Mmmm Mondays: How to make perfect chicken tenders

We love chicken tenders around here.  Especially with some mashed potatoes or sweet potato fries.  Over the years, I have tried many recipes to get the perfect tenders.  My two secret ingredients for perfectly crispy tenders: panko bread crumbs and corn starch.  Panko is sold at every grocery store (by the regular bread crumbs) and they make any breading amazing.   I also use them for eggplant or chicken Parmesan.  As far as seasoning goes, you can add whatever you like.  For the girls, I use milder seasonings like seasoned salt and lemon pepper.  For the "grown-up" batch, I add cayenne pepper and hot sauce. As I advise for any cooking, play around with spices and see what you like!  Here's my recipe to get you started!

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lbs of chicken tenders (or breasts, sliced into thin strips)
• You need 3 pans (I like to use pie/cake pans or deep plates)
• #1: Flour mixture: 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup corn starch and season with 1 teaspoon each of: seasoned salt, garlic powder or pepper, onion salt and chicken grill seasoning.  It seems like a lot, but it doesn't all stay on the chicken.
• #2 Egg mixture:  3 eggs, a dash of hot sauce and 1-2 tablespoons of milk.  You can also add 1/4 cup of ranch for extra flavor.
• #3 Breading:  1.5 cups of bread crumbs and 1.5-2 cups of Panko.  If you cannot find Panko, cracker crumbs work great too.
• 1/4-1/2 cup of canola oil for shallow frying

Directions:

Here's what your 3 dishes should look like.  I do an assembly line style technique to bread my tenders. 

1. See photo above.  To bread the tenders, season them with salt and pepper first.  Before you start breading, add enough oil to cover the bottom of your pan and heat on medium heat.  Get out a cookie sheet and place a cooking rack on top.  I place finished tenders on there and keep warm at 250 in the oven.
2. As oil is heating, start the breading process.  I usually put 3 to 4 tenders in each batch. Toss in flour mixture, then egg mixture and finish with breading mixture.  Place tender in pan.
• Note:  As one batch is cooking, start breading the next batch.
3. The tender should cook about 3-4 minutes on each side.  Once it is golden brown, place on pan in oven.
4. Repeat until all tenders are breaded.  I like to season my finished tenders with parsley.
5. Serve with favorite sides and don't forget dipping sauce.  Honey mustard and BBQ are favorites around here!  To reheat, I find it's best to use the oven.

It seems time consuming at first, but once you make them a few times it really is a quick and easy meal.  I make sure I have the potatoes boiling before I start the tenders and I can steam a veggie at the same time.

How do you make chicken tenders?  What dipping sauce is a must in your house?