Parmesan Chicken Tenders

This dish was made for my family after my oldest son was born. We were so tired and hungry and it fed us so well. The lady who made this was in the first bible study I ever attended. I always cherish the mentors I had in that bible study. Some of the meals we received after my son fed our souls and our bodies so well and that played a big part in encouraging me to start learning recipes to make to bless others like we were blessed. I have been making this for 14 years now and we love it.

* I recently made a great update to this recipe!! I used whole spelt sourdough breadcrumbs and I also blended the bread crumb mixture in my blender. The bread crumbs stuck to the chicken so much better. It’s a game changer. You can see the result in the last photo. Best part is – I used my Nutribullet and put the pieces in the dishwasher afterwards!

Ingredients

• 2 pounds chicken tenders
• 1/4 cup butter or 1/2 stick, melted
• 1 cup whole wheat or whole spelt sourdough bread crumbs (unflavored)
• 2 tablespoons ground flax seed (optional)
• 1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
• 2 teaspoons course Celtic sea salt (use 1 teaspoon and add more to taste if sensitive to salt)
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions

Remove chicken from refrigerator and let sit out for a little bit so it’s not so cold that the butter hardens on the tenders.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place butter in a small bowl or a glass pie plate and melt.

In a blender, combine bread crumbs, flax seed, parmesan cheese, salt (if sensitive to salt, try 1 teaspoon and then taste and adjust after blended), Italian seasoning and pepper. Blend well. Taste and adjust flavor. Pour in a gallon ziplock bag.

Dredge half of the chicken tenders in butter and then place in the ziplock bag in the bread crumb mixture and mix/shake them around until well coated.

Place chicken tenders in a lightly oiled 9×13 Pyrex dish. Repeat with second half. Sprinkle the remaining bread crumb mixture firmly onto the chicken tenders.

These can be made ahead up until this point and placed in the refrigerator up to 1 day and covered until ready to bake.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until just done.