Sheet Pan Chicken Tenders

with hot honey ranch

Next up for Seven Sauces for Summer is a hot honey ranch, paired with baked chicken tenders. (I know it’s already September and pumpkin spice is back on the shelves in the stores, but it’s still 95 F Degrees in Texas and so I’m still cooking like it’s summer.) I grill a lot of chicken thighs, chicken breasts, and chicken skewers, but sometimes I need to mix it up with kid-friendly chicken tenders. I’m not one to buy frozen nuggets, so this is as close to that as my kids will get.

Normally, I bread the chicken with seasoned flour and panko by coating it with scrambled egg. But when I first made this dinner, I was out of eggs. So, after I lightly coated each chicken tender with seasoned flour and placed them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper, I sprayed both sides of the tenders with an avocado oil spray. Then, I coated each tender in the panko. It felt a bit quicker, a little less messy, and, overall, a more lightly breaded chicken. A win-win!

This is a dinner you can easily get on the table in 30 minutes start-to-finish. Pair the chicken tenders with any roasted veggies that you can roast on a separate sheet pan at the same time. My pro tip is don’t forget to line your sheet pans with parchment paper for an easy clean up. Make the ranch dip while the chicken is cooking in the oven. Feel free to skip the red pepper flakes if you don’t like spice, and omit the honey if you just want a basic ranch. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lb chicken tenders

• ¾ cup panko

• ¼ cup flour

• 1 tsp paprika

• 1 tsp pink Himalayan salt

• Freshly ground black pepper

• Avocado oil spray

For the hot honey ranch:

• ½ cup plain, full fat, Greek yogurt

• 2 Tbsp milk + ½ tsp lemon juice (or 2 Tbsp buttermilk)

• 2 Tbsp fresh chives, chopped (or 2 tsp dried)

• 1 tsp dried parsley

• 1 tsp dried dill

• ½ tsp garlic powder

• ½ tsp onion powder

• ½ tsp pink Himalayan salt + more to taste

• 1 Tbsp honey (omit for a basic ranch)

• 2 tsp red pepper flakes (omit for a basic ranch)

• Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Line baking tray with parchment paper for an easy clean-up.

2. In a small bowl, mix flour with salt, pepper and paprika. In a separate small bowl add panko and set aside.

3. To coat the chicken, dredge each side of the tenders into the flour mixture. Place on the lined baking tray. Spray all tenders with avocado oil spray, then flip them over to spray the other side.

4. Dredge each side of the chicken tenders in panko bread crumbs and lay them back down on the baking sheet.

5. Bake for 20 minutes. Feel free to also add any prepared vegetables on a separate baking tray in the oven at the same time.

6. While the chicken bakes, make your hot honey ranch dressing by whisking together the yogurt, milk, lemon juice, honey, fresh chopped chives, red pepper flakes, and dried herbs. Add any additional salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.