Honey Mustard (Not Fried) Chicken Tenders
I’ve developed a habit of keeping a pack of frozen chicken tenders thawing in my fridge at all times (in my glass “thawing” dish, of course). When 5pm rolls around and I’ve lost the thread on my day, yet again, and dinner needs to get made like NOW I grab the tenders. They are a bit pricier than whole chicken breasts, but they cook in seriously 5 minutes with zero trimming or prepping which is worth a slight upcharge in my opinion! I’ve taken to tossing them in a honey mustard marinade before pan sauteing them. I whip up an extra bowl of honey mustard to drizzle over a simple salad of butter lettuce, sliced cucumbers and carrot ribbons which the kids LOVE to prepare for dinner. If I’ve started roasting potatoes before making the chicken, it can all be ready around the same time WITH the dishes done by the time we sit down and boy, does that feel like the win we all need on a middle-of-the-week night. Bonus points for not breaking out those other chicken tenders from the freezer, you know, the fried ones that cost an arm and a leg that are as far from homemade as we can get :)
Ingredients:
Makes 4 servings
1 pound chicken tenders or you could use boneless skinless chicken breasts sliced in half horizontally
1 tablespoon honey
1` tablespoon mustard
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon italian seasoning
½ teaspoon garlic powder
Honey Mustard Dressing:
¼ cup honey
¼ cup mustard
(yes that’s it ;)
Directions:
Heat a wide skillet over medium heat. In a large bowl, toss the chicken tenders with the honey, mustard, vinegar, olive oil, salt, italian seasoning, and garlic powder. Drizzle a bit of olive oil in the hot pan and immediately lay the chicken tenders down. Try to fit as many as you can without crowding out the pan, you should be able to cook them in two batches easily. Let the chicken cook on one side for about 3 minutes. They should be sizzling as soon as they hit the pan! Flip them and pop a lid on. Cook for another 2-3 minutes. They should be nicely browned on each side and cooked to tender through. They dry out easily since they’re so small and lean! Place them on a plate and cook the second batch. If you have helpers, they can chop some veggies and stir the honey mustard dressing together while this cooks. Now you have a plate of juicy protein, fixings for a classic salad and (hopefully) crispy potatoes hot from the oven. Dinner is served!
