Air Fryer Pecan-Crusted Chicken Tenders

Make the best breaded chicken tenders on the planet with your air fryer! Made without deep frying or using oil, these chicken tenders come together with pecans, parmesan cheese, and breadcrumbs in an unforgettable combination! These pair perfectly with my crispy air fryer french fries and oven roasted vegetables!

One of my friends got me Reese Witherspoon's new book for Christmas. It's called Whisky In A Teacup and I absolutely love that darn book. Just like me, Reese is from Tennessee and her book just SCREAMS southern heritage. When I read it, I feel like I'm back at home in Tennessee on my front porch swing enjoying the summer nights.

In her book, Reese shares a lot of her family recipes and I've tried most of them. One recipe she shares is for her Pecan-Crusted Chicken Skewers. These are literally breaded chicken tenders on a stick. You may remember me talking about being on the fence about buying an air fryer back in this post, 13 Recipes That Will Convince You To Buy An Air Fryer. Well, I convinced myself and I bought it!

Oh my goodness - I love this thing!

So I decided to take Reese's chicken strip recipe and turn it into an air fryer recipe.

Why This Recipe Works:

• air fryer chicken strips are coated in the most flavorful ingredients,
• crunchy on the outside and tender and juicy on the inside,
• ready and on the table in 20 minutes!

What is Air Frying?

It's an amped up convection oven that works by circulating hot air up around your food. From there, it transforms the food into crispy yumminess without using a lot of oil. Philips Electronics Company originally patented it back in 2010.

Wow – has it really been around that long?

I'm telling you, it delivers the results of deep frying with only hot air and a tiny amount of oil, if any.

What is the Best Air Fryer?

I was on the fence for a long time before I bought mine, but it’s made dinners on busy nights so easy. I ended up getting a 5.8-Quart Cosori Air Fryer because it feeds 4-5 people so it comes in handy for my family. This particular one uses 360° air circulation technology which cuts down on a lot of fat from traditional deep frying.

Here’s why I love this one so much:

• Amazing quality.
• There are 11 presets which include vegetables, chicken, steak, breads, and more. So it does all the hard work for me.
• It was easy to figure out how to control the temperature and set the time.
• I’m kinda in love with this detachable basket. It’s nonstick and easily “clicks” into place. It’s also easy to separate with the release button technology. The design seems to be more sturdy and you can also clean both pieces in the dishwasher, which saves me time.

Ingredients You'll Need

What makes these air fryer chicken tenders stand out from the rest is the ingredients I use for the breading. Using mayonnaise and whole grain mustard as a base, I roll each raw chicken tender into a pecan, Parmesan cheese, and breadcrumb mixture.

We're talking crispy, crunchy, flavortown USA!

Let's jump into this recipe!

Step-by-Step Recipe Instructions

Rinse the chicken and pat it dry. Then, season the raw chicken tenderloins with a generous amount of salt and pepper. Expert Tip - I typically take a big pinch of salt and sprinkle it on the chicken. I then repeat with a big pinch of pepper.

Stir together the mayonnaise and whole grain mustard in a bowl.

Next, grab another shallow bowl and combine the pecan chips, breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, and chopped parsley. Stir together all the dry ingredients until well combined.

Coat each chicken tenderloin in the mayonnaise and mustard mixture until each one is well coated.

Take a pair on tongs and coat each tenderloin in the pecan breadcrumb mixture until the entire tender is thoroughly coated.

When all the tenders are breaded, place them in the pan. Place the pan in the air fryer and close.

Power on the air fryer and set it to the chicken setting. You'll see the chicken setting defaults to 360 degrees Fahrenheit.

Once it's on the chicken setting, the display screen is going to switch from 360 degrees Farenheit to 20 minutes.  Yep - 20 minutes! That's how long it takes to make these chicken tenders in the air fryer!!

When done, the timer will go off. Pull the handle and pull out the pan. You're going to find the most delicious chicken tenders waiting for you. Look at that crispy crust. All of this with NO OIL AND NO FRYING!

Expert Tips and FAQs

• I know a lot of people spray their fryer with cooking spray, but I've never had an issue with these sticking to the bottom of the pan. So there is no need to spray with cooking spray.
• There’s no need to preheat the fryer. Just turn it on and let it do it's thing!
• You can make a gluten free version of these tenders by using a gluten free breadcrumb. My favorite brand is Ian's Gluten Free Breadcrumbs.  If you're not gluten free, use your favorite breadcrumb.
• To reheat these tenders, you can warm them in the microwave for 30 seconds or reheat them in the oven. If you want to reheat these in the air fryer, set the temperature to 360 degrees for 7 minutes until heated through and crispy.
• My favorite brand of whole grain mustard is Maille Old Style Grain Dijon Mustard. My friend brought me a jar back from France and I've been a loyal fan ever since.

Dipping Sauces

Bring on the dipping sauces!! If you're anything like me, I love to dip chicken strips, chicken wings, and chicken nuggets into different dipping sauces. My homemade BBQ Sauce is amazing with its tangy yet sweet flavors. And pesto sauce. I love dipping just about anything in pesto sauce!

And of course you have the traditional dipping sauces like ranch, honey mustard, ketchup and blue cheese.

 

This is the most amazing air fryer chicken recipe! The appliance really does make cooking and clean up so much easier! And we all need a little bit of easy in our lives!

More Chicken Recipes You'll Love!

If you're anything like me, you love really good chicken recipes. I get sick of plain chicken...but my Lemon Butter Chicken is amazingly flavorful. It your looking to grill, this Greek Marinated Chicken is absolutely unforgettable...and it's healthy. Roasting a whole chicken is always a good idea and you're guaranteed some leftovers. This Roasted Apple Cider Spatchcock Chicken is topped with an apple cider gravy and is perfect for a nice family dinner.

If you loved this recipe, give it a star review! Also, snap a picture of your finished dish and share it with me on Instagram using the hashtag #recipesworthrepeating and tagging me @recipesworthrepeating.

• Recipe inspired by Whiskey In A Teacup
• Update Notes: This post was originally published in February 2019, but was re-published with updated step-by-step instructions, pictures and tips in March 2020.