Air Fryer Coconut Chicken Tenders

Happy Wednesday! We're halfway to the weekend and although I don't have many exciting plans, there's not much better than a warm weekend at the end of June. With that, I'm here with another fun summer recipe: Air Fryer Coconut Chicken Tenders.

These chicken tenders are easy, tasty, and add a little summer/tropical taste to your summer days. I added a spicy Sweet Child Mustard Sauce for dipping which was also pretty easy yummy. I decided to use my air fryer this time because it makes food way crispier than the oven without all the oil of a deep fryer. Plus: I know they are a hot household item

Serves: 6 as appetizer

Prep time: 10 min

Cook time: 15 min (30 min if cooking in batches)

Ingredients

2 medium chicken breasts

2/3 cup coconut

2/3 cup panko bread crumbs

1/2 tsp seasoning salt

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Pepper, to taste

1/2 cup coconut milk

1 egg (can be substituted with another 1/2 cup of coconut milk)

Directions

1. Slice the chicken breast at an angle (against the grain). Set aside.

2. Preheat the air fryer or oven to 400.

3. Meanwhile, mix together the coconut, bread crumbs, seasoning salt, garlic powder, cayenne, and pepper in a shallow bowl or casserole dish.

4. In a separate bowl, mix together the egg and coconut milk.

5. Take each piece of chicken, cover in the milk and egg mixture and then dredge in the coconut/breadcrumb mixture. Once all are breaded, put in the air fryer or oven, cooking each side for 6-7 minutes. Depending on the size of your air fryer, you may have to do it in batches.

Oven Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400. Bread the chicken as you would with the air fryer, then lay flat on a baking sheet and cook for 16-17 minutes, flipping halfway. You may want to spray some oil on them or drizzle some oil over each side to ensure prime crispiness

Sweet Chilli Mustard

3 tbsp of maple whole grain mustard (I used the Canadian Maple Mustard by Smak Dab*)

1 tbsp maple syrup

2 tsp hot sauce

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

*If you're wanting to support a prairie business, I'd recommend checking out Smak Dab for any of your mustard needs. From what I've tried, they have high-quality mustard with fun flavours that are pretty easy to find. Plus, you'd be supporting prairie mustard farmers!

Although, if you're ever in Saskatoon, you can help support another local business by stopping by Pitchfork Market & Kitchen in the Meadows. It has a lot of great options, both local and your regular grocery store needs. You can find the Smak Dab mustard there along with many other things that I will be mentioning in the future!

Thanks for checking out this recipe! I hope you get a chance to try these out and enjoy them! Feel free to share the recipe with anyone you think would enjoy them!

- Emily