Chicken tenders are a classic toddler food staple. Noah would eat anything that even just resembles a chicken tender or nugget. We have always made our own chicken tenders and chicken nuggets because the store-bought kind gross me out a little (especially after watching a few episodes of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution and his bit about commercial chicken nuggets). Unfortunately, Noah hates store-bought GF bread crumb coating and I’m not about to make my own out of his GF sandwich bread (a precious commodity in this house). I remembered making tilapia fish sticks with a walnut crumb coating from the Weelicious.com food blog and thought that this might be just the thing for Noah’s chicken nuggets! I decided to go with pecans because I was a little addicted to chicken pecan salad when I was pregnant with both boys and I happened to have a couple of bags of them already because we put them in banana bread.
Pecan Breaded Chicken Tenders
1.5-2 cups pecan pieces (or whole, it won’t matter for the recipe but pieces are usually cheaper)
1-1.5lbs chicken tender cuts
About 1/2 cup cornstarch for dusting the chicken
2 eggs, beaten
Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Place the pecans in your food processor (a blender can do an okay job) and pulse until the nuts have a crumb-y consistency (do not over do it or the natural oils will start mashing the crumbs together like a nut butter). Season the nut crumb mixture with salt, pepper, or any other spices you wish.
Place the cornstarch, eggs, and nut mixture into three separate containers or shallow plates. First you will dust a chicken tender in the cornstarch, then dredge it in the egg, and finally roll it in the nut crumb mixture. Place finished chicken tenders on the baking sheets.
Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, flip the tenders over and continue baking for another 8 minutes or until done. Serve with favorite side dish (peas and/or sweet potato fries are our usual)
I’m sorry of the lack of photos! My battery was dead on my camera and I didn’t realize it until it was too late.
Levi enjoying his chicken tender lunch with some roasted parsnip and applesauce. 🙂
emilymostlyfree 
Have you every thought about trying Pecan Meal instead of chopping the pecans? Its a great gluten-free substitute. http://www.pecancompany.com/pecanmeal.htm
We use rice crumbs here. Can you buy them in the States?
But I will still be trying this recipe….I LOVE pecans. We use them in banana bread too!