Baked Coconut Chicken Tenders

A few steps ensure these easy baked coconut chicken tenders are ultra crisp for a satisfying, healthier dinner recipe the whole family will love.

It's hard for me to stray from the simplicity and quickness of air fryer chicken tenders, but when I do it's always for these baked coconut chicken tenders.

Made with nearly all kitchen staples, as long as you have chicken tenders (or chicken breasts you can cut into strips), you're all set.

Reasons to Love This Recipe

• The breading steps all work together to achieve a crisp and thick layer of coating.
• Combining coconut flakes with panko delivers a bright coconut flavor with the satisfying crunch we know and love from panko.
• These tenders turn out nice and crisp even when oven-baked - no frying necessary.

Recipe Ingredients

• Chicken tenders: This recipe uses roughly two pounds of chicken tenders, but there's a little wiggle room there. If you can't find specifically marked tenders, you can slice boneless skinless chicken breasts lengthwise into even strips to make your own "tenders".
• Flour: Dredging the chicken in flour helps the egg adhere when coating. I have experience with all-purpose and whole wheat flours here, but your preferred all-purpose type of gluten-free flour should work fine for this step.
• Milk: This is added to the beaten egg to thin it out a bit so it sticks to the tenders in an even manner. Any kind of milk/regular milk substitute is fine (I use 2% or oat milk).
• Coconut: I've made this recipe with both sweetened shredded coconut (also called angel flake coconut) and unsweetened coconut flakes and have enjoyed it both ways, so it's your call which to use. I prefer sweetened coconut as I find the coconut flavor is more pronounced.
• Panko: Where coconut adds flavor, this provides crunch. Any variety of panko is fine: regular, whole wheat, gluten-free. I would not substitute in regular breadcrumbs as their much smaller size won't deliver the crunch.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Pat tenders dry, dip each in the seasoned flour mixture, then dunk in the beaten egg and milk. Fully submerge each tender so no dry spots remain.
2. Dip each tender in the coconut/panko, pressing the coating into the wet surface well.

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3. Repeat for all tenders, placing them in a single layer on a sprayed wire rack set over a rimmed sheet pan.

4. Bake for 20-35 minutes, flipping after the first 15 minutes, or until fully cooked. See the reasoning for the larger cook time range in the recipe card below. While these baked coconut chicken tenders will have crisped up, switch the oven over to broil for the last minute or two of cook time and broil each side briefly to attain that golden-brown coloring.

Recipe Tips and Tricks

• Seasoning the flour is an easy way to ensure the spices don't get lost as they might if you were adding them to the coconut/panko. Salt, pepper, and paprika is a very basic seasoning mix, but you can add other spices as you like. Cayenne pepper would be a great addition for some heat.

• If you don't have an oven-safe wire rack, you can place the tenders directly onto a sheet pan. They might not get quite as crisp, but they'll still be good. Lifting them up off of the pan with a rack allows the hot air to circulate around all sides of the tenders as they cook, crisping them up and eliminating the sogginess that can form on the underside.

• One of my favorite dipping sauces for these coconut chicken tenders is sweet chili sauce (the brand I like is Mae Ploy). It's not spicy like sriracha or chili garlic sauce, but leans more into the sweet and tangy flavor.

Recipe FAQs

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If you’ve enjoyed this recipe, I’d love for you to leave a star rating in the recipe card and/or a comment review below!