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Almond Flour Chicken Tenders

4.83 from 17 votes
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These Almond Flour Chicken Tenders are easy healthy crispy chicken tenders coated with almond flour.

Bonus, this is a keto chicken recipe, low in carbs and perfectly diabetic friendly.

If you love crispy, juicy chicken tenders but want to avoid the carbs, grains, or gluten from panko crumb, then this low-carb chicken tender recipe is for you.

They are naturally:

  • Low-carb
  • Keto-friendly
  • Paleo-friendly
  • And a dairy-free option is provided

How To Make Almond Flour Chicken Tenders

It’s so easy to make these healthy chicken tenders that you will bring this recipe to your family table weekly.

Ingredients

All you need to make juicy chicken tenderloins are an excellent marinade, also called egg wash, made of:

  • Egg – eggs are naturally low in carbs.
  • Mayonnaise or swap for Greek yogurt if you don’t like mayonnaise.
  • Dijon Mustard
  • Lemon Juice – you can use store-bought lemon juice or make your own by juicing fresh lemons.

For the almond flour coating, you need:

  • Almond Flour – or almond meal both options work very well as low-carb flour.
  • Onion Powder
  • Garlic Powder
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Blanched Almonds – crushed in a grinder for a few seconds to add crunchy pieces of almonds to your coating.

You can also optionally add parmesan cheese.

Cutting The Chicken

If you can’t find chicken tenderloins at the grocery store, buy chicken breast instead.

Then, place the chicken breast on a chopping board and cut into thick 2/3-inch slices that resemble chicken tenderloins.

Soaking The Tenderloins

The secret of juicy chicken tenderloins is the marinade.

If you have time, soak the tenderloins for 30 minutes in the fridge.

If you can’t, the recipe will still work, but the meat won’t be as juicy and flavorsome.

Whisk the egg, mayonnaise, lemon juice, and Dijon mustard in a large mixing bowl.

Place all the chicken pieces in the bowl, cover with a lid and set aside in the fridge for 30 minutes or while preparing the coating.

Making Almond Flour Chicken Tenders

Coating

First, place the blanched almond in a herb mixer or Nutribullet and pulse them to form a thick, coarse crumb.

This adds a crunchy texture to the chicken.

Place the almond flour, garlic powder, salt, pepper, onion powder, and coarse almond chunks in a small, shallow bowl. Stir with a spoon to evenly combine.

Remove the chicken from the fridge.

Cover a baking sheet with lightly oiled parchment paper and set it aside.

Using tongs and working with one chicken tenderloin at a time, bring the tenderloin into the bowl with the almond flour coating.

Press to stick the coating on one side, and with your other dry hand, sprinkle some coating on the other side of the chicken piece. Press to stick.

Place the coated chicken tenders on the baking sheet.

Repeat the step above until all the chicken tenderloins are evenly coated.

Make sure the chicken pieces don’t overlap on the baking tray.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

Almond Flour Chicken Tenders

Baking Chicken Tenders

When all the chicken tenders have been coated, spray olive oil on top and bake in the center rack of the oven for 10 minutes.

Remove from the oven using tongs and flip each chicken tender on the other side. Spray some oil on top of each of them again.

Return to the oven for 8 to 10 minutes – don’t exceed 20 minutes, or the meat will be very dry. Bake until golden brown and crispy.

Air-frying Chicken Tenders

Another option is to air fry the chicken tenders.

Lightly oil the air fryer basket with oil spray.

Place the coated chicken strips in the basket, leaving some free space between each.

Spray some oil on the chicken and air fry for 6-8 minutes.

Flip the tenderloins over, spray some more oil, and air fry for an extra 6-8 minutes until crispy and golden brown on the outside.

Frying The Tenders

The last option consists of frying the tenders in oil. It’s not my preferred method because the almond coating is fragile and often falls apart in the oil bath.

The best oils for frying chicken are high-smoke point oils like avocado oil.

Warm half an inch of oil in a frying pan and fry the chicken on both sides until golden brown – it takes about 6 minutes.

Cool down on absorbent paper to remove excess oil before serving.

Almond Flour Chicken Tenders

Chicken Tender Sauces

Chicken tenders are delicious finger food also called chicken fingers and delicious served with a creamy dipping sauce like:

Serving

You can use these chicken tenders to dip into a sauce as mentioned above or as:

Storage Instructions

You can store these chicken almond tenders in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.

You can also freeze the chicken tenders for later and thaw them in the fridge the day before.

Chicken tenders can be easily rewarmed in a hot oven, air fryer, or frying pan.

Avoid using your microwave as the chicken gets dry and the coating soft and soggy.

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Allergy Swaps

Below I listed some options to make this recipe with other ingredients that suit your food allergy.

  • Nut Allergies – almond flour can be replaced with sesame flour, oat flour, or sunflower seed flour. Don’t use coconut flour because the chicken would be too dry. Swap blanched almonds for sunflower seeds.
  • Egg Allergies – swap the egg for a flax egg by stirring one tablespoon of flaxseed meal with 3 tablespoons of lukewarm water.
  • Mayonnaise Allergy – swap for yogurt, dairy-free if needed.

More Healthy Chicken Recipes

If you like healthy chicken recipes, I’ve listed more recipes for you to try.

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Almond Flour Chicken Tenders

Almond Flour Chicken Tenders

3.4gNet Carbs
These Almond Flour Chicken Tenders are easy healthy crispy chicken tenders coated with almond flour. Bonus, this is a keto chicken recipe, low in carbs and perfectly diabetic-friendly.
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 20 minutes
Total: 30 minutes
Yield: 5 servings (3.5 oz)
Serving Size: 1 serving
4.83 from 17 votes

Ingredients

Batter

  • 1 Egg
  • 1 tablespoon Mayonnaise
  • 1 ½ tablespoon Dijon Mustard
  • 1 tablespoon Lemon Juice

Almond Flour Coating

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a baking tray with lightly oiled parchment paper. Set aside.
  • In a large bowl, whisk all the liquid ingredients. Dip the chicken tenderloins in the egg mixture for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the coating.
  • Place the blanched almonds in a grinder or small food processor/Nutribullet and pulse in 5-second bursts until it forms a coarse crumb.
  • In a shallow bowl, whisk coarse almonds, almond flour, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper.
  • Pick up the chicken tenderloins one at a time with tongs and place them in the shallow bowl with almond flour coating. Sprinkle coating and press down with the tong to stick to the meat.
  • Place on the baking tray and repeat the steps above for the remaining chicken sticks.
  • Spray oil on the tenderloins before baking.
  • Bake for 10 minutes, flip over, spray oil again on the other side, and return to the oven for 10 minutes. Bake for a maximum of 20 minutes or the tenderloins get dry.

Air fryer

  • Place the chicken tenderloins in a slightly oiled air fryer basket – make sure they don't touch each other. Spray olive oil on the coated tenderloins.
  • Air fry at 400°F (200°C) for 8 minutes. Flip them, spray some oil again, and air fry for an extra 5-8 minutes.
Tried this recipe?Mention @sweetashoneyrecipes
Nutrition1 serving
Yield: 5 servings (3.5 oz)

Nutrition

Serving: 1 servingCalories: 308.3 kcal (15%)Carbohydrates: 6.7 g (2%)Fiber: 3.3 g (14%)Net Carbs: 3.4 gProtein: 26.9 g (54%)Fat: 20.3 g (31%)Saturated Fat: 2.2 g (14%)Polyunsaturated Fat: 3.4 gMonounsaturated Fat: 5.8 gTrans Fat: 0.1 gCholesterol: 92 mg (31%)Sodium: 420.2 mg (18%)Potassium: 444.4 mg (13%)Sugar: 1.4 g (2%)Vitamin A: 80.8 IU (2%)Vitamin B12: 0.3 µg (5%)Vitamin C: 2.3 mg (3%)Vitamin D: 0.3 µg (2%)Calcium: 78.5 mg (8%)Iron: 1.6 mg (9%)Magnesium: 60.9 mg (15%)Zinc: 1.1 mg (7%)
Carine Claudepierre

About The Author

Carine Claudepierre

Hi, I'm Carine, the food blogger, author, recipe developer, published author of a cookbook, and founder of Sweet As Honey.

I have an Accredited Certificate in Nutrition and Wellness obtained in 2014 from Well College Global (formerly Cadence Health). I'm passionate about sharing all my easy and tasty recipes that are both delicious and healthy. My expertise in the field comes from my background in chemistry and years of following a keto low-carb diet. But I'm also well versed in vegetarian and vegan cooking since my husband is vegan.

I now eat a more balanced diet where I alternate between keto and a Mediterranean Diet

Cooking and Baking is my true passion. In fact, I only share a small portion of my recipes on Sweet As Honey. Most of them are eaten by my husband and my two kids before I have time to take any pictures!

All my recipes are at least triple tested to make sure they work and I take pride in keeping them as accurate as possible.

Browse all my recipes with my Recipe Index.

I hope that you too find the recipes you love on Sweet As Honey!

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Recipe Rating




    11 Thoughts On Almond Flour Chicken Tenders
  1. I am planning to cook in the air fryer. If I want to freeze some, how long should i re-heat for in the air fryer and for how long please?

  2. 5 stars
    Absolutely delicious! I did use 1/4 cup parm cheese. I didn’t have whole almonds so just used 1/2 cup almond flour plus 1/4 cup parm cheese. Cooked as directed. It was a huge hit. Thank you 😊 exactly 20 minutes is cooked to perfection!

  3. Unfortunately I couldn’t get the breading to stick after I air fryed 😕 other than that issue it was delicious!

  4. 5 stars
    This was fabulous!!!! The leftovers are in my salad for lunch! We loved it and I will be making this again soon!!!

  5. This sounds delicious!

    More of a question than a comment…
    I only see mention of parmesan cheese but don’t see it in the recipe.

    Please advise,
    Candy

    P.S. I will give it a try either way

Disclaimer

The recipes, instructions, and articles on this website should not be taken or used as medical advice. You must consult with your doctor before starting on a keto or low-carb diet. The nutritional data provided on Sweetashoney is to be used as indicative only.

The nutrition data is calculated using WP Recipe Maker. Net Carbs is calculated by removing the fiber and some sweeteners from the total Carbohydrates. As an example, a recipe with 10 grams of Carbs per 100 grams that contains 3 grams of erythritol and 5 grams of fiber will have a net carbs content of 2 grams. Some sweeteners are excluded because they are not metabolized.

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