These Air Fryer Hot Honey Chicken Tenders cook in under 10 minutes! Crispy and juicy and seriously addicting when served with delicious homemade hot honey sauce. Great for sharing and a true crowd pleaser!
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Super crispy cornflake-coated air fried chicken tenders drizzled with hot honey sauce… my mouth is watering as I am typing this!
Air Fryer Hot Honey chicken is our new obsession – so yummy, so quick, so easy to make. I know you will love it too, so without further ado let’s see how to make it.
Hot Honey Chicken Tenders Grocery List
CHICKEN: We will be using chicken tenders – a.k.a mini chicken breasts, chicken tenderloins – is the little strip of meat on the underside of chicken breasts. If you can’t find chicken tenders sold in packs, you can simply cut skinless and boneless chicken breasts into smaller strips.
BREADING: For extra crispy and flavorful air fried chicken tenders you will need cornflakes, cornstarch, sweet smoked paprika, garlic seasoning, cayenne, salt and oil.
EGGS: Dipping the chicken strips in beaten eggs will act as the “glue” for our cornflake crunch breading to stick.
HOT HONEY SAUCE: Homemade hot honey sauce is super easy to make – you just need honey, chilli oil, Sriracha and apple cider vinegar. I like to use Chiu Chow Chilli oil for ease but if you don’t have any I will give you options in the recipe card.
OIL: Adding rapeseed (Canola) oil to the breading not only helps it crisp up but gives it a wonderful color. You will also need a spray bottle with oil to mist the chicken when air frying. If you don’t want to use Canola oil then light olive oil or any neutral oil with a high smoking point will work.
HOW TO MAKE AIR FRYER HOT HONEY CHICKEN TENDERS
Full measurements and instructions can be found on the printable recipe card at the bottom of the page. Please take a look at the steps and video before attempting this recipe!
Make The Hot Honey Sauce
Combine the honey, chilli oil, Sriracha and apple cider vinegar in a saucepan and stir over low heat to warm through. Taste the sauce – it should be sweet and salty with a spicy kick but not super hot.
Make The Cornflake Topping
Place the cornflakes, cornflour and seasoning into a food processor or mini chopper and pulse until you have a coarse breadcrumb consistency. Add the oil and pulse again. Tip the cornflakes into a shallow bowl.
Prep The Chicken Tenders
Beat two eggs in a shallow bowl and dip each chicken strip a couple of times to coat. Let excess egg drip off the chicken.
Dredge the chicken strip into the coating, pressing down with a fork so that it sticks. Repeat until you have used all of the chicken.
Air Fry The Chicken
Preheat the air fryer for 3 minutes at 375°F (190°C). I like to use an air fryer rack and liners to allow for better air circulation and avoid the chicken coating getting stuck in the basket. Mist the liner and rack with oil and space the strips on it. Mist those in oil as well.
Air fry for 5 minutes per side for the first batch, flipping halfway through. Any further batches will only need 8 minutes total or less. To check whether the chicken is cooked through use an Instant Read thermometer – it should register 167°F (75°C).
Serve the Chicken Tenders
You can either coat the chicken with the hot honey sauce or drizzle it a bit more sparingly and serve some on the side so people can help themselves to more if they wish. If serving as a main you can pair them with sticky rice, a salad or fries.
Leftovers will keep for 3-4 days in the fridge – reheat them in the air fryer for 5-7 minutes at 350°F (180°C).
Perfectly Crunchy Hot Honey Chicken
- Adding oil to the coating is crucial – but don’t forget to also mist the chicken tenders when air frying.
- Air Fryers can vary in their capacity and efficiency – you might need to adjust the cooking temperature slightly. Second batches will probably cook a little quicker as the air fryer is already hot. A meat thermometer is the best way to determine optimum cooking time.
- Don’t crowd the chicken in the air fryer – allow space for the air to circulate.
- If you are using multiple stackable racks to cook the chicken strips the cooking time overall will be longer. I didn’t have much success with this method so I am not recommending it for this recipe.
Looking for more air fryer chicken recipes? Try my Air Fryer Greek Whole Chicken, Lime Tequila Chicken Legs (Chicken Drumsticks), air fried Chicken Souvlaki, or how about some Air Fryer Chicken Shawarma 🙂
HAVE YOU MADE MY AIR FRYER HOT HONEY CHICKEN RECIPE? Post a photo on my Facebook page, share it on Instagram, or save it to Pinterest with the tag #supergoldenbakes and make my day!
Air Fryer Hot Honey Chicken Tenders
Ingredients
Hot Honey Sauce
- ½ cup (170g) runny honey
- 2 tsp Chiu Chow chilli oil (or see notes for alternatives)
- 1 tsp Sriracha
- ½ tbsp apple cider vinegar , or to taste
Cornflake Coating
- 4 cups (150g) cornflakes
- 2 tbsp cornstarch (cornflour)
- 2 tsp smoked sweet paprika
- 1 tsp cayenne
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 large eggs
- 3 tbsp rapeseed oil or light olive oil
Chicken
- 1 ½ lbs (675g) chicken tenders, or see notes
Instructions
Make The Hot Honey Sauce
- Combine the honey, chilli oil, Sriracha and apple cider vinegar in a saucepan and stir over low heat to warm through. Taste the sauce – it should be sweet and salty with a spicy kick but not super hot.
Make The Cornflake Topping
- Place the cornflakes, cornflour and seasoning into a food processor or mini chopper and pulse until you have a coarse breadcrumb consistency. Add the oil and pulse again. Tip the cornflakes into a shallow bowl.
Prep The Chicken Tenders
- Beat two eggs in a shallow bowl and dip each chicken strip a couple of times to coat. Let excess egg drip off the chicken.
- Dredge the chicken strip into the coating, pressing down with a fork so that it sticks. Repeat with remaining chicken.
Air Fry The Chicken
- Preheat the air fryer for 3 minutes at 375°F (190°C). I like to use an air fryer rack and liners to allow for better air circulation and avoid the chicken coating getting stuck in the basket. Mist the liner and rack with oil and space the strips on it. Mist those in oil as well.
- Air fry for 5 minutes per side for the first batch, flipping halfway through. Any further batches will only need 8 minutes total or less. To check whether the chicken is cooked through use an Instant Read thermometer – it should register 167°F (75°C).
Serve
- You can either coat the chicken with the hot honey sauce or drizzle it a bit more sparingly and serve some on the side so people can help themselves to more if they wish.
Video
Notes
- Adding oil to the coating is crucial – but don’t forget to also mist the chicken tenders when air frying.
- Chicken Size Matters: How large or small you cut your chicken will determine how long it needs to cook in the air fryer. Feel free to cut your chicken into larger chunks, it will just take a bit longer.
- Air Fryers can vary in their capacity and efficiency – you might need to adjust the cooking temperature slightly. Second batches will probably cook a little quicker as the air fryer is already hot. A meat thermometer is the best way to determine optimum cooking time.
- Don’t crowd the chicken in the air fryer – allow space for the air to circulate.
- If you are using multiple stackable racks to cook the chicken strips the cooking time overall will be longer. I didn’t have much success with this method so I am not recommending it for this recipe.
Katy Aspen says
I just made this. Interesting flavours. Good balance and wa very easy to prepare. Has a good kick of heat.
The cornflakes measurements were weird. I weighed out 300g and it was 8 cups not 4! I used 4 and was too much🥲
Thanks for an interesting new recipe
Lucy Parissi says
Hi Katy, thanks for your feedback. I will adjust the measurements on the cornflakes (it is before they are crushed)