These Whole30 Crispy Ranch Chicken Tenders are made with almond flour and tapioca flour to give them the perfect crisp with out all the gluten. The dry ranch flavor is sure to be a hit with the whole family!
This Whole30 Crispy Ranch Chicken Tenders recipe was born from my husband's love for dry ranch wings. If you haven't heard of dry ranch wings, they are wings covered in a dry rub that taste like ranch. Kind of like the dry packets of Hidden Valley Ranch. One of the nice things about this recipe is that you can make it on the stovetop or even in the air fryer for the most perfect air fryer chicken tenders. We love crispy chicken in our house! One of our other favorite crispy chicken recipes is this Whole30 Crispy Buffalo Chicken.
Ingredients
Substitutions
Almond flour- I haven't tried substituting almond flour for any other gluten free flour but I would think the recipe would still work with Bob's Red Mills Gluten Free 1-1 flour. If you use that flour it will make this recipe no longer Whole30
Tapioca flour- you can substitute arrowroot flour for tapioca
Step by step
- Whisk the eggs in a large mixing bowl
- Add the chicken to the eggs and stir to coat them
- On a large plate, mix together the almond flour, tapioca flour, parsley, garlic powder, onion powder, dried dill, dried chives, salt, and pepper
- Add the avocado oil to a large pan and turn the heat to medium
- Using a fork, take one chicken tender at a time and coat both sides in the almond flour mixture then place it in the pan. You will most likely need to do two batches so that you don't overcrowd the chicken
- Cook the chicken for 5 minutes a side then using a fork flip and cook the other side for 5 minutes. Be sure to only flip the chicken once or the coating will start to fall off
Air fryer method
- Follow steps 1-5 from above
- Spray the chicken tenders with avocado oil and place them in the air fryer at 400 degrees for 12 minutes.
- At the 6 minute mark, you will open the air fryer and use a fork to flip the chicken tenders, spray the other side with avocado oil, then cook the remaining 6 minutes
Frequently asked questions
To make chicken tenders crispy you need coat them in eggs, a breadcrumb or almond flour mixture, and then cook in a pan with oil
When you are using almond flour as your "breadcrumbs" you need to make sure to only flip your chicken once. The more you flip/move the chicken the coating will start to fall off
Storing/reheating
Store these crispy ranch chicken tenders in an airtight container for up to 5 days in the refrigerator.
The best way to reheat these tenders is to do it in the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 and cook the tenders for 15 minutes. You can spray them with avocado oil and the last few minutes of cooking turn the oven to broil for a few minutes to get them extra crispy
Recipe
Whole30 Crispy Ranch Chicken Tenders
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken tenders
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup almond flour
- 2 tablespoons tapioca flour
- 1 + ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon dried parsley
- ½ teaspoon dried dill
- 1 teaspoon dried chives
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil or ghee for cooking
Instructions
- Whisk the eggs in a medium to large mixing bowl
- Add chicken tenders to the whisked eggs and mix to coat the tenders with the egg
- On a large plate, mix the amlond flour, tapioca flour, and seasonings together with your hands or a spoon
- Heat avocado oil or ghee in a large skillet
- Taking one tender at a time, place in the almond flour mixture and coat evenly. Place in the skillet
- Cook 5 minutes per side being sure to only flip the tenders once