Oh my goodness. Give me a plate of these chicken fingers and some of the dipping sauce and stand back because I’m going in! Calling these the “best” is not only accurate it’s an understatement! The chicken is moist and tender. It isn’t dried out like some of the chicken finger recipes we’ve all made. The batter adheres perfectly and has just the right crunch. No batter loss here and no breading that’s so crunchy you’d swear you were biting into pebbles. This is spot-on great stuff here!
It’s Not Really Spicy
Although this recipe calls for adding a bit of hot sauce to the marinade I wouldn’t let that scare you off from making them for your We-don’t-like-spicy friends. The chicken is by no means spicy hot. The heat is very subtle. If you have to go without it substitute apple cider vinegar or white vinegar. Personally, I’d double the amount of hot sauce and add a bit of cayenne or chipotle powder to the breading next time!
If I’m cooking for a crowd, I’ll break out my big deep fryer. But, if it’s just the two of us, I’ll fire up my Fry Daddy fryer. It’s the perfect size for both of us. It fries everything perfectly. And as an added bonus, it doesn’t use a lot of oil, which saves me money.
I get out my big deep fryer when it’s time to fry a large batch of food. It comes to temperature quickly and it maintains that temperature perfectly. It has a built-in oil filter and storage unit so I can re-use the oil several times.
Dip your chicken fingers in my copycat Zax sauce!
The Best Chicken Fingers
Ingredients
For the chicken
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts or chicken tenderloins
For the marinade
- 1 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon Frank’s RedHot Sauce
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
For the breading
- ½ cup Panko breadcrumbs
- ½ cup bread crumbs Italian-seasoned is fine
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt or garlic salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- Vegetable oil for frying
For the Chicken Finger Dipping Sauce
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ¼ cup ketchup
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- pinch kosher salt
- pinch freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
For the chicken
- Cut into strips or nuggets. Try to make the pieces as close to the same size as possible.
- Whisk together the marinade ingredients. Add in the chicken pieces and coat well. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Combine the breading ingredients in a pie plate or bowl.
- Heat the oil in a deep fryer or Dutch oven until 365 F.
- Working in batches, remove the chicken pieces from the marinade. Shake off excess and transfer to the fryer. Fry 2-4 minutes per side, flipping once. Remove to a paper-towel lined plate to drain.
- Serve with the Chicken Finger Dipping Sauce.
For the Chicken Finger Dipping Sauce
- Whisk together all ingredients.
Nutrition
Nutritional values are approximate.
