4 Levels of Chicken Tenders: Amateur to Food Scientist

[crunching] [sizzling]

[upbeat rock music]

I am Onika and I'm a level one chef.

I'm Emily and I'm a level two chef.

My name is Chef Joshua.

I'm a lead chef at the Institute of Culinary Education,

and I've been a professional chef for over a decade.

[music continues]

I'm making cereal-crusted chicken tenders

with a creamy dipping sauce.

I'm making spicy chicken tenders

with chicken thighs and homemade ranch dressing.

I'm making a barbecue spice fried chicken tender strip,

and I'm serving with a hot honey dipping sauce.

[music continues]

When you think chicken tenders,

you probably think specifically the breast

a lot of the time,

but I'm gonna use chicken thighs.

Why use chicken thighs?

They're moist! They're delicious.

So I have pre-cut chicken tenders

because that's how they come in the supermarket.

I don't understand why you would do anything else.

So I'm gonna put them in the water

and then I'm gonna use some of God's Elixir.

Vinegar cleans everything.

Just wash your chicken.

[Joshua] The plan is to remove the tender

from the backside of the chicken,

which has a tendon that runs through the middle of it.

Then I'm gonna cut my chicken breast

down to equal-sized strips

so that it represents the size of a tender.

[Emily] Trying to keep the skin on as much as possible.

The skin will help it hold the batter

and also taste delicious.

[Onika] I'm patting them dry

so they can really take in all the seasoning

that I'm going to give it.

Now I'm gonna brine 'em!

Now I'm gonna throw together a quick little spice mix.

This spice mix is basically a dry barbecue rub.

Smoked paprika for a little bit of smokiness,

some dark brown sugar, black pepper,

cumin for a little bit of warming spice

without a spice note,

kosher salt because everything needs salt,

oregano, and cayenne for just a little bit of heat,

but we're gonna kick up the spice later too.

This spice mix is gonna be smoky, spicy,

it's gonna have a little bit of sweetness.

I want it to soak up the flavor overnight,

so I'm gonna put it in a brine.

The chicken thigh is already pretty moist,

but I'm going to brine them in some pickle brine

because it'll add a little more moisture

and some flavor to my chicken tenders.

I like the idea of providing a little bit of acidity

into your brine so that way it helps cut through

whatever types of sauce that you're working with.

Nothing fancy in this liquid.

I'm literally just using pickle juice

straight out of the jar.

The buttermilk has cultured enzymes in it,

which is gonna actually break down

and tenderize the chicken a little bit more overnight.

The Coca-Cola is gonna add in some more sweetness

and it's going to help break down the chicken

a little bit more overnight as well.

Yeah, Coca-Cola!

You know you can clean a carburetor with it?

Coca-Cola is not traditionally used

in a chicken tender brine, but I like to elevate it

and do something a little different with it.

Now I'm gonna wrap this up

and put it in the fridge overnight

to let the brine do its thing.

I want the chicken to soak up all that flavor

and get nice and tender.

I'm gonna let this sit for a couple of hours

so I don't get fully pickled chicken

but the flavor gets in there

and then I will bread it and fry it.

Next up, I'm gonna get my seasoning and my dredge!

You would think of chicken tenders as kid's food.

Chicken tenders are for everyone.

I'm going to bring in the Bisquick and the Cap'n Crunch

to give it a sweetness, the kid nostalgia.

I haven't tried cereal and Bisquick on chicken before,

but I am willing to, if anyone has any to spare.

It's gonna be like chicken tenders on steroids.

Just watch.

So for my dry ingredients,

I'm going to add flour with cornstarch.

Cornstarch just makes it, like, a little crispier

and also, like, a little lighter.

That's in my head.

I don't know if that's really true.

And then we've got smoked paprika, garlic powder,

lots of cayenne, I want these kind of hot,

and then black pepper, just ground,

just a pinch of salt to that also.

This is already pretty salty

between the dill pickle brine

and the hot sauce in the liquid,

so we don't want it to go crazy with the salt.

So let's get into crunching our captain!

[loud thuds]

This feels good, I swear.

Better than CrossFit.

Cap'n Crunch, done. Next up, Bisquick.

[Emily] For my wet ingredients,

I have buttermilk and hot sauce.

So I'm using Bisquick

because it's gonna give it a different sweetness

than the Cap'n Crunch.

This is the secret.

This is the one you need to have.

This is the one that got away.

[singing] Shake it, baby, now!

Little black pepper, the smidgiest of salt, eggs,

and just twist, twist, twist.

And I'm seasoning my eggs

because we're adding flavor to every step of this journey.

I'm gonna dip my chicken tender into the Bisquick first,

and then I'm just going to go down the line

and boom, boom, pow, boom, boom, pow, boom, boom, pow,

and we're gonna make music.

So my chicken's been marinating for about 24 hours.

I took it out of the fridge about an hour ago,

so that way it comes up closer to room temperature,

which is gonna ensure that it cooks more evenly

and it cooks quickly.

I'm gonna take some of my leftover barbecue spice mix

and add it into some AP flour.

By doing this, I make sure that my chicken is seasoned

on the inside, it's seasoned on the outside,

and then it complements the sauce as well.

Take my chicken, I'm gonna put it in my seasoned Bisquick,

and then I'm gonna put it in my egg.

And then it already looks like fried chicken.

It looks like it's almost done.

It's just rinse and repeat.

[Emily] All right, so I'm gonna take my chicken

out of the brine and put it into my wet ingredients,

then my dry ingredients, dredging it,

and then I will drop it on this pan.

Put it into my dry dredge

and make sure that everything is thoroughly coated.

Then I'm actually gonna repeat the process

by putting it back in the brine

and then in the dredge one more time.

This makes sure that my chicken has a nice,

dense, thick coating

without having to add in a bunch of extra ingredients.

I get to be like a kid and that feels good in your spirit.

We lose that when we get older.

We're like, don't wanna mess up things

but why not mess up things?

My chicken tenders are ready for the fryer.

These guys look good.

All dredged up.

Time to get them in the fryer as quickly as possible.

So I'm gonna fry my chicken tenders.

So I can see that they're sizzling,

the oil is nice and hot.

By deep frying the chicken,

I'm gonna make sure that my chicken cooks quickly,

browns evenly, and gets crispy all the way around

because it's by far the best way

that you can cook chicken tenders.

I am basically just looking for them to get golden brown,

and then I want them to be 165 in the middle.

But I'm choosing to fry them

because it's definitely the most delicious way

to eat a chicken tender.

Okay, so my hands look a mess.

My chicken looks better,

so I'm gonna throw these in the oven

and while I'm doing that, I'm gonna call my homegirl back

and I'm gonna throw some shade.

When you oven-bake chicken,

there's a good chance you're not gonna get

as crispy of a crunchy coating on the outside of it.

I like to make sure

that the chicken has a beautiful crunch factor.

All that sound, that bubble action,

is exactly what I'm looking for on this chicken.

I like to use the tweezers.

If I was to use tongs,

you're gonna end up crunching and breaking that crust

that you've worked so hard to develop.

[Emily] Golden brown, crispy.

Oh, look at them!

So pretty!

They look beautiful.

They actually look like fried chicken.

Look at that color.

We're not even there yet,, and that is looking so beautiful.

The only problem with deep frying is I have to stand here

and watch this cook and I can't eat it yet.

So all my chicken is now beautiful golden brown.

I've got excellent crust on it.

I'm just gonna hit them

with one last little bit of seasoning in the bowl,

[Joshua and Emily] a little bit of- Salt.

[Joshua] And some of my leftover barbecue spice.

They look golden, they look crispy, they look delicious.

I am very much looking forward to eating them.

I just need to throw together my dipping sauce

so I can put them in my mouth.

You've been to a barbecue.

So I just grabbed all the condiments, right,

and I was like, you know what I could do?

I could put them together and I'll make a sauce.

That's part of the Black girl magic, we just make up [beep].

So I like a nice cooling ranch, but I like to make my own.

It's just a little nicer.

It's, like, a little fancier.

I love hot honey with chicken tenders.

I'm gonna start with a cold pan

because I don't want my honey to burn when we add it in.

I'm gonna add in my hot sauce.

The spicy notes are gonna work

with the barbecue seasoning.

Some red pepper flakes.

[Emily] So the first thing I'm gonna do

is I think chop my chives, just so they're ready to go.

This is the everything sauce,

and I feel like the baseline is always the-

[Onika and Emily] Mayo.

And then you just top it off from there.

[humming to self]

And then it's ketchup, relish.

Trust the process!

This is my elixir.

Splash of buttermilk, sour cream,

even more tang from my lemon juice.

I'm definitely, like, a tangy person flavor-wise.

Mixing all my sort of base ingredients together

and now you get to flavor it up.

I'm gonna start with my chives.

Right now it's sort of sour cream and onion,

but wait, there's more!

Dill, classic, but also goes great

with my pickle brined chicken tenders.

[Onika] People can go off on the-

[Onika and Emily] Onion powder.

[Onika] Always-

[Onika and Joshua] Cayenne pepper.

The apple cider vinegar is gonna help

cut the sweetness of the sauce.

So these ingredients may not look like they go together,

but they hit.

Look at it.

A scoot of garlic powder, dried parsley,

and then I'm going to hit this with salt, pepper.

I'm gonna bring this up to a quick boil.

It's not going to cook for an extended period of time.

I just want all the flavors to melt in evenly.

Now that my mixture is boiled, I'm just gonna let it settle

and let all those flavors melt together.

It's got this nice, beautiful orange color to it.

You get those nice, beautiful flecks

of the pepper flake in there,

So it's creamy on your tongue

and then relish does a little [clicks tongue],

makes it tart,

and then the ketchup gives it the sweetness.

It's all the things.

That's delicious, and ranch.

Turned up a notch.

I'm gonna dunk my chicken tenders in this

and then I'm gonna maybe dunk my face in it after that.

[bell chimes]

So now I'm ready to plate these babies up!

And that is what we're looking for for plating.

[Onika] I'm gonna make it look like angel wings.

Now, these started out as thighs,

but now they really look like chicken tenders, right?

Right? Right.

It's got a little tinge of the red

that comes out from that barbecue spice.

Look at that!

They look amazing.

They're gonna taste even better.

And these are my chicken tenders.

[camera flashes]

These are my beautiful, stunning,

excellent chicken tenders

with a homemade ranch dipping sauce.

[camera flashes]

These are my chicken tenders

with a hot honey dipping sauce.

[camera flashes]

[gentle music]

[humming to self]

It's crispy.

I can smell all the spices that are in there.

The smoked paprika, the cumin is really coming through.

I am so pumped to eat these!

Please let me try them now.

Mm, look at that.

Cheers!

Mm.

I'm gonna need a moment. Hold on.

I cannot describe it.

You have to try it in order to know what I'm talking about,

but it's amazing.

It's crispy, it's juicy, it's just delicious,

and you get, like, just that little hint of pickle flavor

in a way that I think is really nice.

It's got just the right amount of seasoning on there.

The barbecue flavor comes through,

but where it really excels

is when you get that sweetness of the honey.

The Cap'n Crunch just brings it to another level,

and then the the sauce just gives the cream

and the sweet and the spicy

and the tartness of the pickle relish.

It's everything.

This is everything chicken.

And my ranch is super ranched up.

just pairs perfectly with these chicken tenders,

which I'm gonna continue eating while we talk.

Mm, and this is it, I'm done.

Cut!

[loud thud]

Chicken tenders are so tasty and versatile.

Let's see how each of our three chefs made theirs.

[ominous music]

Onika used ready-made tenderloins,

a strip of muscle that is attached

to the underside of the breast.

It's boneless skinless white meat

and naturally very tender, hence the name.

Emily shaped thigh meat.

This meat is fattier with a slight mineral taste

because it's higher in myoglobin,

a pigment in meat that makes it darker.

She brined her chicken thigh tenders in pickle juice,

a great way to use a product

that otherwise might be thrown out.

Emily did a quick brine,

so it was more for flavor than to increase tenderness.

Joshua removed the tenders

and soaked them in seasoned buttermilk

and Coca-Cola for 24 hours.

The Coca-Cola imparts more acid than the buttermilk

and also has a lot of sugar,

tenderizing his chicken tenders.

[dramatic music]

Onika kept it simple but tasty

and mixed her ingredients together.

The ketchup and mayonnaise base

gave a sweet, tangy richness to her sauce.

Emily also mixed her ingredients together,

making a sauce reminiscent of ranch dressing.

The sour cream, buttermilk, and squeeze of lemon juice

conveyed notes of citric and lactic acid

and balanced the seasoning she added.

Joshua made a hot honey

that captured so many layers of flavor,

sweet from the honey, sour and salty notes from vinegar,

and even got our trigeminal sensations going

with a spicy capsaicin

from the hot sauce and cayenne pepper.

What a wonderful finish.

Our three fabulous chefs put together

some inventive chicken tender recipes.

Next time you're making this tasty treat,

we hope you'll take some of these delicious tips.