Grilled Chicken Tenders
Grilled chicken tenders are also delicious and they are much more healthy for you than deep-fried tenders.
Most people, when they think of chicken tenders they are thinking of the ones that are coated in a batter or breadcrumbs and deep-fried.
If you don’t have a grill you can always make this in a frying pan or even cook them in the oven, but grilling is the best!
In most grilled chicken recipes, the chicken is marinated. In this recipe, we’re not going to marinate the chicken. We are just going to season it for some good flavor.
You are going to love this grilled chicken tender recipe it is simple and easy!
Ingredients
- 1 lb chicken tenderloins
- ⅛ tsp salt
- ⅛ tsp fresh cracked pepper
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- ⅛ tsp paprika
- 1 tbsp avocado oil
How to make grilled chicken tenders
Follow these simple steps to create some delicious juicy chicken tenders.
Prepare the Grill
The first step is to get the grill ready to grill your chicken tenders. You want have clean grates to prevent flare-ups.
Go ahead and scrape your grill. I actually wipe my grill down with a wet rag to prevent using a grill grate. They can leave metal shards that end up in your food.
Preheat the grill. For the temp, shoot for something around 450 degrees. The hotter the better with chicken tenders seeing that they will cook so fast.
It’s usually a good idea to oil your grill grates but in this recipe, we’ll be putting avocado oil on the chicken tenders and that should be enough to keep them from sticking.
Prepare the chicken tenders
A lot of the time your chicken tenders have a tenon that sticks out of the chicken tender.
It’s okay to go ahead and cook this tenon but if it’s too much I like to remove what is hanging off the tender by trimming it with a knife.
If it’s too hard to grab with a knife you can use a paper towel and this helps sometimes with grabbing it.
Now that you’ve got the chicken tenderloins trimmed up and ready to go, put them into a bowl so we can season them.
Season the chicken tenders
Trust me when I tell you that you do not need to marinate chicken tenders. Almost all the recipes that I see have a marinade as part of the recipe.
Chicken tenders are tender so they don’t need the step of marinating that you typically will do with tougher cuts of meat. Grill them correctly and they will be plenty tender!
Drizzle the avocado oil over the chicken tender. Mix them until they are completely covered with the oil.
Mix all the spices together in a separate bowl and then add them to the bowl with the chicken and mix it thoroughly.
The goal is to get as even as possible of a coat of spices on all the tenders. If you really like them to have more of a kick then add some extra pepper and paprika.
Grilling the chicken tenders
Learning how to grill chicken tenders is pretty straight forward you just want to make sure you key in on not cooking them too long!
Time to grill them up! Put them on those hot grill grates to get those great-looking grill marks.
Just remember that these are going to grill quickly so you don’t want to leave them. After letting them grill a few minutes on a side and they get the grill marks to go ahead and flip them.
To get great-tasting grilled chicken tenders you want to be sure you don’t overcook them.
As you monitor them closely you want to pull them off the grill when they hit 160 degrees or just under.
As the chicken tenders rest they will go up a few degrees.
If you enjoy grilled chicken check out my healthy grilled chicken sandwich and buffalo grilled chicken thighs.
Different ways to eat grilled chicken tenders
There are so many great ways to eat them. Don’t be afraid to grill a bunch so you can eat and use them in a few different ways.
Appetizer
They can be a great quick appetizer when your grilling outside on a summer day.
I really think the best way to eat these delicious tenders is with your favorite ranch dressing. Drizzle it over the tenders and go to town!
Lunch
Put these on your favorite salad sliced up and have your salad covered with ranch dressing, you will not be disappointed. Assing some croutons with caesar dressing will work really well also!
You can heat them up or go for it when they’re chilled.
Dinner
These grilled tenders go great with rice pilaf and a veggie like broccoli. You could also add them to a taco or quesadilla dish.
This is an overall great chicken to have on hand for when you just need to add delicious protein to a dish.
Let me know how you like to use your grilled chicken tenders in the comments below.
Grilled Chicken Tenders 4 Quick Steps
Ingredients
- 1 lb chicken tenderloins
- ⅛ tsp salt
- ⅛ tsp fresh cracked pepper
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- ⅛ tsp paprika
- 1 tbsp avocado oil
Instructions
- Prepare the chicken tenderloins – Trim any access to tenderloins pat them dry and add them to a bowl.
- Prepare the grill – Preheat the grill, you want to bring the temp of the grill up to 400 -450 degrees.If your grill is a mess then I would clean it off first.
- Season – Add all the seasoning to a bowl and mix them together. Take the avocado oil and add it to the chicken tenders. You want to coat them thoroughly.
- Grill the chicken tenderloins – lay the chicken on the grill. You're going to want to keep an eye on them seeing they are so thin. They are going to cook quick!After the bottom gets that golden brown color from the grill grates go ahead and flip them. You now have no more than 5 minutes left. Temp -Take out your trusty thermometer and pull them off the grill when they read 160 degrees.
