These Healthy Chicken Tenders use almond flour for the breading making them paleo and keto friendly! For extra crispy tenders, make them in the air fryer. But they can also be baked in the oven! Easy family friendly meal.
Jump to:
What You'll Need for these Paleo Chicken Tenders:
- Chicken Tenders or Chicken Breasts sliced into tenders
- Almond Flour
- Spices: Italian seasoning, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, salt & pepper.
- Eggs
- Cooking Spray
How to make them and FAQs:
Air Fryer Directions
Are you an Air Fryer user? I love how quickly it cooks food and without the need to heat up the oven! It's an awesome tool for a quick meal.
- Place the breaded tenders in your air fryer basket that has been sprayed with cooking spray. I like to give a quick spray to the tenders themselves too.
- Then into the "fryer" they go at 400ºF for 10 minutes. They will be beutifully golden brown and crispy.
Oven Directions
There are 2 perfectly acceptable reasons to make these in the oven
- You don't have an air fryer.
- You DO have an air fryer but you want to make a BIG batch of these tenders and don't want to do multiple batches in your air fryer.
- Place your tenders on a cookie sheet that is either sprayed with cooking spray or lined with parchment paper. I like to spray the tenders themselves to help them brown.
- Bake at 400ºF for 20 - 25 minutes until golden, crispy, and cooked through.
How long do the leftovers last? Do they stay crispy?
Leftovers can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. The almond flour crust will lose its crispness, but you can reheat in the oven or air fryer to get some of the crunch back.
Try These Dipping Sauce Recipes:
- Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce - from Love Bakes Good Cakes
- Keto Spicy Barbecue Sauce - from Low Carb Africa
- Bang Bang Sauce - from Aubrey's Kitchen
Like this recipe? Sign up for my e-mail list so you get a weekly e-mail with new recipes from the week as well as occasional ‘bonus’ content not found on the blog! AND receive a copy of my FREE MINI EBOOK! E-mail list sign up!
Those ads on the page? A portion of all ad revenue is being donated to Warrior Dog Rescue. A MN-based dog rescue that I foster and volunteer with.
PrintRecipe
Healthy Chicken Tenders - Air Fryer or Oven
These Healthy Chicken Tenders use almond flour for the breading making them paleo and keto friendly! For extra crispy tenders, make them in the air fryer. But they can also be baked in the oven! Easy family friendly meal.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 servings
- Category: Air Fryer, Main Dish
- Method: Air Fryer, Oven
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lbs Chicken Tenders, or chicken breasts cut into tenders
- 2 Eggs
- 1 cup Almond Flour
- 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
- 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 1 teaspoon Paprika
- ½ teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
- ½ teaspoon Garlic Powder
- ½ teaspoon Onion Powder
- Cooking Spray
Instructions
Bread the Tenders
- Prepare the Breading. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs. In a second medium bowl whisk the almond flour and spices.
- Prepare the Tenders. Pat the chicken tenders dry with a paper towel. Season with salt and pepper.
- Dredge Tenders. First, dip a tender in the egg mixture then dredge in the almond flour mixture, making sure the entire surface is covered - pressing almond flour onto the chicken, if needed. Set aside onto a plate and repeat with all tenders.
Air Fryer Instructions
- Prepare Air Fryer. Preheat your air fryer to 400ºF. Spray the basket with cooking spray and place as many tenders in the basket that will fit, as long as they don’t touch. Spray tenders with cooking spray to lightly coat.
- Air Fry. Air fry for 10 minutes, flipping halfway through. The tenders will be golden brown and read 165ºF as their internal temperature. Repeat until all tenders are cooked.
Oven Instructions
- Preheat Oven. Preheat oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or spray with cooking spray.
- Bake. Place the tenders on your baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes then flip chicken over and cook for another 10-12 minutes until golden brown and fully cooked through (165ºF).
Notes
Try to use tender (or chicken breasts sliced) that are similar sizes so they cook evenly.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: ¼ of recipe
- Calories: 367
- Sugar: 1.2 g
- Sodium: 856.6 mg
- Fat: 9.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 6.5 g
- Fiber: 1.5 g
- Protein: 40.4 g
- Cholesterol: 175.4 mg
Taylor says
Can these be frozen?
Kathleen says
Yes! I recommend flash freezing on a sheet pan before transferring to a freezer bag. They should keep in the freezer for up to 3 months. I recommend reheating in the oven or air fryer to crisp up the breading again.
Danna Humphries says
The taste was wonderful!! The only problem was they really did not crisp up like I thought they should.
Kathleen says
Thank you for your comment! I do find that they crisp up the most in the air fryer (vs the oven), but of course it's hard to replicate the crisp and crunch of your typical fried chicken fingers when using these healthier swaps. Glad you liked the taste!
Becca says
I was so excited to see these were made with almond flour as I am currently gluten-free. I've always been nervous about cooking raw chicken in the air fryer but they turned out perfectly! Thanks so much!
Kathleen says
Yay! I'm so glad they turned out well for you. Thank you for your comment 🙂