This is the only Oven Baked Chicken Strips recipe you’ll ever need! Using 6 simple ingredients, you might have everything on hand already (YAY!). Skip buying a bag of frozen chicken strips and make your own from scratch.
What Makes This Recipe So Amazing?
- Freezer-Friendly. These are excellent to make ahead of time and store in the freezer for later. These chicken strips freeze up so well making it a perfect freezer meal for those busy nights when we need a quick meal without the hassle.
- Convenience. For those busy nights when you need a quick meal.
- Minimal Ingredients. 6 ingredients are all you need to make this easy freezer meal. It can’t get any easier than that, can it?
What Goes Into These Oven Baked Chicken Strips?
This recipe calls for just a few basic ingredients! Check your pantry, you’ve probably got most of the ingredients all on hand!
You’ll only need:
- 2 chicken breasts
- 1 cup flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup Italian style panko bread crumbs (whole wheat or plain panko will work, too)
How Do You Make This Recipe?
Ready for the yummiest chicken recipe? This is all you need to do!
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut chicken breasts into equal sized strips.
Take 3 bowls and in 1 bowl add flour, salt, and pepper. Mix well.
In another bowl beat 2 eggs.
In the third bowl add 1 cup Italian style Panko bread crumbs.
Dip each piece of chicken in flour, then egg, and lastly panko bread crumbs.
Place chicken strips on a greased or parchment covered baking sheet.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until cooked through. Turn chicken strips halfway through cooking to ensure even cooking and crispiness.
Serve with ranch, BBQ sauce or your favorite dipping sauce.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I Make This Recipe a Freezer Meal?
Absolutely! This chicken freezes up so well making it a perfect freezer meal for those busy nights when we need a quick meal without the hassle.
After the chicken is coated in the panko bread crumbs, place chicken on parchment covered baking sheet and place in freezer for 2-3 hours or until frozen solid. Then transport them to a freezer safe Ziploc bag and freeze for future use.
Can I Bake Chicken Strips From Frozen?
Yes! Place frozen chicken strips on greased or parchment covered baking sheet and bake at 450 degrees for 30 minutes or until cooked through.
Want More Simple Freezer Meal Recipes?
- Making 50 Freezer Meals in One Day– A month’s worth of freezer meals all done in one day? It’s possible!
- 15 Actually Easy Freezer Meals (Seriously!) – Easy freezer meals (like, actually easy) do indeed exist and I’ve created the best ones ever.. right here.
- Creamy White Chicken Enchiladas – Quick and easy to make, this is a great freezer meal!
- Freezer Breakfast Sandwiches – These sausage, egg, and cheese biscuits make awesome grab and go meals!
- Instant Pot Teriyaki Chicken – A simple freezer meal that is crazy delicious and family friendly!
If you make this meal, I would love to see it! Snap a picture and share it with me on Instagram using the hashtag #happymoneysaver and tagging me @happymoneysaver!
Oven Baked Chicken Strips {Freezer Friendly}
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts
- 1 cup flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup Italian style panko bread crumbs whole wheat or plain panko will work, too
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Cut chicken breasts into equal sized strips.
- Take 3 bowls. In 1 bowl add flour, salt, and pepper. Mix well. In another bowl, beat 2 eggs. In third bowl add 1 cup Italian style panko bread crumbs.
- Dip each piece of chicken in flour, then egg, and panko bread crumbs.
- Place chicken strips on a greased or parchment covered baking sheet.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until cooked through. Turn chicken strips halfway through cooking to ensure even cooking and crispiness.
- Serve with ranch, BBQ sauce or your favorite dipping sauce.
Notes
Nutrition
Loved this recipe?
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About Karrie
Food is my love language. But so is saving money. So I like to combine the two a lot and make thrifty make ahead and freeze meals to save time. Because life is busy, and freezer meals can come to the rescue for all of us. And yes, they actually CAN taste good. Read more...
Comments & Reviews
Chewdy says
Made exactly as as per recipe they’re absolutely tasteless. I mean, why should we have to dip them in ranch or BBQ sauce to get any taste..? And 350 degrees at 25 minutes is too long..suggest 20 minutes max.
I let them rest loosely covered with a kitchen towel and then deep fried them in canola oil at 375 for a just a short while. Crunchy, but still almost no taste.
Parchment paper was a good idea as it made for easy cleanup.
Andrea says
Hi,
Sorry if this has been answered, but how long can the chicken strips keep in the freezer for?
Thanks 🙂
Hannah says
will this get soggy if i put it in the fridge a few hours before baking?
Vera Moore says
Oooh! I wonder if it would be possible to soak these strips in seasoned buttermilk overnight first before breading, and freezing? That is my usual go-to when I prepare strips for deep fat frying, but would be awesome to bake them with that same awesomeness and added flavor; what do you think?
Karrie says
Absolutely! If you have the time that would be awesome!
Vera Moore says
Doing these today using 3 large chicken breasts, but could only get the plain Panko here in our local mountain store. I have a case of Ranch seasoning and will be adding this and cayenne to season the panko. I already know this will become a staple! Thanks!
Karrie says
Yum!!!
Rebecca says
I’ve been making these for years and somehow I’ve never commented?! So sorry. These are great. I make them for my husband as a replacement for store bought chicken nuggets. He prefers these. If you make a big bulk batch it’ll last in the freezer for a while. It’s an easy go to meal for a long time. My only difference is cook time. I prefer to cook them at 450 for 22 minutes. But that’s just because it means I can cook them at the same time as my fries. Thanks for the great recipe!
Karrie says
Thanks so much Rebecca, so happy you and your hubby like them!
Brad says
Very good alternative to chicken nuggets. The whole family liked the recipe. Easy to do as well!
Terry Wynn says
Can’t wait to make these and some of your BBQ sauce. Thanks!
Laura says
Could you bake them first and then freeze the chicken strips? So all you would have to do is thaw them and reheat in the oven?
Happy.MoneySaver says
Yes, you could definitely do that. The outside wouldn’t be as crispy if warmed in the microwave but the flavor would still be delicious.
Beth says
We cooked this recipe freshly made and right out of the freezer and could not tell a difference. Another winning recipe for my family. Even my picky two year old who rarely eats meat asked for seconds! Crispy and tasty. A great salad topper too.
too busy to cook mom says
hi – do you by chance have a “shopping list” already prepared for your freezer meals here?
thanks so much for sharing these recipes!!!
Happy.MoneySaver says
My shopping lists will be in my freezer book coming soon! 🙂
Tom says
I just came across this web site and I’m really enjoying all these freezer meal ideas! One thing I wanted to suggest, that really helps give them more of a fried chicken strip flavor, is to simply brown/toast the breadcrumbs in a dry frying pan for a bit before you bread the strips. Of course you need to keep a close eye on the breadcrumbs when doing this, stirring constantly for even browning, and removing them as soon as they are done. They will go from browned to burnt in an instant if you aren’t watching them. They will also sort of continue to brown even after you remove them from the pan into a dish for breading. Then I spray the breaded chicken tenders generously with cooking spray and cook them on a wire rack over a baking sheet – turning over once during the cooking process.
Happy.MoneySaver says
Great tip!
m. walker says
I also love making these. I use chicken tenders, dip in egg,milk mixture, then in panko combined with parmeggiano cheese, parsley, Italian seasoning, Mrs. Dash. Bake on a sprayed rack on baking pan lined with either parchment paper or aluminum for easy cleanup at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes or till temp = 165 degrees.
Melba says
I have a question, it might a silly one so I appologize in advance. I was curious can I actually cook these completely and then freeze them? I work full time, and I am a full time student so I’m trying to save much time as I can. I am thinking if I do this I could just pop a couple in the microwave after a long day.
Anyways thank you so much for the work you put in to your blog. I recently found it and I am hooked!
Happy.MoneySaver says
Yes, you could cook it before freezing.
Gina says
When you cook them before freezing, do you cool them completely before? How would you recommend to reheat them in a microwave?
Thanks so much!!!!
I officially love this site!
Lindsay says
If you reheat them in the microwave, the breading will turn soggy. Unfortunately, the oven works best. Does your oven have a setting where it will preheat at a preset time? That way you could just pop them in to the oven when you get home.
Belmarra says
These are very nice and crispy on the outside and yet very nice an moist on the inside.
They are very easy to make.
Happy.MoneySaver says
So glad you like them!
Melinda says
Do you have any homemade recipes for honey mustard dipping sauce? We go through it fast here. I try to buy it on sale but with 4 kids it goes quick! I would love to see if you are up to the challenge of creating a copycat version of Ken’s Honey Mustard Salad Dressing!
Thanks for all you do, I love all your great money saving ideas!
Happy.MoneySaver says
You are welcome! I might have to work on that copycat recipe!
AJH says
I just mix honey and dijon mustard and my kids love it.
Melinda says
I make this version a few times a month for my crew. Another one we like is dipping the tenders in cream of chicken soup, then a mixture of panko and crushed saltines. My kids call it Cracker Chicken!
Happy.MoneySaver says
Yum! That sounds great! Thanks for sharing!
CTY says
We eat a lot of these as well. I like to make some strips and some other cuts too. I make large nuggets (flatten a bit with a meat tenderizer if they seem to fat) and use them for making chicken parmigiana sliders. I make smaller nuggets for my version of Panda Express Orange Chicken. Most times I bake them before freezing, which comes in handy when tossing into a salad for the fastest dinner there is.
rebecca says
parm* cheese
rebecca says
We make something similar but add park cheese with the panko but i have never thought of freezing them! We usually buy a big bag of frozen tenders at costco but I am assuming I can’t defrost and refreeze right? So do you just normally buy fresh tenders if you plan on freezing some? Sorry if thats a silly question!
Happy.MoneySaver says
You can refreeze any meat as long as it is thawed in the refrigerator. If you thaw chicken at room temperature or in the microwave or in water you must cook it immediately according to the United States Department of Agriculture. If you thaw them out properly they can be frozen again after you make them into chicken tenders without any problems! I have used both frozen and fresh tenders to make this and they taste the same!
rebecca says
I did not know that! I can’t wait to get some of these frozen for quick dinners as they are my daughters favorite! Also I loooove your blog! I spent about 10 hours on here yesterday! I am a city girl wishing she had a farm as well :/ I printed your cleaning schedule and am trying it out today! Thank you!
Happy.MoneySaver says
Thanks so much! I am glad you like it! 🙂
Jenny says
Yay! I didn’t know this either. I just searched for answers online for the best way to freeze breaded chicken and found this. Thanks! I make a bunch of these spice rubbed chicken finger that I think were originally published in a south beach diet cookbook. We they are pretty good, but every I freeze them, they come out really dry. I have been baking them first and then freezing. It hasn’t worked too well for us! Haha
Jennifer says
this is a most requested meal in our house too! I make these the same way except I also add a packet of ranch dressing to the Italian panko bread crumbs. Gives it a whole new flavor! We do this on pork chops too! 🙂
Ali Southerland says
The ranch packet is genius!