Asian Lemon Chicken Tenders
A wonderful asian twist to your favorite chicken tenders, tossed in the most heavenly sweet, lemon glaze!
Remember those chicken tenders that you had as a child? Those thick, crisp strips of chicken that you’d dunk in ketchup? Well this is pretty much just like that, except it’s a million times better. And there’s no ketchup involved. Instead, these babies are slathered in the most amazing, sweet and tangy lemon glaze – a glaze so good, you’ll want to drink it!
Now these chicken strips have a simple flour-buttermilk-flour breading. You can use thin strips of chicken breasts or pre-cut chicken tenders. Either works amazingly well. From there, you’ll fry these bad boys until they’re golden brown. While that’s happening, you can go ahead and let that glaze simmer on and get nice and thick.
After all the chicken strips are fried, you’ll toss them in that heavenly glaze. From there, dinner is set! Now who still wants those boring ketchup-dunked chicken strips?
Asian Lemon Chicken Tenders
Ingredients
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup buttermilk
For the lemon glaze
- ½ cup honey
- ⅓ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup pineapple juice
- ¼ cup brown sugar, packed
- 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- To make the glaze, combine honey, soy sauce, pineapple juice, brown sugar, lemon juice, vinegar, olive oil, pepper and garlic powder in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until slightly thickened, about 10-12 minutes.
- Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.
- Season chicken with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Working one at a time, dredge chicken in flour, dip into buttermilk, then dredge in flour again, pressing to coat.
- Working in batches, add chicken to the skillet, 3 or 4 at a time, and cook until evenly golden and crispy, about 3-4 minutes on each side. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
- Serve immediately, drizzled with lemon glaze.
Did you make this recipe?
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Oh my gosh! These were scrumptious! Thank you so much for a super recipe. The sauce too was absolutely delicious. Every recipe that I have tried has turned out beautifully. Thanks Chungah.
Made this last night in Melbourne, Australia. Yum, yum, yum. My family LOVED it and have requested that it become a regular meal in our house. Wasn’t sure what ‘all purpose flour’ was, but found out it’s what we call ‘plain flour’. We don’t have kosher salt either, so if somebody could fill me in on what that is exactly I’d really appreciate it. Thanks so much for this great recipe 🙂
Kosher salt is a type of salt with a much larger grain size than some common table salt. I always call for this kind of salt in my recipes as it is much easier to pick up between your fingers and thus, gives you tighter control over your seasoning. That way, you can avoid accidentally over-salting your food.
I made this last night for my family and my kids said it was the best thing I’ve every made. haha. So here’s a tip for those that are saying it’s too watery. You need to simmer for quite a while. I think I ended up simmering it for closer to 20-25 min. There is literally a moment when it goes from watery to a thicker consistency. At some point, it will finally coat the back of a wooden spoon. You just need to be a little patient. Also, if you have young kids, I recommend making chicken chunks instead of strips. Makes it much easier for the little ones to eat. Cutting the finished strips into bite sized pieces for them just made the coating fall off and that’s no fun. Great recipe and I’ll definitely be making it again! Next time I’ll try it with hot peppers and more lemon juice.
Made these today for lunch for my family (my son helped) he fell in love with the picture. Did not have buttermilk on hand, just used regular milk – and added a little butter :), but they still turned out great – the sauce was fantastic. No leftovers. (Want to try with buttermilk as well).
Easy to prepare as well.
How To Make Buttermilk Substitute
Need buttermilk but forgot to buy it, or don’t need a whole container? …
Milk and Lemon Juice: Measure out a scant cup of whole or 2% milk and add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. …
Milk and White Vinegar: Measure out a scant cup of whole or 2% milk and add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar.
I LOVE your blog! I hate cooking but you give me hope (^_^)
Looks good & easy to prepare.
I’m thinking I can keep these a little healthier if I cook tenders using my grill pan, without the breading. Then coat them with the sauce. Mmmmm!
I just made this dish and it is wonderful. How long will the glaze keep in the refrig if I make it in advance? Thanks,
Ginny
It should keep for a couple of days.
I made the sauce before I left for work, but wanted to ask if I could let the chicken sit in the buttermilk for a few hours as well? I’m thinking it would be easier for me to leave it sitting in the buttermilk, then coat it in the flour once I get home?
Yes, that should work just fine.
Hi great recipe i just wanted to ask you if there is something else i can use instead of butter milk. Thanks 🙂
Anna, there are a few substitutes that can be used instead of buttermilk. Here’s an article you can check out: http://joythebaker.com/2013/11/baking-101-the-best-buttermilk-substitutes/.
In our case buttermilk isn’t something we buy weekly in our house. When we do, I put it to good use-cornbread (to go with our veggie chili) and some heavenly buttermilk pancakes my husband loves.
Just some suggestions…
We made this last night, and it was disappointing. we could hardly taste the lemon, the sauce was watery and did not cling to the chicken, and the soy sauce was overpowering (and I love soy sauce but this was supposed to be LEMON chicken, no?) It definitely needs tweaking – cornstarch would have helped thicken the sauce, but the flavor needs to be enhanced.
I’m sorry that this recipe did not turn out the way you had imagined. I only post recipes that have been successfully tested in my own kitchen, and as you can see from the comments here, many of these readers have had great outcomes in the final dish as well.
But with a little bit more information, we can troubleshoot what went wrong to have a successful turnaround next time. So I must ask – did you follow the recipe exactly as written without any substitutions? I also can’t imagine why the sauce would not cling to the chicken – the honey in the recipe would definitely help with that. And if you couldn’t taste the lemon, you can simply add more lemon juice, to taste.
THIS WAS AMAZING. I made chicken nuggets out of mine and put it over rice with some scallions on top and it was to die for. Sauce doesn’t get BBQ sauce thick, but all you need it to do it coat the outside of the chicken. So so wonderful. If everything else on this site is as good and simple as this, I am going to be in heaven.
This is the second recipe from this site I’ve made this week, and once again, it was damn delicious!
I made two minor changes: I used boneless skinless thighs and cut them into chunks, nugget-style; and I cut the amount of brown sugar in half because I really wanted a tart glaze. After cooking it, I did end up adding another teaspoon of honey to get some more sweetness and thickness into the glaze. It was delicious. I served it over steamed rice and made Asian green beans (just scalded the beans in a cast iron pan and added a little asian flavors). Husband loved it all.
Made this tonight…your name fits well….DAMN DELICIOUS!!!! The chicken was so crispy and the sauce was divine! Had it w/ a side of edamame. Perfect combo! Thanks for sharing.
I love your recipes, and your photos are outstanding! Thanks for many happy dinners in our house!!
ABSOLUTLY AMAZING!!! I made this tonight and my family and I were blown away by how awesome the sauce was!!! Thank you for sharing! I’m so full, but can’t stop eating 🙂 we paired it with fried rice. It was a perfect dinner!
Your blog is fabulous! I have never fried anything, but I have kids and so must try everything and find things everyone will eat. This looked great online and tasted fantastic. Loved the
syrup-y sauce flavor and thickness (not too thick). You’re my new best friend!! Refer to your site often.
Serioulsy I think this is the best lemon chicken recipe I’ve seen. NEED to make this… like NOW. Thanks for the share. New subscriber here. ^_^
I made this for dinner tonight and it was amazing! Thanks for sharing!
Just made this for our Sunday dinner, and the whole family jumped for joy and devoured it! Happy wife & mom here! 🙂