temperature 
you’re targeting Because when you put the   chicken in there it’s going to make 
the temperature go down because now   the oil has to heat up the chicken to get 
it back up to temp That’s nice golden brown All right guys This is the first batch of the 
chicken that we’ve done I’m going to go ahead   and fry the rest and we’ll see you back here 
after I’m done All right guys We’ve finished   frying all of our chicken tenders Look how nice 
and golden brown they look Nice crispy crunchy   texture on them I can’t wait to bite into these 
All right so we just finished frying our chicken   and we let it rest for a few moments to cool 
off And now we’re checking the temperature You   see here that the temperature is about 185° So 
that’s good We know that the chicken needs to   be 165° to be labeled as done So our chicken is 
done Let’s check one more piece Check this one   Okay So again in the 190° area so our 
chicken is done So we’re ready to eat guys All right guys We finished frying 
our chicken tenders so let’s see how   they taste Okay moment of truth 
And we’re going to dip it in our sauce or ranch dip rather Look at that 
Looks nice don’t it let’s see if we get that crunch So we got the crunch people This is not 
over fried nicely seasoned nice and moist and   that dip really sets off the chicken That 
buttermilk ranch dip It’s really good So   this is a winner recipe guys I’m telling you 
really moist inside You have that crispiness   and that crunch I’m telling you this is a 
recipe that you’re going to grow and love   to enjoy Again from my kitchen to your kitchen 
Much love And remember fry hard and stay crispy We’ll see you later