This is a perfect meal for our busy Wednesday nights and the kids love foods like these, and I doubled the recipe so we would have plenty of leftovers. I used three chicken breasts that were 9 ounces each, which I pounded and cut into roughly 3 ounce strips. You could buy chicken tenders, but those are so expensive. The other day my buttermilk expired so I substituted by taking one cup of milk and adding one tablespoon of fresh lemon juice. It curdles and thickens really quickly – it’s pretty cool how it looks so much like the real thing. I’ll keep this in mind if I don’t feel like spending the extra money for the buttermilk later.

The kids loved these and my daughter even said she’d eat these for breakfast – I’m pretty sure she meant she’d eat the leftovers. Hubby M reminded me “Well, there are Corn Flakes on them.” 😉 The faux buttermilk tenderized the chicken so well we could cut the meat with a fork – no knife necessary! Next time I’ll season the crumbs and maybe try some other seasonings in the marinade. Hot sauce in the buttermilk would be a good addition, but Little Girl wouldn’t be too happy if I did that. Thanks for reading, enjoy!

Baked Chicken Strips – adapted from Simple Bites

• 1 lb chicken tenders
• 1/2 cup buttermilk (* I substituted 1 cup milk + 1 TBSP lemon juice)
• salt & pepper
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1 cup corn flakes, crushed into fine crumbs
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs
• salt & pepper

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, mix buttermilk, salt, pepper and paprika. Add in fillets and marinate for at least 30 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 375°F.
3. Mix corn flakes and panko together on a plate, season with salt & pepper.
4. Place one or two pieces of chicken at a time on plate, thoroughly coating each piece in crumbs.
5. For best results, bake on a greased metal cooling rack set atop a baking sheet. This allows the hot air to crisp all sides of the strips, instead of just one side. If you cannot get this set up, simply spray a baking sheet with baking spray and place strips directly on sheet.
6. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until thoroughly cooked. (*Mine were finished in 20 minutes because I didn’t use chicken tenders*)