Faux Fried Chicken Tenders

I am consistently making recipes that are baked chicken that is supposed to taste like fried chicken.

I know, I'm repetitive. Sorry. BUT--this recipe is the closest I have ever come to making baked chicken tenders that taste like the fried kind that you can get at virtually any restaurant/diner. They're, like, SUPER good. Especially when you serve them with mashed potatoes. Then it's just Southern comfort.*

*from a Yank who has never spent any significant time in the South. 

I'm having some troubles with my meal-making game, y'all. I'm just....uninspired for the most part. I know that Michael and I need to eat (things that aren't cookies) but I get so lazy and so like "blahhhh" when it comes to me making us something. I'm not sure what it is but I have got to snap out of it!

These chicken tenders and potatoes were the first legit. meal I'd made in awhile. It was pretty nice. I should really get my heiney in gear and make these things occur more frequently (Michael would certainly be grateful).

And if you want to know how these chicken tenders taste-um...awesome? They're moist and flavorful-with just a hint of spice. You can also absolutely mix things up with the seasonings (I adjusted the original recipe slightly for my own palate--I can't deal with very spicy things so I significantly decreased the spicy factor. Feel free to re-up it if that's your thing!)

I think these will be made fairly frequently around these parts from now on!

Cheddar Crusted Chicken Fingers

Ok, I know sometimes I can be kind of ditsy but...

correct me if I'm wrong...

it is MARCH, correct??

Yes? Yes.

That's what I thought.

Someone please tell the weather. Because I am looking out the window at a bunch of snow. And it's not Ok.

(Well...I was when I was writing this. Snow doesn't generally last long in NYC. It's still cold, though!)

SPRING! WHERE YA AT?

Ah well, I'll just have to cook myself some food to comfort my snow woes.

And we all know...

I love chicken.

And it had been awhile since I'd tried a new baked chicken recipe! These are great because they have cheese, like, in their breading. Which adds the wonderful smoky goodness of cheese to these awesomely crisp, baked chicken fingers. For serious, who needs a deep fryer? Not me!

Baked Parmesan Chicken "Fries"

....

..

.

I have some chicken for you.

(somewhere Jen is squealing in delight)

But like...Ok...let me take you on a journey.

Imagine those thin, super crispy, extra delicious chicken tenders that you get at like...a carnival or a pizza place or something. Remember how salty and chicken-y and gloriously fried they are.

Now imagine that you can have that chicken at your house. And it takes you less than an hour to make them. And they're not fried, but baked. So your arteries thank you.

Do you like this scenario? 

Me too.

It's like if chicken fingers were french fries, ya know?

Seriously, one of my favorite new recipes. Michael wholeheartedly approves too. So...ya. 

Chickennnn.

Crunchy Cornflake Chicken Fingers

Ahh, things have calmed down about here now.

I had a lot of fun :).

But now-back to business!

I get along great with kids. Give me a 5 year old little girl and I will talk about princesses, play Barbie's, dress-up, and commiserate about how grown ups eat yucky foods and chicken fingers are where it's at.

True story.

It's sort of hilarious, because when I was young and my family would go out to eat you could 99% of the time count on my brother ordering chicken fingers and me ordering a burger. Times have changed. I still love burgers, but I'm much more picky about them now, so if being cautious I err on the side of chicken.

I love chicken fingers. But...I'm not so into frying food at home, if I'm going to eat something fried I might as well just order it from somewhere. So I've accumulated a few baked chicken tender recipes. These are, so far, my favorite. Jessica is the queen of baked chicken finger recipes! These are crunchy, moist, and the cornflakes really add something special to the flavor. I love these and I suggest-whether you have little ones or just like to eat like one-that you try these. Stat. 

Cook Yourself Thin Chicken Tenders

You know what's hilarious?

When I speak to people I know in real life, and this blog is brought up, they always say, 

"You post the most delicious things! Poor thing, it must be so hard not to eat them."

To which I respond, "Uh....I eat pretty much everything I put on the blog. If it's a dessert I probably eat almost all of it."

Then they look at me in confusion.