Oven Baked Chicken Tenders

We eat a lot of chicken so I’m always trying to come up with new ways to serve it.  This week I tried my hand at oven baked chicken tenders.  As much as I love deep fried chicken tenders we all know it’s not a good idea to eat them as often as I would like.  Oven baked tenders doesn’t give you all the yummy greasy-ness and thick crispy crust that you get at Raising Cain’s but at least your health conscience side can feel good about it.

Ingredients:

1-2 lbs. chicken breast cut into tender size strips
1 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup almond meal
1/2 grated parmesan cheese
zest from 1/2 an orange
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground pepper
1 egg, beaten
2 Tbs. water

1.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Generously spray a foil lined baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray.  Combine all dry ingredients in a shallow bowl, mix well.  Combine egg and water in a second shallow bowl to create an egg wash.

2.  Dip chicken in egg wash then dip in bread crumb mixture.  Generously coat the chicken and pat bread crumbs on to chicken to get a nice coating.  Repeat with all the chicken strips and arrange on baking sheet in a single layer.

3.  Bake at 450 for 15 minutes.  Flip strips over and bake for 15 minutes more.

In the days since eating this meal I’ve decided that I need to figure out how to duplicate the Raising Cain’s sauce.  I’ve been concocting a recipe in my head and so far I’ve come up with ketchup, mayo, Lawry’s season salt and a dash of paprika.

What’s your favorite chicken tender condiment?