Make Easy Honey Sriracha Chicken Tenders in the Air Fryer!
Use your air fryer to easily create honey sriracha chicken tenders for dinner with a tangy sweet and spicy BBQ sauce.
Here’s an easy chicken recipe to get excited about!
Today I am in the kitchen using my one of my favorite small kitchen appliances – the air fryer! It’s super convenient to use, including to create delicious homemade chicken tenders. These chicken pieces are coated in panko bread crumbs, air-fried to perfection, and then finished with a spicy sweet honey sriracha BBQ sauce.
The result is a plate of sticky chicken tenders that are bursting with flavor and are honestly so GOOD! My family ate these right up and were very impressed. I love that these have easy pantry staple ingredients and are simple to make. Plus, you can easily make them gluten-free by using these panko bread crumbs!
Air Fryer Honey Sriracha Chicken Tenders
yield: 4 SERVINGS
prep time: 10 MINUTES
cook time: 10 MINUTES
total time: 20 MINUTES
Crispy chicken tenders with a tangy sweet and spicy sriracha sauce made in the air fryer.
Ingredients
For the Chicken Tenders:
- 1 1/2 pounds chicken tenders
- 1/2 cup BBQ sauce
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- spray oil (coconut, olive, or avocado)
For the Chicken Coating:
- 1 cup panko bread crumbs
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
For the Sauce:
Directions
1
Toss the chicken around in a bowl with the BBQ sauce, garlic powder, paprika, salt, and pepper.
2
onlinebine the panko bread crumbs with the garlic powder, paprika, salt, and pepper on a bowl or plate. Drudge each piece of chicken in the crumb mixture. Place tenders in the air fryer basket in a single layer. (You may have to do 2 batches depending on the size of your air fryer.)
3
Spray the tenders with avocado oil or spray oil of choice to make them crisp. Cook at 400 degrees for 5 minutes on each side. Use a meat thermometer to make sure they are cooked through to at least 165 degrees.
4
In a separate bowl, mix together the BBQ sauce, honey, and sriracha. Spread the cooked chicken tenders with the finishing sauce. Top with scallions if desired. Enjoy with ranch dressing on the side.
Extra tips for making honey sriracha chicken tenders:
- You can consider using chicken drumsticks instead of tenders for another fun variation.
- If you only have chicken breasts on hand, cut those into smaller one-inch sections to use.
- For easier clean up consider placing an air fryer liner before cooking! This particular recipe is sticky, so these can be especially helpful.
- Want to make them in the oven instead? Prep everything the same way and then bake them in the oven for about 16-18 minutes until browned and fully cooked. Chicken tenders are cooked when the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. I use an instant-read thermometer to check.
- If you’d like a spicier sauce, add more sriracha sauce. Taste the sauce after onlinepiling it to make any adjustments as needed before spreading it on the tenders.
You’ll love these unique-tasting chicken tenders!
They reminded us of restaurant-style boneless chicken wings, yet are easy to make at home in the air fryer! We dipped ours in ranch dressing and it was perfection.
I was thinking this sauce would be a wonderful addition to frozen chicken tenders as well. That would make this idea even easier if you wanted to start with some prepared frozen tenders in the air fryer.
My teammate Erica made this recipe for her family!
Here’s what she had to say about it:
“THESE ARE SO IMPRESSIVE! Me and my husband devoured them so quickly! I love that I learned that BBQ sauce, Sriracha and Honey make the perfect triple onlinebo. YUM!
I do not have a basket air fryer, so I just put them in our air fry oven and they turned out perfectly! I did need to cook them about 3 minutes longer (so 13 minutes total). Super tasty chicken tenders, I can’t wait to try these again!”
