When my kids were little people, their meal of choice was chicken tenders – ketchup included on every plate.
Those days are long past, but every day I can picture their darling faces chowing down at the kitchen counter.
Just kidding. Jason and Lauren weren’t all that interested in food on that day as you can clearly see.
Chicken tenders are a family friendly, healthy dinner that I prefer to make at home. Who needs the added fat, sodium and sugars they put in the freezer bags at your grocery store or deli counter, when you can spend an extra few minutes to make your own.
The chicken tenders you see above were dunked in a bath of rosemary, sage, thyme, parsley, lemon zest, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, olive oil and buttermilk.
After a dredge in bread crumbs, they were roasted in the oven to a golden crunchiness.
But you can’t serve chicken tenders on a plate by themselves, can you?
I hope your kids were more broccoli friendly than mine were, because this crunchy broccoli salad with creamy beans mixed in turns these chicken tenders into an truly nutrition packed meal.
I saved half of the same dressing I used to dredge my chicken in for my broccoli salad. I’m all about making my life easier!
I’ll bet if I served these herby chicken tenders to my kids today (yes, no matter how old they get, they’re still my kids), they’d still ask for ketchup, but hopefully dig into the salad.
~Kristi
PrintServing Size: 6
Shake It Up! If you don't want to cube the chicken, 6 small chicken breast halves would work equally well.
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon rosemary, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon sage, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon thyme, finely chopped
- ½ cup parsley, chopped
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 pound chicken breasts, cubed
- 1 ¼ cups bread crumbs
- cup red onion, chopped
- 1 large bell pepper , chopped
- 6 cups broccoli , chopped
- 1 can low sodium pinto beans, rinsed and drained
Instructions
- CHICKEN TENDERS:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray.
- Combine rosemary, sage, thyme, parsley, lemon zest, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, olive oil and buttermilk in a bowl. Pour 3/4 of this dressing mixture into another bowl, then place the remainder in the refrigerator.
- Place bread crumbs in a shallow dish with a pinch of salt and pepper. Soak chicken in buttermilk mixture, then dredge in bread crumbs.
- Place chicken on a cookie sheet and spray tops with cooking spray. Bake for 10 - 15 minutes until chicken is no longer pink in the center. If chicken isn't browned on top, turn on the broiler and lightly brown on top for a few minutes. Don't over cook or chicken will be dry and tough.
- SALAD:
- Combine red onion, bell pepper, broccoli and pinto in a large bowl. Toss with remaining dressing. Season with salt and pepper.
Notes
Food energy: 316kcal Saturated fatty acids: 1.99g Monounsaturated fatty acids: 4.46g Polyunsaturated fatty acids: 1.62g Total fat: 8.07g Calories from fat: 72 Cholesterol: 51mg Carbohydrate, by difference: 33.17g Total dietary fiber: 3.87g Protein: 26.60g Total lipid (fat): 9.40g Water: 264.76g Ash: 3.87g Total sugars: 4.98g Calcium: 190mg Iron: 3.65mg Magnesium: 81mg Phosphorus: 352mg Potassium: 963mg Sodium: 448mg
2.5http://motherrimmy.com/recipe-chicken-tenders-with-broccoli-salad/Mother Rimmy�s Cooking Light Done Right by Kristin A. Rimkus is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
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