AIP Chicken Tenders are a great AIP and Paleo-friendly dinner for the whole family. When you’re feeding your kids a healthy diet, they will thank you for this recipe!
I’m so excited to share with you one of my favorite AIP recipes! This recipe was created as a result of my family missing one of our favorite restaurant foods, chicken tenders!
Chicken tenders are a family favorite, but when we eat them at a restaurant or buy them from the freezer section, we get exposure to gluten, corn, and GMO vegetable oil.
Most importantly, my family has food sensitivities to gluten and corn, so I made this recipe for chicken tenders that won’t make us sick and they are AIP compliant!
These chicken tenders have just a few ingredients and are easy to make. I like to keep things simple in the kitchen!
Ingredients for AIP Chicken Tenders
For this recipe, you will need to buy Yucan Crunch Crackers, and I buy them from Amazon. They have only one ingredient, yuca root. Some will refer to yuca as cassava and it comes from the root of a plant with a name I’ve never heard of.
We started buying these crackers early on in our AIP journey and they taste the best toasted or warmed in a pan for a few minutes, although my family eats them right out of the package.
We eat them as a bread and cracker replacement. There are usually crumbs left over because they are made with just yuca. I save the crumbs and use them to make the coating for the chicken tenders.
Update: Mission Heirloom is not selling the Yucan Crunch Crackers on Amazon at the price I used to buy them for. I will update this post when I find an alternative ingredient.
Besides chicken tenderloins, the other ingredient is palm oil. It’s important to buy palm oil that is sustainably sourced. I buy my palm oil from Wilderness Family Naturals, and it’s also available on Amazon.
Wilderness Family Naturals palm oil comes in two sizes. I buy the 1-gallon size because I like to buy larger sizes of ingredients I use for baking and cooking. The 17.2 oz jar is in glass if you prefer to buy food in a glass jar over a plastic tub.
Palm Oil, Natural 17.2 Oz. Jar by Wilderness Family Naturals
Palm Oil, Natural Red 1 Gallon – Sustain-ably Sourced, RSPO Certified
Here are a Few Handy Tips for Making AIP Chicken Tenders
I use a cast iron melting pot to melt my palm oil and this is the exact one I have. It’s what I use for warming and melting all my butter and oils. I just wipe it clean after use.
Lodge Cast Iron Melting Pot, Pre-Seasoned, 15-Ounce
If the Yuca cracker pieces aren’t small enough crumbs, I add them to a sealable sandwich bag and pound gently with the smooth side of a meat tenderizer until I’m happy with the size of crumbs.
Norpro Grip-EZ Reversible Meat Tenderizer Pounder
I buy chicken tenderloins in bulk from Zaycon Fresh. They are the best price I’ve found for the quality. Then, I freeze 6-8 chicken tenderloins per quart size freezer bag. I take one bag to thaw out the night before or the morning of making this recipe.
Update: Zaycon Fresh is no longer in business. The Costco where I live sells frozen chicken tenderloins which can work well for this recipe.
In conclusion, I usually don’t measure ingredients in this recipe and I cook the chicken until it looks like the picture, but I will do my best to give you the right instructions to make it too.
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family has! Please pin and share the recipe to spread the word!
- 6-8 chicken tenderloins
- 1 cup crumbs from yuca crackers
- ⅔ cup + 1 cup palm oil, sustainably sourced (add more if needed)
- salt to taste
- optional to taste: onion powder, garlic powder, thyme
- Warm ⅔ cup palm oil in a small pan just enough that it melts into liquid form.
- Pat dry the chicken tenders with a paper towel and place them on a plate.
- Break up any larger pieces of yuca cracker so that they become uniformed crumbs.
- Have a bowl with the yuca cracker crumbs and another bowl with the melted palm oil.
- Add salt to the cracker crumbs. Other spices are optional according to your diet and taste. Mix the salt and spices in with the cracker crumbs.
- Dip the chicken tenderloins in the oil and then dip in the cracker crumbs making sure the chicken is well coated.
- Set aside on a plate and repeat the process until all the chicken tenderloins are coated with cracker crumbs.
- In a 12-inch pan over medium-high heat, add palm oil so that the oil lines the pan with an eighth to a quarter inch of oil.
- Once the oil is hot, add the coated chicken tenderloins. They should all touch the bottom of the pan without being too crowded.
- Cook 3-4 minutes, then flip and cook another 2-3 minutes, or until cooked through. The time may vary depending on your pan, stove, and how hot the oil is when adding the chicken. It's best to slice one chicken tender in the middle with a knife to make sure it's cooked through before taking them all out of the pan.
- Enjoy with a side of sweet potato fries or slice on top of a bed of greens!
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Quick question – Where is the best place to buy Yuca Crackers? We try to eat Paleo and AIP but I’ve never heard of Yuca crackers. Thanks for the info.
Hi, Rebekah! I’ve only found them on Amazon. They are sold from a restaurant that makes them fresh from California. There is a link to the Yuca Crackers in the post if you click on the image that says, Buy from Amazon. Thanks for visiting!
Hi there,
I just tried this recipe and I must thank you for allowing me to feel “normal” again! These chicken tenders were exactly what I needed and was craving. I did add salt, dried thyme and garlic powder to the crushed crackers. If you can tolerate mustard…try mixing some w/honey for a dipping sauce. Yum! I too used to order the Mission Heirloom Yucan Crunch crackers from Amazon and earlier in the year I corresponded via email with someone from MH inquiring about the availability of the crackers. I just did a quick Google search and learned the sad news that Mission Heirloom is permanently closed😫. Just FYI to anyone looking for a replacement…I was able to find a few other brands of yuca crackers at an ethnic market in a nearby town. Thanks again!
Hi Kim! Thanks so much for the update! I’m so sad to hear that the company closed…their crackers were amazing for the AIP Chicken Tenders. I’ll have to check out ethnic markets and update this post when I find recommendations.