Hot Honey Chicken Tenders (Air Fried)

Sometimes I crave crave chicken tenders but feel so guilty about eating fried chicken. These hot honey chicken tenders are crispy, flavorful, and super easy to make in the air fryer. The key to getting that crispy outer coating is by using corn flakes as a final coating.

Key to air fried crispy hot honey chicken tenders

Corn starch

After seasoning our chicken tenders, you want to coat them in corn starch because it helps absorb more egg wash. More egg wash being absorbed means that you will be able to absorb more corn flakes.

Corn flakes for hot honey chicken tenders

Corn flakes are easily the best form of breading when it comes to air fried chicken. They are already crispy and golden to begin which is perfect so that we don’t need to overcook the chicken to achieve the color. You want to crush the corn flakes into smaller pieces but not into a powder. Similar to what you can see in this picture below:

How to pack in the corn flake coating

1. Make sure you crush a lot of corn flakes, enough to fully cover all the chicken.
2. After soaking chicken in egg wash, place it into the corn flakes and bury with more on top.
3. Using your hands, squeeze the chicken tender tightly in a way that presses the corn flakes onto the chicken tenders. Continue squeezing and pressing more corn flakes 2-3 more times until you can no longer see anymore chicken.

How to make hot honey

Hot honey is very simple to make, it doesn’t even involve any cooking and just 3 ingredients. In a bowl, mix together honey, hot sauce, and chili flakes depending on your spice tolerance. For the hot sauce, I used sriracha and I used Korean chili flakes.

Hot Honey Chicken Tenders (Air Fried)

These air fried hot honey chicken tenders are one of the best methods I have tried for air fried chicken.

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 15 mins

Total Time 30 mins

Course Appetizer, Main Course

Cuisine American, fusion

Servings 12 tenders

Ingredients

  

Chicken

• 12 chicken tenders
• ½ tbsp garlic powder
• ½ tbsp onion powder
• ½ tbsp paprika
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp corn starch
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups crushed corn flakes
• spray oil

Hot honey

• ¼ cup honey
• 2 tbsp sriracha
• 1 tsp chili flakes

Instructions

 

• Grab 12 chicken tenders and pat them dry. If you cannot find chicken tenders, just slice chicken breasts into strips.
  12 chicken tenders
• Season with garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, and salt.
  ½ tbsp garlic powder, ½ tbsp onion powder, ½ tbsp paprika, 1 tsp salt
• Dust with corn starch.
  1 tbsp corn starch
• Whisk together 2 eggs.
  2 large eggs
• Crush corn flakes and place in a separate bowl.
  2 cups crushed corn flakes
  
• Lay the chicken into the egg wash on both sides, then into the crushed corn flakes. Makes sure to press and squeeze with your hands multiple times to ensure they are coated well.
• Place into an air fryer, spray with oil and cook at 375F for 10-13 minutes. After 6 minutes, flip the tenders and spray with more oil.
  spray oil
• While the chicken is cooking, mix together honey, sriracha, and chili flakes in a bowl.
  ¼ cup honey, 2 tbsp sriracha, 1 tsp chili flakes
• Once chicken is done cooking, glaze with the hot honey and enjoy.

Keyword air, airfry, chicken, fry, honey, hot, tenders

If you enjoyed this recipe, check out some more air fryer recipes here:

• Dim sum beef short ribs
• Chinese salt & pepper ribs