MTAL #2

Chicken tenders, chicken fingers, chicken strips...whatever you call them, they're good. You can't get more kid-friendly either. They certainly were a staple of my diet when I was kid, especially when we went out to eat. They are normally made with flour, egg, and milk which doesn't make them very Asher-friendly. That means it's time to try an allergen-free version and let Asher be a kid.

Chicken Tenders
from Cybele Pascal
1 lb chicken tenders
1 1/2 cups rice milk
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 cup cornstarch
3 Tbsp rice milk
6 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup gluten-free bread crumbs
salt and pepper
3 cups canola oil

1. Combine tenders with 1 1/2 cups rice milkd and lemon juice and refrigerate for 2 hours.


2. Put cornstarch in a wide dish. Put 3 Tbsp rice milk in another wide dish. Add olive oil, 1 Tbsp at a time, whisking well. Put breadcrumbs in a third dish and mix in salt and pepper.


3. Roll each tender in cornstarch, then rice milk and finally bread crumbs. Set aside.


4. Heat oil until rippling over medium-high heat.


5. Cook tenders until deeply golden, about 3 minutes a side and 6-7 minutes total.

Here is my assembly line of chicken tenders. Ms. Pascal recommends using one hand for the dry ingredient dipping and the other for the wet. It seems to help make this process less of a mess that it could be. Coated tenders ready for the frying oil.

Frying the tenders (in my new saucepan; isn't it pretty?).

I served this with a oven fries (cut up russet potatoes toss with olive oil and seasoned salt and bakes for 40 minutes) and allergen-free ranch dressing. The dressing didn't go quite as I hoped: I put too much garlic and onion in it so it was INTENSE. I might try again another day and post the recipe if it goes better then.

The final product: awesome! They are crunchy and delicious. Asher absolutely loved them which makes me one giddy momma. They were even a hit with Tyler and Addilyn. I will make these often (I even made them as Asher's birthday meal).

A note on the gluten-free bread crumbs: Glutino brand is recommended but if those cannot be found, I think coarse-ground corn meal might make a good substitution.