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These Whole30 chicken tenders are tender, flavorful, and a family favorite. Tenderized with a secret weapon (pickle juice!), they’re baked to perfection, making them super quick and easy, too. They’re on repeat at our house!

What Makes This Recipe So Good

Whole30 chicken tenders are not only delicious (how could they not be with those delicious spices?) but they’re also super easy to make. Even better? Your kids will LOVE them. I’m not even joking. My whole family loves this recipe, which is not always an easy feat. You can imagine my joy when I found a recipe that makes everyone happy and is on the nutritious side, too!
This recipe is lighter because of the breading – instead of a heavy all-purpose flour breading, we use a blend of almond flour and coconut flour that stays light but gets nice and crispy. Aside from that, these aren’t deep-fried or even pan-fried in oil. No, no. Instead they’re baked to perfection, golden-brown outside, juicy and tender inside.
Of course, chicken tenders are wonderful all on their own, paired with your favorite dipping sauce. They’re fairly versatile, though! You can also chop them up and add them to a fresh salad, or make them into lettuce wraps, or lay them atop a bed of mashed potatoes (a la my Whole30 Fried Chicken and Mashed Potato Bowl with Gravy recipe).

Key Ingredients

Chicken – You can cut chicken breasts into chicken strips, which is what I typically do. For faster prep, though, you can pick up unbreaded, boneless, skinless chicken tenders from the store, which will keep you from having to cut up your own. Just make sure there’s nothing non-compliant added to them!

Pickle Juice – Highly, highly, highly recommend NOT skipping the pickle juice! Obviously you can if you just hate pickles, I’m not going to force you. Pickle juice is the magic ingredient in this recipe, though. Not only does it add flavor to the chicken meat, it also makes it unbelievably tender and juicy.

Almond Flour & Coconut Flour – Both flours are important here! The combination of the two gives you the perfectly crisp “breading” you’re craving. If you use just one or the other, you won’t end up with the same texture.

Chef’s Tips

Let the chicken tenders marinate in the pickle juice for at least one hour. For the best results, though, I recommend letting them marinate overnight! That way the chicken has a ton of time to tenderize.
Refrigerate any leftover chicken strips in an airtight container up to 5 days. To reheat, I just pop them back in the oven or even into the air fryer so they stay crispy.
A light spray of oil halfway-ish through the cook time will make the breading on the chicken strips even crispier. It’s totally optional, though, so feel free to skip it. You can also turn the broiler on for a minute or two at the end of the cook time. Just be careful not to burn them!