Colm O'Gorman: Air fryer chicken tenders with a rich honey & chilli yoghurt sauce

Air-Fryer Chicken Tenders in a Honey & Chilli Yoghurt Sauce

These tasty air-fried chicken tenders are wonderfully quick and easy to make. 

For this recipe, I serve them in toasted pittas with a herb salad, and a honey and chilli yoghurt sauce. 

I finish the dish with some thinly sliced red onions and a splash of chilli sauce. Use your favourite chilli sauce; something a little sweet would be perfect. 

I use a caramel sriracha sauce from Chimac which is fabulous, but a regular sriracha would also work well.

For convenience, I use chicken mini fillets for this recipe. It saves having to cut regular chicken breast into strips, but it also looks and tastes great. 

This chicken is crisp and golden on the outside, but tender and moist in the centre. Two to three chicken tenders per person are plenty, especially if you are serving any sides. 

Serve them with some chips if you want to make it a more substantial meal.

This is a lovely meal for a lazy Friday night in front of the TV, or for a quick but delicious weekday dinner.

If you do not have an air fryer, you can bake these chicken tenders in the oven. 

Preheat your oven to 200 Celsius and place the tenders on a lightly oiled baking tray. 

Cook them for twelve to fifteen minutes, turning them once halfway through, until they are crisp and golden and cooked through.

You will see that I use Aleppo pepper in my yoghurt sauce. If you have not come across this before, or cannot get hold of any, a combination of sweet paprika and cayenne pepper is a good substitute. 

Aleppo pepper is quite a mild spice, so you only need to use a little cayenne pepper. 

A combination of ¼ teaspoon of cayenne and ¾ tsp of sweet paprika will give you a similar flavour and heat as 1 tsp of Aleppo pepper.

Panko-dried breadcrumbs will give you the crispest coating. 

You can get those from most supermarkets, or from any good Asian supermarket. 

Regular breadcrumbs will be fine if you cannot get hold of any panko.

Air-Fryer Chicken Tenders in a Honey & Chilli Yoghurt Sauce

recipe by:Colm O'Gorman

If you're stuck for Aleppo pepper, a combination of sweet paprika and cayenne pepper is a good substitute.

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 15 mins

Cooking Time

 12 mins

Total Time

 27 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• Chicken Tenders:

• 1 large egg

• 3 tbsp plain flour

• 150g panko dried breadcrumbs

• ½ tsp ground cumin

• ½ tsp garlic powder

• ½ tsp sea salt

• ½ tsp smoked paprika

• 400g mini chicken fillets

• Olive oil spray

• Salad:

• 1 head little gem lettuce

• 3-4 spring onions

• Small handful flat leaf parsley

• Small handful fresh coriander

• Juice of half a lemon

• Extra virgin olive oil

• A little honey

• Yoghurt dressing:

• 250g Greek yoghurt

• 1 tsp honey

• Splash of lemon juice

• 1 tsp Aleppo pepper

• Salt and black ground pepper to season

• To serve:

• 4 pitta breads

• Thinly sliced red onion

• Chilli sauce

Method

1. Crack the egg into a bowl and whisk it lightly. Put the flour in a second bowl, and in a third bowl combine the breadcrumbs, cumin, garlic powder, sea salt and paprika. Line the three bowls up on your countertop, with a plate at the end. Working one chicken mini fillet at a time, toss each first in the flour, coating it well and shaking off any excess. Next, dip the chicken in the egg, again coating it thoroughly. Finally toss it in the breadcrumbs, gently pressing in the breadcrumbs to ensure the chicken is evenly coated. Do not worry if the coating of breadcrumbs seems a little thin to your eye, they will crisp up beautifully in the air fryer and give you a lovely crunchy coating. Place the coated chicken fillets on the plate as you go. When they are all prepared, spray them on both sides with a little olive oil. You only need a little, two sprays on each side per chicken fillet is plenty.

2. Air fry the chicken at 180 Celsius for eight to ten minutes until they are crisp and golden. The time needed will depend upon the size of the fillets, so check them after eight minutes, and then give them an additional two minutes if necessary. If you have a probe meat thermometer, use that to check the internal temperature of the chicken. Once it is at 74 Celsius, it is done.

3. While the chicken is cooking, make the salad and yoghurt sauce, and toast the pittas. Shred the lettuce, finely slice the spring onions, and roughly chop the herbs. Combine all three in a bowl, and add the juice of half a lemon, a splash of extra virgin olive oil, a little honey, some flaky sea salt and a grind of black pepper. Toss the salad, then taste, adding more seasoning or honey to your own preference. Set aside for now.

4. Combine the yoghurt, Aleppo pepper, one teaspoon of honey, a splash of lemon juice and some salt and pepper in another bowl. Stir to combine everything thoroughly and set aside.

5. Toast the pitta breads.

6. By now your chicken will be ready. Remove it from air fryer and assemble the pitta pockets. Cut a slit in each pitta bread and open it up on one side. Spoon in some of the yoghurt sauce and lots of the salad. Stuff the pittas with the chicken fillets, and then finish with some very thinly sliced red onion and your favourite chilli sauce. Serve with the rest of the yoghurt sauce on the side and any sides of your choice.