These honey-sriracha chicken tenders are perfectly sweet with just the right amount of spiciness from the sauce. Marinated in buttermilk and deep-fried twice until crispy, you’re going to lick your fingers clean with this one.

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Why use buttermilk?

In short, buttermilk is slightly acidic. Therefore, the acid helps to break down the fibres of the chicken, helping it become more tender when we eat it. It’s a classic Southern-style method to prepare fried chicken, which works for a reason.

Compared to standard saltwater brines or dry brines, buttermilk is also much thicker in consistency, allowing us to get that signature crunchy coating that we’re familiar with in fast food joints. That’s not to say that other brines are inferior; in fact, I actually use each one very often, just in different situations and depending on what cut of chicken I’m using or what protein I’m working with.

That being said, I did find buttermilk to be the perfect brine for chicken tenders if you’re looking to get that same exact crunch in classic Southern-style.

Seasonings

Oh, seasonings. So many to choose, but which are the right ones? Honestly, to be completely transparent with you, even though I do have a recipe card below with exact measurements, you can really just add whatever seasonings you like.

Think of the recipe card as a general guideline to use, which you can play around with in the future or add your own little twist to it.

Specifically for these buttermilk chicken tenders, I do like to just stick with the seasonings that I originally have. They compliment the honey-sriracha really well, and it’s doesn’t overpower the chicken so you can actually still taste chicken.

Ingredients

•Chicken tenders (or you can also use regular chicken breasts cut into strips)

Marinade:
•1-2 cups buttermilk
•1/4 cup hot sauce
•1 tsp black pepper
•1 tsp salt
•1 tsp paprika
•1 tsp dried oregano

Flour coating:
•2 cups AP flour
•1/4 cup potato starch
•1 tsp baking powder
•1/2 tbsp kosher salt
•1 tbsp paprika
•1/2 tbsp garlic powder
•1/2 tbsp onion powder
•1/2 tbsp black pepper
•1/2 tsp chipotle powder

Honey-sriracha sauce:
•1/4 cup honey
•1/4 cup sriracha
•1 tsp soy sauce

Instructions

Prepare the marinade in a bowl and let the chicken marinate in the mixture for at least 1 hour to overnight.
Coat the marinated chicken tenders in your prepared flour coating. Let the coated chicken rest on a plate or wire rack for at least 15 mins before frying to allow the flour to stick.
Fry the chicken at 300-325°F oil for 5-6 mins until lightly golden. Then turn up the oil temperature to 375-400°F and fry the chicken for a second time for 30 seconds – 1 minute, or until deep golden brown.
Coat the chicken in the prepared honey sriracha sauce and serve.

Tips to make the chicken CRUNCHY

Don’t skip the resting step! I know, you’re hungry, I’m hungry, but if you time this correctly (aka. resting the chicken while the oil’s heating up) it’s really no time at all! You’d be surprised how less likely the breading is to fall or slide off during the frying process because resting essentially gives the breading enough time to adhere to the meat.
Add a couple tablespoons of the buttermilk marinade into your flour coating. If I had to recommend any step to you, it would be this one. It changed my fried chicken game ever since I found out about this tip! Spoon in about 2-3 tablespoons of the marinade into your flour coating, then combine it all together until fine crumbs or flakes form. By doing this, your adding more texture to the breading which gives you those crispy crackly bits when frying!
Double fry. I’ve had a couple people concerned if double-frying would only make the chicken soggy, and the answer is no, so long as the temperature of your oil is higher the second time we fry. I won’t get too deep into the food science behind this, but long-story-short, the second fry helps to eliminate the extra moisture that had been released by the chicken during its first fry. Moisture = soggy chicken, so frying it again ensures it’s really crispy.