Cooking chicken tenders: seasoning help

[Lawana]

Ds is trying to bulk up by working out and eating 4000 calories a day :eek:

 

I have 5 pounds of chicken tenders to cook and am looking for suggestions of how to season for a variety of taste. Pan frying about half (seasoned bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, olive oil in pan), but would like to do something else, too.

 

Thanks in advance.

[ThisIsTheDay]

Throw in the crockpot with buffalo chicken sauce. Shred when done.

 

Or barbeque sauce.

 

I'd probably throw them in some sort of homemade fajita or Mexican seasoning too, and they can be used for tacos, burritos, nachos, etc.

 

:)

 

 

 

 

[MorningGlory]

I follow this basic recipe frequently: http://www.food.com/recipe/fried-chicken-fingers-tenders-334473

 

Instead of doing a flour-egg wash-flour routine like the recipe, I soak the tenders all day in egg and buttermilk. Then I dredge them in the flour mixture straight from the buttermilk and pan-fry them. They are fabulous and my ds's favorite dinner. The red pepper flakes give a nice kick to them. 

 

I've added some dill pickle juice to milk before and soaked them in that (a la Chikfila), but we all still prefer the buttermilk.

[The Girls' Mom]

Butter chicken?  Curry?

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

You can look up some paleo chicken tender recipes- those are usually rolled in seasoned almond flour, and that will also add calories and much needed fat.  

 

Some other options:

 

Coat in seasoned mayonnaise then bread crumbs then baked

 

beaten egg plus seasoned corn starch, then fried

 

For seasoning, I just eyeball it with salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, onion powder, garlic.  

 

I'm assuming your ds has read a bit about bulking and cutting in terms of muscle gain and knows he can't eat at 4000cal forever, unless he's putting in a LOT of exercise like water polo, wrestling, etc...  

[meena]

I like this marinade:

 

1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried oregano

2 Tablespoon olive oil

 

6 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breasts

 

Combine all ingredients from brown sugar to olive oil to make marinade. Put chicken in a glass bowl or ziplock bag and pour marinade over, turning chicken to coat. Let chicken marinate in refrigerator for 60-90 minutes. Remove from marinade and grill (or could probably bake with good results).

[Lawana]

These are some wonderful suggestions! Ds will be happy to have a variety of flavors.

 

And yes, he knows he can't eat like this forever. He has done this once before and gained twenty-five pounds which he promptly lost as soon as he stopped force feeding himself.

[Debbi in Texas]

I do the egg/buttermilk like a previous poster said. But i add garlic powder, onion powder, and toney cacheres seasoning. I use the same three spices in the flour to dredge the chicken strips. sometimes I fry in butter, sometimes in oil.