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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Can i just use pineapple juice (left over) from canned one? I will make upside down pineapple cake using can but wont use those juice. Or should I just go get a bottle of pineapple juice.
Yes, Cloey, you can use pineapple juice from a can. That’s actually what I used myself.
This was really good. I used orange/pineapple juice and next time I will use 1 tbs. vinegar instead of 2 and a little cornstarch to thicken it up. I dipped the chicken in beaten eggs then flour and fried in peanut oil. I had sauce left over and will use this for a dipping sauce for chicken potstickers!!
This looks amazing. I will be making this recipe tonight. This isn’t the first recipe I’ve found from you on Pinterest that I’ve wanted to try. I’ll take this as a sign that I need to be following you all the time now!
These look absolutely amazing and I think I will make them tonight!! I would like them a little spicy, would you recommend adding red pepper flakes to the glaze?? Thanks!
I recommend adding a bit of Sriracha for some heat.
Made these last night & oh my!! Came out fabulous!!! Thank you for sharing the recipe!
I made this recipe, it was so delicious .My daughter loved this chicken.Thank you for this wonderful dish.
I can’t wait to try these! We really love spicy things though, so I think I might have to divide the glaze & make half a batch of fingers w/ the original glaze & maybe add sriracha to the other half! My mouth is watering just thinking about this, and my daughter, whose favorite food is “hot chicken fingers” will love them! Thank you for sharing!
That Sriracha addition sounds amazing. I’ll have to try that myself!
I made these tonight for dinner and they were a big hit. My husband said it was in the top five dinners I have ever made. My kids loved them. I do agree my sauce never thickened even though I let it boil and then let it sit. We used it more as a “dipping sauce” then a glaze. I also felt there was a ton of left over “glaze” so next time I will cut it in half. But there will be a next time….possibly even this week!
I normally do not comment, but I stumbled upon your blog from pinterest, and so far I have tried the Teryiaki Salmon with the siracha sauce and these chicken tenders. Can I just say how excellent they both were!! I am looking forward to making many more of your recipes. 🙂 My boyfriend says to look for more. Thanks so much, it actually makes cooking something I can enjoy knowing the end result is going to taste so good.
I’m so happy to hear that, Kristin! The Asian lemon chicken tenders and the teriyaki salmon are honestly my absolute two favorite recipes on this blog!
I’m trying this with store bought chicken tenders in the yummy glaze! My grocery store does the best tenders and that would be a huge time saver for me.
can you bake these ahead & reheat before adding the glaze?
Dottie, you can certainly bake these but I cannot speak for how much this will change the taste/texture of the dish. I recommend following the instructions as listed for optimal results.
This was the most delicious thing I’ve ever cooked. Thank you so much for the recipe! The chicken was battered and cooked just perfect and the sauce was AMAZING.
I made these last night and the family loved them especially my 9 year old. She was trying to figure out what was in the glaze. I even saved the remaining glaze for later for her to dip in her chicken nuggets. Great recipe!!
these sound yummy. dinner guest tomorrow and I’m sure this recipe will be a hit… love the photo’s and tutorial. easy and declicious…!! ty for sharing!
I just finished licking my plate clean from these crunchy gorgeous chicken tenders!
The sauce was perfect! Hubby named it his favorite chicken nuggets! This is definitely being added to my weekly dinner roster!
I’m eating these right now. Quick meal, mostly everything in the pantry. Used oj instead of pineapple and regular milk and I did thicken up the glaze with cornstarch. Will definitely use again but I think I’ll try with shrimp, too!
Substituting shrimp sounds like a great idea – I’ll have to try that myself!
Wanted to let you know that I tried these using boneless, skinless chicken thighs and they were a big hit with my family. My daughter, who doesn’t like any kind of meat very much, ate it up! I’m going to buy some tenders to try it with those next time. Thanks for the recipe!
Is there a suitable substitute for the flour? Would like to make this gluten free
There are certainly gluten-free flours you can substitute but please understand that I cannot speak for how much this will change the taste/texture of the dish.
I will be making this in a few days and I purchased Brown Rice Flour as my daughter cant have gluten.
Corn flour or cornstarch would be a good gluten-free substitute.
Okay these look crazy mouth watering, I am dying to make these!
You seriously had me at lemon glaze! What would you recommend as a side dish?
Rice and/or veggies would work great as side dishes.