Spicy Thai Chicken Tenders are coated in panko, fried to perfection, then tossed in a delicious spicy Thai sauce.
These Spicy Thai Chicken Tenders came to existence because I was thinking about how to use my popular Thai sauce with chicken. If y’all follow Domestic Superhero, then you probably know that my One Pot Spicy Thai Noodles are my most popular recipe. With over one million pins on pinterest, thousands of shares on Facebook, and ranking number one on Google, you know they have to be delicious (duh, they are). I had some left over chicken tenderloins in my fridge, so I decided to cook them up and coat them in the same delicious sauce I use for the noodle recipe. These Spicy Thai Chicken Tenders are totally winning.
I was talking to my friend Sabrina (an amazing blogger) about this recipe, and she highly recommended frying these Spicy Thai Chicken Tenders. Typically I go for a more healthy approach, like baking, but when she said the panko coating would be 100 times better fried up, I believed her. This recipe is so simple, and only has a few steps – coat the chicken in egg wash then shake in panko, and fry. Boom, done. Then all that’s left is mixing and cooking your sauce. Dump all the ingredients together in a sauce pot, whisk together, and simmer until thickened…about 3 minutes. Toss. Easy.
The sauce is so majorly delicious and not TOO spicy. If you can’t stand spice, then tone down the sriracha, but I am telling you it’s not THAT spicy. If you like a lot of spice, add more sriracha to the sauce. You can test the sauce as you are making it and add more or less as you go…just make it however you like!
Actually, you know what might be amazing? Putting these Spicy Thai Chicken Tenders over the top of the Spicy Thai Noodles…ohhhhh yeah!
Tools you need to make Spicy Thai Chicken Tenders:
- A frying pan is going to be essential when frying these tenders. I don’t have a deep fryer, and it’s just as simple to use a skillet to cook these up!
- Using Panko to crust your tenders will be key in order to get the crispy coating on the outside.
- Having a sauce pot to whip up the sauce and a whisk to continuously mix the sauce while cooking will be two needed items.
- 1 pound chicken breast tenderloins
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 2 cups canola oil or more depending on size of skillet
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 TBS brown sugar
- 1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 1.5 TBS Sriracha hot sauce this is a medium amount of spice, tone it down if you don't like spicy
- 1 tsp creamy peanut butter
- 1 inch fresh ginger grated
- 2 TBS water
- 1 TBS cornstarch
- 2 TBS cilantro chopped
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Add oil to a frying skillet (should be about 1.5 inches of oil), and heat over medium heat.
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Place egg into a shallow bowl, set aside. Set panko and red pepper flakes into a different shallow bowl, mix to combine, set aside. Dip each tender into egg, then coat with panko breadcrumbs. Set aside.
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Place tenders into heated oil in the frying skillet. Don't overcrowd the skillet, cook in batches (I did 4-5 each batch). Fry for 3-4 minutes on the first side, when browned flip to other side, cook 2-3 minutes or until browned. Remove from skillet and set on a paper towel lined plate. Repeat for all tenders.
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To make the sauce: Add garlic, brown sugar, soy sauce, sriracha, peanut butter, ginger, water, and cornstarch to a small sauce pot. Whisk to combine completely. Heat over medium high heat and bring to a boil, whisking occasionally. Reduce heat to a simmer and let sauce thicken (should only take a minute or 2). If sauce seems too thick, you can add a bit more water to thin it.
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Carefully take each tender and dip into the sauce, coating completely. Repeat for all tenders. Serve immediately garnished with chopped cilantro.
Like Asian inspired recipes as much as I do? Check out these other recipes:
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– Allyson
Candice Clark says
Holy heck, these look amazing! I can’t wait to try them!
anna says
Thanks for the recipe and tutorial here, a great fan of anything spicy i shall pin and try.
Allyson says
I hope you like it as much as we did!
Trisha says
Thanks for the recipe. Could you please tell me how many eggs you used for dipping, I don’t see it listed in the ingredients. Thank you
Allyson says
It is 2 eggs! Thanks for letting me know!
Kristen says
Could these be baked.
MaryJane M. says
These were absolutely amazing!
Michelle MaBelle says
Made this delicious recipe for dinner last night. All six adults enjoyed it! I tripled the amount of chicken, to accommodate the number of guests I had. My only note, to myself, (NOT the recipe’s instructions, which were spot- on!) would be to make the sauce, then take it off the heat. I forgot that I had the burner on, while I was busy frying the tenders, and so the sauce was a bit overcooked. (It still managed to taste wonderful, even though I fumbled it.)
Jacque says
On the whole ok. Found the sauce a bit dominated by the soy sauce. Be careful to cook sauce gently as it may catch ( the sugars cook quickly).
It was all gone , so that makes it a winner recipe.
Skip says
How would a person air fry these instead of frying ? Thank you !
Allyson says
Coat as directed then place into the air fryer. Lightly spray with oil. Cook at 400 degrees for 4 minutes, then open, flip over, spray lightly with oil and cook another 3-4 mins until done. May take a min or 2 longer depending on size so check temperature. Then coat with sauce before serving! YUM!
Kurt says
Fantastic! Made on the fryer. Sauce is tangy with a spicy peanut finish.