Baked Chicken Strips for Recipe Friday

Usually when I make chicken strips I pan fry them. But that requires closely monitoring the frying process and if I am distracted by other things can lead to burned chicken strips. My family will still eat them slightly burned, but last night I didn’t want to take the chance because I was doing a bit of multi-tasking. So I made baked chicken strips instead. I’ve made these before, but I modified my usual recipe a bit and they turned out tender and better than usual.

I served these with ravioli and alfredo sauce from a jar, but you could serve them with just about anything you like to have with chicken strips. We like to dip them in ranch dressing, too.

Baked Chicken Strips

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs chicken tenders
3/4 cup dry Italian bread crumbs
1/4 cup olive oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°. Spray the bottom of a 13″ x 9″ baking pan with cooking spray. Put the bread crumbs in a shallow bowl. Roll each chicken tender in bread crumbs and place it in the bottom of the baking pan. Repeat with the rest of the chicken tenders. You should end up with one layer of chicken tenders very close and cozy in the pan. Sprinkle remaining bread crumbs over the top of the chicken. Put olive oil in a small bowl. With a basting brush, brush the olive oil evenly over the chicken tenders. Bake on center rack of oven for 30 – 35 minutes. At end of baking time, switch the oven to broil. Brown the tops of the chicken for about 5 minutes with the oven door open, keeping a close eye on them so they don’t burn. Remove from oven and serve with desired side dishes and dips.

Note about bread crumbs: I use Progresso bread crumbs, but you could use any dry bread crumbs. If you have only plain bread crumbs, add 1/2 tsp of oregano and 1/2 tsp of basil to the bread crumbs.