Heres the deal. This chicken is ridiculous. RIDICULOUS. It was one of those things that made me yelll out “OMG!!!!!” after having a taste test. The coating is so crispy and crunchy- while the meat is tender! And the flavor.. I just need you to make these. You’ll understand.
Since eggs give me joint pain so bad that I can’t move for 2 days.. I found a new way to go about making my crispy tenders. I made a batter out of starch and milk- and added the hot sauce and butter for incredible flavor. It thick and holds the breading perfectly.
The beauty of this recipe is that unlike the KFC version its made from real food and its not actually fried. Its better in so many ways!
“KFC” Chicken Tenders.
- 1 lb Chicken Thighs, cut into strips
Wet mixture:
- 1/4 cup hot sauce (I use Franks Original Hot Sauce)
- 5 Tbs Butter (Dairy or Nondairy)
- 1 Tbs Starch (Tapioca, Arrowroot or Potato Starch)
- 5 Tbs Milk (Dairy or Nondairy)
Breading:
- 1/2 Cup Tapioca (Or Arrowroot or Potato Starch)
- 1/2 Cup Blanched Almond Flour
- 1 tsp Black Pepper
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- In a microwave safe bowl combine wet mixture ingredients and heat until thickened in the microwave (1-2 minutes) or on the stove top in a sauce pan. If using the microwave whisk liberally as soon as you remove the bowl. If using the sauce pan- whisk continually while it thickens.
- In another bowl combine breading ingredients.
- Drop chicken strips into wet mixture and then heavily dredge in breading mixture; place on foil lined baking sheet. Repeat until all chicken strips have been coated. Drizzle chicken with a little oil.
- Place chicken in oven for 35-40 minutes; chicken will be golden brown and cooked through!
-Brittany-
{ 45 comments… read them below or add one }
Holy cow, thighs!! Sound excellent! Bless you, dear food maker!
<3 <3
This may be a dumb question, but I’m new at this…arrowroot flour ok? When you say arrowroot I just want to be sure it’s flour and not some unknown to me ingredient. Thanks!
Hi Jen! Arrowroot is sometimes called flour and other times starch- generally it’s the same thing
Woohoo, making these tomorrow! We cant use almond flour and to quote from your 2nd book, “Sorghum flour is the unsung hero of gluten free baking”, soooo I was wondering if it would work instead ~ :^)
By any chance, have you tried it with firm tofu? I’m a vegetarian
I haven’t! But I bet that would taste delicious as long as you pull most the moisture from the tofu first!
I made this recipe with tofu, and it turned out amazingly good! Just do it!
So this looks awesome but I’m doing the Lurong paleo challenge in sept and tapioca powder isn’t allowed. ( I know, super strict) I’m assuming there is no chance I can omit it? : ). Btw. I love you. Your blog is my new favorite. Seriously
Hey Sora! Thank you!!! The starch is super important.
However you could make these:
https://realsustenance.com/popcorn-chicken-grainnutegg-free/
In all honesty they aren’t as good as this KFC style recipe BUT they are a yummy option if you need to avoid starch!
Can almond flour be bought already blanched or is there something I have to do to blanch it?
Yup! You can buy it blanched. I usually get it from Nuts.com , JK gourmet or Honeyville
Costco carries it now too (Honeyville, 3 pound bag…I think it was about $18).
The picture alone knocks me off my feet. I cannot believe it is not fried or battered with gluten. If this recipe is anywhere near the quality of your waffle recipe, I will bow down to your culinary genius-ness! I actually should be bowing down anyhow, because I have become addicted to your paleo waffle recipe. I omit the sugar & use it for EVERYTHING! I so missed a decent sandwich bread & now I am sandwich crazy. Thank you!
Does the almond flour have to be blanched? I currently only have regular almond flour/meal.
Blanched works best but you can give regular a try! Let us know how they turn out
I used non-blanched (3.99 at trader joes!) Last night and it still knocked our socks off! Great recipe! My visiting gluten eting stepson couldn’t believe it was gf and baked!
That’s so fantastic to hear!!
Brittany, your recipes are wonderfully awesome and mouthwatering. I was wondering if I could substitute something else for the hot sauce; hubby and I are not into spicy food. Can you suggest something please.
Thanks!
Hi Gilda- the hot sauce In this recipe doesn’t add heat- balanced with the breading and butter it just adds delicious flavor which is what makes it taste like KFC!
Thanks Brittany. I’ll try it with the sauce! Mmmmmm.
Hi Brittany – I am trying to stick to the Paleo diet as much as possible. I was wondering what a non-dairy butter alternative would be? Thanks in advance for your help!!
I often use earth balance though I don’t believe it’s paleo.
You could try coconut oil as well..
Oh! Ghee would be another delicious option.
Thanks! I used Earth Balance as you suggested and chicken breast instead of chicken thighs. It was amazing! I’m going to have to try all your other recipes
can you suggest a substitute for the hot say anyway? My hubby can’t have nightshades, and the hot peppers in hot sauce are part of that family
* oops! I meant “hot sauce” lol
Hey! What is that lovely looking dipping sauce? And do you have a recipe for it? Thanks.
Does it have to be thighs or can it be chicken breast tenders?
Thighs taste best as they are fatty and tender!!
Can you just use chicken tenders? Thanks for the delicious recipes!
The picture is incredible! To get that kind of texture without frying is awesome!! I have a bad reaction to almond flour generally avoid all nut flours. Would any flour work with this recipe?
Are you able to tolerate gluten free chex cereal? If so just crush that up and use it as a replacement for the outer breading mix! ( though make sure to add the salt and pepper to the crushed up chex)
So very very very good! Thank you so much!
For the non-Americans out there, who live in countries where hot sauce is some sort of x rated movie, how would you replace it? Tomato sauce could be a right guess?
Oh that’s funny!!
You don’t have a spicy sauce where you live?? Hot sauce is basically a pepper and vinegar sauce
I don’t have any hot sauce on hand, but I did make a spicy BBQ sauce that I have left overs…I’m going to try it! Yum can’t wait! Thanks!
That should totally work ( and taste delish!!)
I tried this recipe and I didn’t get the breading quite right. It didn’t brown right.
Did you drizzle it with a little oil?
Made this the other night and it was DELISH!! However, while cooking, the liquid basically melted in a puddle around the chicken, so it was not coated at all on the bottom. It was coated enough to still enjoy it, but I want mine to look like yours. How????? LOL
These are A-MAZING! Yum. I made them first with the hot sauce as recipe calls for. Yum! The best. However I don’t tolerate nightshades.
. So the second time I substituted raw apple cider vinegar. Success!!! They weren’t as flavorful, but a very close second, and my joints are much happier. I also had issues both times with breaking not staying in place. 
. But scrumptious, indeed!!
“breading” not staying in place.
My liquid coating got really gloppy so it was difficult to coat the chicken with it. The breading liquefied around the chicken too. Oh well. Tasted good, but it wasn’t the pretty or crispy chicken I was craving.
This chicken was SO good. I literally ignored all the sides I’d slaved away to make and just ate chicken! I used the leftover wet and dry to dip thick tomato slices and baked them. I bet zucchini would be super too. BTW – I have a low allergy to almond flour so I used hazelnut and it worked just fine. Good job Brittany, thanks for sharing!
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