Chicharrone Chicken Tenders

September 27, 2021

If you happen to be a member of the crowd that loves pork rinds, you are probably pretty excited about these crispy chicharrone crusted chicken tenders. If you considered backing out of this recipe after reading the first sentence, before you go, I want to ask you a few questions…

First, do you like salty, buttery, crunchy breaded chicken? Since I am pretty sure that most of us do, let’s move on to the next question…

Second, does the sound of crunchy chicken with no carbs make you happy? Yeah, me too and even when I am not seriously avoiding carbs, the option of saving my carbs for ice cream later always sounds pretty good to me.

My third and final question is more like a special request. I just want to ask you to trust me when I say that even if you are not a fan of pork rinds or chicharrones, you will love these chicken tenders. If I made these tenders for you and didn’t tell you what the breading was made out of, you would never guess pork rinds, but you would want seconds. They are absolutely delicious, keto friendly with virtually no carbs and gluten free too.

Let’s get started…

Before I start with the recipe, I want to make two quick notes…

Pork rinds and chicharrones are virtually the same thing. The only difference is that “pork rinds” are made with only pork skin, but occasionally “chicharrones” have a tiny bit of fat or meat left on the skin before it is crisped up. Both will work for this recipe.
This recipe can be made with chicken tenders, boneless skinless chicken breasts or even smaller pieces of chicken if you want to make nuggets.

Begin by crushing 4 ounces of plain pork rinds into a fine breadcrumb like texture. You can do this by placing them in a heavy zip lock bag and smashing them with a rolling pin or sauce pan or by pulsing them in a food processor. Just make sure that there are no large pieces left behind and transfer the finely crushed pork rinds into a wide shallow bowl.

Add 1/2 cup of grated parmesan, 1 teaspoon of seasoned salt, 1 teaspoon of tajin, 1 teaspoon of onion powder, 1 teaspoon of garlic powder and 1 teaspoon of dried parsley in with the finely crushed pork rinds and mix until fully combined. This is our breading and the only carbs in the entire recipe are a few in the seasoning. If you want to make these tenders carb-free, I suggest using some of these spices that have no carbs…

Carb Free Spices: salt, black pepper, mustard powder, dried basil, thyme, oregano and parsley, ground clove, Herbs de Provence, most curry powders and onion powder.

Now that your breading is ready to go, whisk two eggs in a wide shallow bowl and season with salt and black pepper. Add 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil into a wide skillet and place it over medium heat.

While the skillet is warming, season your chicken with salt and black pepper and working with one piece at a time, dip them into the whisked eggs and then into the pork rind breading mixture. Be sure that the entire piece of chicken is coated generously with the breading.

As soon as the butter has melted in your skillet, gently place a single layer of breaded chicken into the skillet leaving a little bit of space between each piece. Let the chicken cook undisturbed for about 3 minutes before checking the underside to see if they are ready to flip. It is important not to flip the chicken until the first side is golden brown and crispy.

Once it is ready to flip, gently flip the chicken over and season the golden brown, crispy breading with a pinch of salt and a little sprinkle of parsley. Cook on the other side for 2-3 more minutes or until both sides are golden brown and the chicken is cooked through to an internal temperature of 165 degrees.

Once the chicken is cooked through, transfer the pieces onto a paper towel lined plate to help soak up any excess oil while you cook the second batch.

Look at those tenders! That golden brown crust is every bit as delicious as it looks. The texture is amazing and the flavor is everything a great chicken breading should be…

… and like I mentioned earlier, you can also bread a boneless skinless chicken breast with these fabulous breading too! Cut it in half horizontally and pound it out a bit with a meat tenderizer or rolling pin so its nice and even…. bread it, pan fry it and slice it up next to a salad or some steamed veggies.

If you are on board with these chicharrone chicken tenders, but would like something special to dip them into, I would highly suggest some of my keto queso… these two are like the ultimate pairing when it comes to super low carb options. You can easily make these tenders with no carbs and one serving of the queso has just over 1 carb, so you can have a nice plate of crunchy chicken tenders with a melty cheese dip for just over 1 carb. Pretty awesome, right?

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