By Colette is thirteen and has entered that phase of adolescence where everything her parents do is either "cringe" or "extra" or both. I cooked her a birthday dinner and she said, "Papa, this is extra." I said, "Extra what?" She said, "Just extra." I don't understand the language of thirteen. I speak Cajun French and English and the universal language of gumbo, and none of those languages have a word for "extra" that means what Colette means, which appears to be "too much of a good thing," which in Cajun culture is an oxymoron because there is no such thing as too much of a good thing. Too much gumbo? Impossible. Too much love? Non. Too much crawfish? The concept does not exist.
But she ate the dinner. Shrimp and grits (her request, despite the protestations about extras-ness), with a side salad (her addition — she's become health-conscious in the way that thirteen-year-old girls become health-conscious, which involves salads at dinner and candy bars after school and the cognitive dissonance of a teenager who hasn't yet learned that consistency is the boring part of healthy eating).
Her birthday party was a movie night with six friends. No gallery opening this year. No painting party. Just movies and pizza and the kind of shrieking that suggests either extreme joy or extreme danger and is apparently both. I stayed in the kitchen. Danielle supervised. Rémy was banished to his room, where he read a cookbook and practiced knife skills on an onion, because Rémy handles exile the way he handles everything: productively.
Colette got her shrimp and grits for the birthday dinner — extra and all — but the movie night crowd called for something the thirteen-year-old set would actually reach for between shrieking fits without stopping to evaluate its cultural significance. I stayed in the kitchen anyway, because that’s where I belong, and I sent a platter of these air-fryer chicken tenders out to the living room and heard nothing but silence and then the crinkling of napkins, which I choose to interpret as a standing ovation. Next time Colette tells me something is extra, I’ll remind her that I also know how to do simple — I just prefer not to.
Air-Fryer Chicken Tenders
Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 12 min | Total Time: 27 min | Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs chicken tenderloins (or chicken breasts cut into strips)
- 1 cup panko bread crumbs
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- Cooking spray
- Dipping sauces of choice, for serving
Instructions
- Set up your dredging station. Place flour in a shallow dish. Beat eggs in a second shallow dish. In a third dish, combine panko, garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper, stirring until evenly mixed.
- Coat the chicken. Working one piece at a time, dredge each chicken strip in flour and shake off the excess. Dip into the beaten egg, letting any extra drip off. Press firmly into the panko mixture on all sides to coat thoroughly.
- Preheat the air fryer. Preheat your air fryer to 400°F for 3–5 minutes. Lightly spray the basket with cooking spray.
- Air-fry in batches. Arrange tenders in a single layer in the air fryer basket, leaving space between each piece. Lightly spray the tops with cooking spray. Cook for 5–6 minutes, then flip, spray again, and cook another 5–6 minutes until golden brown and the internal temperature reaches 165°F.
- Rest and serve. Transfer finished tenders to a plate and let rest for 2 minutes before serving. Repeat with any remaining batches. Serve immediately with your choice of dipping sauces.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 310 | Protein: 38g | Fat: 6g | Carbs: 22g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 420mg