Air Fryer Frozen Chicken Tenders (No Breading)
Cook perfect air fryer frozen chicken tenders (no breading) in less than 15 minutes. That's right, no need to defrost the chicken first, you can just oil and season frozen chicken tenderloins and make them from frozen in your air fryer.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 5-6 frozen chicken tenders raw
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 teaspoon chicken rub see Notes for our homemade recipe
Instructions
Chicken Rub
- Make our rub if you're using it, if you're using a store-bought rub, skip this step. - mix 1 ½ teaspoon onion powder, 1 ½ teaspoon garlic powder, 1 ½ teaspoon cumin powder, 1 ½ teaspoons chili powder, 1 ½ teaspoons smoked paprika, 1 tablespoon fine sea salt (not table salt), 1 ½ teaspoons ground pepper (not fine), 1 teaspoon sweetener (brown sugar, coconut sugar or golden monk fruit), ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper. Set aside.
Air Fryer
- Preheat the air fryer to 400 F for 5 minutes.
- In a medium bowl, toss the frozen chicken tenderloins and the olive oil. With clean fingers, coat both sides of the chicken with seasoning. About 2 teaspoons of rub is recommended.
- Air fry the frozen chicken tenders for 10-11 minutes, flipping halfway through cooking, or until the internal temperature reaches 165 F.
- Dip in your favorite sauce such as BBQ, Ranch, ketchup, etc. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
We used Trader Joes individually frozen chicken tenders, we were able to fit 6 chicken tenders in a Cosori air fryer.
We highly recommend using a digital meat thermometer, cooking times can vary depending on the air fryer model and size of the tenders you're using.
You can use this exact same method to cook raw chicken tenders too. Just oil and season the chicken, then air fry in a preheated air fryer for 8-9 minutes at 400 F.
How much seasoning you want to add to the chicken is entirely up to you! 2 teaspoons is a good amount, add more for an even spicier kick.
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