These baked paleo chicken tenders are crispy, full of flavor and SO easy to make! Dinner is ready in less than 30 minutes and everyone will be happy! Gluten-Free, Paleo, Low Carb
Good morning friends, or if you are on the east coast by this time it's good afternoon, or really whenever you are reading this I hope you are having a good day. Man, I'm BEHIND today!
Mostly because I slept in till 815 am this morning. Yesterday our family left, which was a little sad but they will be back in a couple of weeks so it wasn't too bad.
My nephew is two, and he is HYSTERICAL and darling, except when he starts screaming at 5 am every morning. Toddlers don't have inside voices, they have one level of loud and louder.
Don't get me wrong, I still dream of a house full of children of our own someday, but for now, I'm going to enjoy the perks of not having any yet, like as much sleep as possible.
Speaking of my nephew, it was fun (once I had sufficient amounts of coffee) to try out new recipes and have him try them. Turns out in toddler land I'm a pretty good cook, who knew?
I mean almost all toddlers like chicken fingers, but he liked almost everything I fed him, which I considered a HUGE win! This recipe is based on my oven fried chicken drumsticks recipe, one of Mr. Hungry's absolute FAVORITES.
I skipped the marinating step and they still came out great. When I made these I made a non-spicy version for my nephew and a spicy version for the adults, so I've included both below. (PS If you have an air fryer, you can find the directions to make these in the air fryer here!)
Both paleo chicken tender versions got demolished by the family and they loved how easy they were to whip up, it's basically a homemade shake and bake version for chicken fingers! I have a feeling this one is going to become a regular on our meal rotation!
Alright, I'm out. Today on the agenda is getting all the normal blog, teaching, and client stuff done.
Then, I've got a ton of work to do on a special project which I will be announcing next week. I can't wait to tell you guys all about it, it's going to be epic and perfect for those of you looking for a refresh come this January! Stay tuned!
Oven-Fried Paleo Chicken Tenders
[clickToTweet tweet="#paleo #glutenfree oven-fried chicken fingers - a #healthy #lowcarb dinner win in 30 minutes!" quote="#paleo #glutenfree oven-fried chicken fingers - a #healthy #lowcarb dinner win in 30 minutes!"]
Oven-Fried Paleo Chicken Tenders
Ingredients
Spicy Version:
- 1 lbs chicken tenders I get mine from ButcherBox
- 1 cup almond MEAL not flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ½ teaspoon ground white pepper
- ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
Non Spicy Version
- 1 lbs chicken tenders I get mine from Butcher Box
- 1 cup almond MEAL not flour
- 1.5 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
- ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450F
- Add chicken tenders to a large ziplock bag. Combine 1 cup almond meal and seasonings in a small bag or bowl. Pour seasonings over chicken into the large bag. Seal the large bag shut and shake till all the chicken is well coated. Lightly shake off excess coating and place on a lightly sprayed parchment lined baking sheet. If you want crispier tenders you can set them on an oven-safe cooling rack. (I have done this in the past but usually, I skip it because it’s just something else to wash.)
- Lightly coat chicken with cooking spray. Bake at 450F for 25 minutes or until done, turning after 15 minutes.
Nutrition
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deb says
Hi, how does the coating stick to the chicken without any milk or egg?
Thanks,
Deb
Kelli Shallal MPH RD says
such a good question and I should have written about it in the post! I had ZERO problems with the coating sticking and I've made this recipe four times now. I learned this one night when I was in a hurry and didn't have time to marinate it. As long as you don't rinse your chicken you shouldn't have any problems with the coating sticking to the chicken. (Which the CDC says you shouldn't wash your chicken anyway, it doesn't get rid of any germs and it increases potential contamination throughout the kitchen.) I'm not sure if this is specific to almond meal (versus regular flour) but it definitely works!
deb says
Awesome, thanks for the quick reply! Love your site and all your recipes and cannot wait to make this for my kids!!
Deb
Rebecca says
Made these tonight and my whole family loved it! I didn’t have almond meal, so I decided to try almond flour and they still turned out great! Planning on getting some almond meal in the future though to try them again. Thank you for this amazing recipe! 🙂
Kelli Shallal MPH RD says
Thank you so much for sharing! I always wondered if almond flour would work in a pinch, glad to hear it did!
Leslie Donovan says
Can I freeze them in the bag after I mix it all together and bake later?? Thanks
Leslie
Kelli Shallal MPH RD says
Yes! You can find the full instructions to do that in this post: https://hungryhobby.net/meal-prep-frozen-chicken-fingers/
CJ says
Hi, these sound delicious. The recipe says to bake for 25 minutes or until done, and turn at 25 minutes. Wondering if it should say to turn at 12 minutes?
Kelli Shallal MPH RD says
Yes! You are exactly right! I'll update it right now, thanks for letting me know. The entire recipe takes 25 minutes, you turn half way through! Let me know how you like them.