Crunchy, oven baked chicken fingers with a Mexican seasoned crumb, designed for stuffing in tacos. Or dipping in your favourite sauce!
Crunchy chicken taco fingers
Not that we could ever get sick of tacos – not even old school beef mince ones (shredded iceberg and crispy taco shells a must!) – but sometimes it’s nice to do something a little different.
So here I am today, with an offering from something different. Specifically, something crunchy inside our tacos, rather than the usual saucy or shredded or grilled, something baked rather than fried (yet wow, look how golden they are!), and something that is in long finger-form designed to neatly fit one inside each taco so that the cook (that’d be you, and me) only needs to crumb 16 long strips rather than a gazillion little pieces.
My, what a long winded way to say we’re making Mexican chicken finger tacos today!! 😂
Truthfully, regular chicken fingers has been on my “to publish” list for a long time. But chicken finger tacos are so much more fun, don’t you think!?
Golden baked crumbed things – unusual but effective!
There’s a handful of my “great golden baked crumbed things” tricks on show in today’s recipe:
- Oven toast the panko first – it will never go golden in the short bake time to cook the chicken. Don’t kid yourself, like I did for many years;
- Streamlined single extra-strong dredge batter, for better breadcrumb adherence (rather than egg-then-flour dredge);
- Touch of mayo in the batter to replicate “frying” from the inside of the breadcrumbs; and
- Left-hand-right-hand crumbing technique – for clean fingers!
None of these are new. I’ve used them time and time again for baked crumbs things, like crumbed tenders, baked Filet-O-Fish and fish fingers, to name a few. The idea of chicken fingers in tacos, however, is new!
Ingredients in crunchy chicken taco fingers
Here’s what you need to make these taco chicken fingers:
1. Chicken tenderloin
Chicken tenderloins are a handy choice for this recipe because the natural shape is already “finger-like”. So all we need to do is cut in half lengthways to make thinner chicken fingers – the perfect taco stuffing size!
However, breast can be used in a pinch – just cut into thick slices then into “chicken fingers”. Bear in mind that chicken tenderloins are – as the name suggests – more tender than breast.
2. TACO-SEASONED CRUNCHY CRUMB
Panko breadcrumbs (for extra crunchy!) and a simple homemade taco mix is what we need here.
- Panko breadcrumbs – Japanese breadcrumb that makes things extra crunchy because the crumbs are larger than regular breadcrumbs. A staple at supermarkets in Australia these days, usually the Asian section (but, cheaper at Asian stores!). Substitute with regular breadcrumbs, though it’s not as crunchy.
- Taco seasoning spices – Everyday spices – you never knew it was so easy to make a homemade taco spice mix! Cayenne pepper is optional, it adds the tiniest background warmth. By no means spicy. (PS If you’re tempted to substituted with a packet taco mix, that’s totally fine. But I can’t tell you how much to use. This mix makes up 8 teaspoons, if that helps).
- Oil spray – To spray the panko when we pre-toast it, and to generously spray the chicken fingers once crumbed.
3. a stronger DREDGE BATTER
Traditionally when crumbing, recipes will call for dipping the chicken in flour first, then egg then breadcrumbs. Today, I’m combining the flour and egg into a single batter which coats the chicken a little thicker so the crumbs adhere better. It’s not necessary for deep frying or pan frying as the crumb adheres better with more oil (instant heat = crumb attaches quickly). But it’s a highly technique when baking.
Here’s what you need:
- 2 eggs – I always think “surely one is enough!”. It’s not. 🙂
- Flour – Just plain / all-purpose flour.
- Mayonnaise – My little secret ingredient for crumbed baked things, a touch of oil helps replicate the frying effect from the underside of the crumb. I only use 2 tablespoons, but if you’re strongly opposed to mayonnaise, that’s ok, just use oil instead (halve the quantity).
*** Things I forgot TO PHOTOGRAPH!***
I forgot to photograph the tortillas and Taco Slaw – oops!
How to make crunchy chicken taco fingers
As mentioned above in the blue box above outlining unusual but effective steps in this recipe for Great Golden Crumbed Things, we start off by toasting the breadcrumbs before coating the chicken. It’s extremely effortless using the oven. Pan-toasting is much more hands on and requires considerably more oil too.
1. Toasting the breadcrumbs
See FAQ for the consequences if you skip this step!
- Toss the panko breadcrumbs with the homemade taco seasoning.
- Spray with oil – Spread on a tray and spray with oil. Aim directly down and spray from a distance to minimise panko-leaf-blower situation! Spray fairly generously – I do about 3 seconds. It still works out less then teaspoon of oil.
- Bake for 7 minutes at 200°C/400°F (180°C fan-forced) until golden brown, stirring once to twice.
Now that the panko is toasted – lovely golden brown colour, crunchy, and also the raw flavour of the spices is cooked out – we can bake the chicken for the very short 10 minutes it takes to cook through without drying out without having to worry about getting colour on the panko!
- Transfer breadcrumbs into a 20cm/8″ square pan or a similar container/dish so you can lay down and coat multiple chicken fingers at the same time (crumbing efficiency!).
2. Crumbing and baking
Note the left-hand-right-hand approach to crumbing to keep your fingers from getting caked with a build up of batter and breadcrumbs!
- Cut the chicken into fingers about 1.5 – 2cm / 0.6 – 0.8″ wide* to make 16 pieces. You should be able to get away with just cutting them in half lengthways though if yours are very big, you might want to cut in 3. If using breast, cut into strips first then batons.
Exact size doesn’t matter here, some can be longer than the tacos/tortillas (crunchy chicken sticking out of tacos is a good thing!).
- Dredge batter – Whisk the dredge batter ingredients in a bowl. Whisk vigorously – it will seem a little thick at first but then it will thin out. It should have a maple syrup consistency ie thinner than honey, but thick enough to visibly coat the chicken.
- Dredge chicken – Transfer all the chicken into the batter and toss to coat.
- Crumb – Using tongs or your left hand (I’m right-handed), pick up a piece of chicken. Let the excess batter drip off then lie it down on the breadcrumbs. Do another 2 or 3. Use your right hand to sprinkled breadcrumbs on the surface of the chicken then, once coated, press and turn to adhere and fully coat.
Place crumbed fingers on a rack set over the same tray you used to toast the panko breadcrumbs. Repeat with remaining chicken.
- Bake – Spray generously with oil. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes – yes really, this is all it takes for the crumb to adhere (it’s already golden and crunchy, remember!) and for thin chicken fingers to cook through to 67°C/152.6°F. If you doubt me, check with a meat thermometer.
Baking time – If they are all on the thin side (~1.5cm/0.6″, I stick with 10 minutes. If they are a bit wider (2 – 2.25 cm/0.8- 0.9″), I do 12 minutes.
- Serve – Stuff inside warm taco shells with fixings of choice! The pictured tacos have what I call Taco Slaw (heavy hitter in my tacos – see below photo for my hard sell!), avocado slices, drizzle of sriracha (puts this into grown up territory) and pinch of coriander/cilantro leaves.
See below for more options – it can be as simple or as loaded as you like!
Taco fixings for these Crunchy Chicken Taco Fingers
The tacos are pictured throughout this post and in the tutorial video with what I call my Taco Slaw. Heavy hitter in my taco world because it plays multiple roles – good hit of vegetables (cabbage wilts so much!), juicy/floppy enough to fill the role of a sauce/salsa (ie less taco fixings to make), and makes a nice bed for the crunchy taco chicken fingers to nestle in.
Also, it lasts for days like regular slaw, and it’s made with sour cream not mayonnaise. I know there’s a whole world of mayonnaise-shy people out there!
Other taco fixings
Taco Slaw aside, you should absolutely feel free to use whatever taco fixings you want because I can’t think of anything that wouldn’t work. Good ole’ plain shredded iceberg lettuce with tomato slices and sour cream and/or guacamole or avocado sauce. Pico de gallo (tomato salsa), a smooth salsa dip (restaurant style – this is so fresh it’s great) or taco sauce. The quick pickled cabbage bed I use in fish tacos.
And I always endorse shredded cheese. It always has a place in tacos. Shame on me for not including it. 😂 –
PS Not sure if this goes without saying, but these Mexican chicken fingers are also very worthy of eating without tacos, like regular chicken fingers. For a dipping sauce, my picks would be a smooth Salsa Dip, Avocado Sauce, Pink Taco Sauce (1/4 cup sour cream mixed with 1 tbsp sriracha or ketchup), Nachos Cheese Sauce, Queso (Mexican Cheese Dip). I personally would also use Honey Mustard Sauce (sweet/savoury totally works), ranch would be fabulous, and even ketchup or BBQ sauce!
