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This Air Fryer Chicken Tenders with no breading recipe uses three simple ingredients and comes together using sliced chicken breasts or chicken tenderloin strips. Perfect air fryer chicken recipe for weeknight dinners or meal prep.
Why Air Fry Chicken Tenderloins
There are so many reasons to make these air fryer naked chicken tenders. Here are my top three reasons:
- Chicken Tenders with No Breading: the best way to make keto chicken tenders is to skip the breading. This recipe does that, but doesn’t skimp on flavor because of my easy DIY chicken dry rub.
- Quick & easy recipe: this recipe is no-fuss, requiring just a few ingredients like my chicken dry rub and simple steps.
- Perfect as a snack or easy meal: Pair these with your favorite dipping sauce like chick-fil-a sauce, keto bbq sauce, or blue cheese dressing for a high-protein snack. You can also use these as a main dish in keto cobb salad or with any of these keto side dishes for chicken.
Ingredients Needed
You don’t need much to make these healthy air fryer chicken tenders.
- Raw Chicken Tenders: When making chicken tenders in the air fryer, I use chicken tenderloins or chicken breast sliced into thin strips.
- Chicken Dry Rub: I use this homemade spice blend in this recipe as well as my dry rub wings. It’s a complete spice blend that includes things like smoked paprika, garlic powder, black pepper, onion powder, cayenne pepper, chili powder, and thyme.
- Avocado oil: I use this for most air fryer recipes, but olive oil is another one of the best oils for air frying.
Be sure to check the recipe card at the bottom of the post for the exact ingredient amounts and full list of step-by-step instructions.
How to Make Chicken Tenders in an Air Fryer
The cooking process for this air fryer chicken tenders recipe is easy. Here are the key steps:
- Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel and add it to a large bowl with the dry rub and oil.
- Evenly coat the chicken with the seasoning and oil.
- Add the chicken tenders in a single layer to the air fryer basket.
- Air crisp on 400 for 5-6 min per side or until the tenders are cooked through.
Top Cooking Tips & FAQs
- Get variety by switching up the spice blend: You can switch this recipe up by using a range of homemade spice blends from the site. Some of my favorites for air fryer chicken tenders would be: bbq seasoning and cajun seasoning.
- Pop open your lid and check the tenders: the cook time will vary based on their size. Start checking them for doneness at the 10 minute mark.
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Variations
Even though I use a dry rub, there are different ways to adjust this recipe. Here are some other seasoning options:
- Cajun Chicken Tenders: use your favorite cajun seasoning blend in place the dry rub for cajun flavors!
- Four Spice Chicken Tenders: mix Italian Seasoning, garlic powder, salt, and onion powder like I did in my seared chicken breast recipe
- Buffalo Chicken Tenders: use 1 tbsp of the spice blend and top the finished chicken tenders with buffalo sauce.
- BBQ Chicken Tenders: swap the spice mix and use my bbq seasoning along with your favorite bbq sauce including my sugar-free bbq sauce.
Storage & Leftovers
Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
The cooking time takes about 10-12 minutes.
I use 400 degrees to air fry chicken, including these chicken tenders.
Unbreaded chicken tenders take about 12 minutes to cook in the air fryer.
Recipes to Enjoy This With
Turn these air fryer chicken tenderloins into a complete meal with these side dishes:
- Air Fryer Frozen Green Beans
- Keto Chicken Cobb Salad [+VIDEO]
- Best Air Fryer Vegetable Recipes
- Best Keto Coleslaw Recipe [+VIDEO]
More Air Fryer Chicken Tender Recipes
Make more chicken strips in an air fryer with these recipes. I’ve sorted them into two groups: options with breading and some without it.
Recipes without Breading
- Air Fryer Buffalo Chicken Tenders
- Air Fryer BBQ Tenders
Recipes with Breading
- Nashville Hot Chicken Tenders: this recipe uses any crispy chicken tenders. To keep it low carb, be sure to use your favorite brown sugar substitute in the sauce.
- Air Fryer Frozen Chicken Tenders: this option is perfect for the whole family, but especially great for kiddos!
- Paleo Air Fryer Chicken Tenders: these breaded tenders use pistachio for the crust. So, its perfect for keto and paleo!
If you try this recipe, please stop back and leave it a star rating and/or a review in the comments. Stay connected & share photos of your creations with me & others on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest!
Air Fryer Chicken Tenders No Breading
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Recommended Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 lb Chicken Tenders, raw, chicken tenderloins or chicken breasts sliced into strips
- 2 tbsp Best Chicken Dry Rub Seasoning, click for recipe, or use bbq seasoning
- 2 tbsp Avocado oil, or olive oil
Instructions
- Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel.
- Add the chicken to a large bowl.
- Add the dry rub and oil to the bowl with the chicken. Then, evenly coat the chicken with the seasoning and oil.
- Add the chicken to the air fryer cooking basket.
- Air crisp on 400 for 5-6 min per side or until the tenders are cooked through.
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Nutrition Details
The nutrition facts come from entering the recipe ingredients into Spoonacular API, a database of food ingredients. They may vary for any recipe based on the exact product used.
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