Easy Parmesan Chicken Tenderloins

Easy Parmesan Chicken Tenderloins are breaded chicken tenderloins topped with sauce and mozzarella! A mini chicken parmesan dinner!

Kid friendly recipes? Yep, we’ve got them. But our kid friendly recipes are loved by adults, too. I mean, we’ve gotta eat it too, right? Making all the different meals on the same night can really be a pain, so we make what everyone likes! For some other ideas check out or Beefy Tomato Soup filled with beef and pasta in a creamy tomato broth or these BBQ Meatloaf Muffins (another mini recipe kids love) that you can make with ground turkey or ground beef!

Baked chicken tenderloin topped with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese

A Family Favorite Dinner Recipe

So when we make dinner, we make it for the whole family. Even when our kids were little, dinner was dinner. Unless of course we were making liver and onions…which, nope, we never made. So expecting our kids to eat whatever we were eating for dinner really wasn’t a hard thing to ask.

Of course there were many times when they got macaroni and cheese or store bought chicken nuggets. Of course. We’re not weird. But I have to say that most of the time they ate what we made, and now still do.

These Easy Parmesan Chicken Tenderloins are one of their favorite dinners, even at 12 and 16. We love these baked chicken tenderloins, too so we make them pretty often. A baked chicken tenderloin that’s still crispy and covered with sauce and cheese…what’s not to love??

Parmesan Chicken Tenderloins on a baking sheet

Ingredients to Make Easy Parmesan Chicken Tenderloins:

There are SO many ways that you can switch this recipe up by adding or swapping out ingredients, we’ll get into that a little later but here are the basics!

Chicken Tenderloins: You can also use chicken breast that you cut into strips, really just use whatever you have on hand. But we like chicken tenderloins for this recipe because they are so easy to use, and usually at a good price at the store.

Marinara Sauce: Grab your favorite brand at the store or make your own and freeze it! We do that a lot but we also buy jarred sauce A LOT. Just find a brand that you like and stock up!

Mozzarella Cheese: It wouldn’t be chicken parmesan without mozzarella cheese. For easy chicken tenderloin recipes like this one, we kept it simple and used sliced mozzarella cheese that we cut in half. Shredded mozzarella cheese will work though, too if that’s what you have.

Breadcrumbs: Plain breadcrumbs or seasoned, both will work fine. For this chicken tenderloin recipe we used regular, fine breadcrumbs instead of a panko breadcrumb, but again, both will work.

Grated Parmesan Cheese: Get the best quality that you can find, usually it’s in the produce or deli section of the store. The stuff that’s already grated in the cans isn’t going to add much flavor at all.

Baked chicken tenderloins for easy parmesan chicken tenders

How Do You Get Oven Baked Chicken Crispy?

As you can see in the picture above, these baked chicken tenderloins are super crispy. There’s a few, easy tips to getting oven baked chicken crispy and there so easy to do! First of all, you have to get your oven to the right temperature, yes, your oven does go way above 400 degrees. 425 is our go to temperature for this chicken recipe because these tenderloins are small so they are going to cook up quickly.

Next you have to get your favorite oil cooking spray ready. So you can use a regular non-stick cooking spray but we love real oil cooking sprays that use avocado oil or olive oil. they are usually found right where the regular cooking spray is and we use them all the time.

It’s a great way to evenly distribute a thin layer of oil that won’t make the food soggy, just perfectly crispy.

Easy Parmesan Chicken tenderloins after baking

How Do You Make These Baked Chicken Tenderloins?

Set up a two bowls to use for breading the chicken. One bowl will have a beaten egg mixed together with a splash of milk and the other will have a mixture of the breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese. That’s how we get our breaded chicken so flavorful, by adding parmesan cheese to the coating.

The other way that we get this chicken tenderloin recipe so flavorful is by seasoning the chicken before we bread it. This is a step that a lot of people tend to leave out, and it makes a world of difference. Once the chicken tenderloins are breaded, place them on a baking sheet and spray with an oil spray, like we discussed before.

Bake the chicken on both sides for a total of about 12-13 minutes. Then remove the baked tenderloins from the oven, add a spoonful of sauce and a slice of mozzarella cheese. Back into the oven to melt the cheese just for a couple of minutes and they’re done!

Chicken Parmesan tenderloins after baking in the oven

Can You Make These Easy Parmesan Chicken Tenderloins Ahead Of Time?

This is one of those recipes that is really best when it first comes out of the oven. Easy chicken tenderloin recipes like this one are usually pretty fast so making it right before dinner usually isn’t a problem. And you can’t beat that oven baked, crispy, cheesy coating so it’s definitely worth it!

Not that we don’t eat this chicken if it’s leftover, because we certainly do. The coating won’t be crispy after reheating, unless you pop it back into a really hot oven, like 475 for a few minutes, but they are still delicious.

However, you can cook the breaded chicken tenderloins, let them cool and then freeze them for meal prepping or if you want to make these in bulk. Take them out of the freezer and bake frozen at 425, adding a few minutes to the cooking time. Then top with the sauce and cheese, or if you want just keep them plain for a delicious chicken tender!

Oven baked chicken parmesan recipe

What Sides Can I Serve With This Easy Chicken Dinner?

Sometimes, I have to admit, there aren’t any sides…on busy nights we’ll have a tray of these chicken tenders on the stove and a bag of baby carrots or sliced cucumbers for grabbing. It works, it’s still healthy and super easy. But on nights that aren’t as busy we do loves our sides!

Looking For More Easy Chicken Recipes?

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Parmesan Chicken Tenderloins on a baking sheet

Easy Parmesan Chicken Tenderloins

  • Author: Dan
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 25 minutes
  • Yield: 4 servings 1x

These easy to make chicken tenders are always a family hit! Miniature pieces of cheesy chicken parmesan that you can serve with pasta or a salad!

Scale

Ingredients

  • 1 pound chicken tenderloins
  • Salt, pepper and garlic powder (for seasoning the chicken)
  • 1 egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon milk
  • 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
  • 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
  • 1/2 cup marinara sauce (plus extra for serving)
  • 4 slices mozzarella cheese, cut in half
  • Fresh or dried parsley for garnish

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
  2. Season both sides of the chicken tenderloins with the salt, pepper and garlic powder.
  3. Mix the breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese together in a bowl. Dip each chicken tenderloin into the egg mixture first, letting the excess drip off and then into the breadcrumbs, pressing to adhere the breadcrumbs to the chicken. Place on a baking sheet that’s been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray and repeat with the remaining chicken tenderloins.
  4. Spray the tops of the breaded chicken with an olive oil or avocado oil cooking spray and bake for 8 minutes and then turn the chicken over and bake for another 5.
  5. Remove the tenderloins from the oven and spoon some of the sauce over each piece. Add a half of a mozzarella cheese slice to each tenderloin and return to the oven for another 2-3 minutes to melt the cheese.
  6. Sprinkle the tops of the chicken with fresh or dried parsley and serve.
  • Category: Dinner
  • Method: Oven
  • Cuisine: American

 

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23 Responses
  1. Peter

    Made these for our grandkids and they loved them – and so did we! We served them with spaghetti on the side, dinner was a hit!






  2. Carol

    Made this for the first time tonight! The chicken was moist and delicious. It wasn’t as crispy as I would have liked but was a great midweek dinner! Thanks






      1. Sara

        Thank you! Found some parm and these were AMAZING! 9 year old said “best meal I’ve ever had!” Thanks again!






        1. Dan

          We LOVE hearing that Sara! Our boys are at the age where they now eat us out of house and home, but I remember when getting a kid approved dinner on the table was such a win!

  3. Joyce Feurer

    Just made them tonight. My son is on the keto diet so instead of bread crumbs I got pork rinds and grinder them up. It was delicious






      1. Sonya

        I put mine on a rack before cooking. Sprayed the top then sprayed again when I flipped them. Also added some Cajun seasoning to the breading for extra flavor.






  4. krissie

    The breading didn’t really stay on every piece when i flipped them over I would have liked them more crispy but the chicken was tasty
    Any tips would be welcome to keep the crumbs on when flipping them

    1. Dan

      You can use flour first, then egg then bread crumbs to make the coating stick a little better. But we just use a goo amount of non stick cooking spray, parchment paper or non-stick foil. If you find that they tend to stick then I would go with the parchment paper, they won’t stick but they’ll still brown.

  5. Katherine Schieffelin

    This is really good! It comes out really crispy and is very easy to make. I added chopped fresh herbs to the the top of the cutlets after they were breaded, before they got popped into the oven for the first bake.






  6. Erin Shoemaker

    Made this for dinner. It was delicious! Everyone loved it. I used parchment paper on the sheet pan and floured the chicken before dipping in the egg. Had no problem with the coating coming off. Thank you, this is a keeper!






  7. Brian

    My breadcrumbs didn’t brown. I forgot to spray oil, maybe that was it? Chicken was fully cooked and they still tasted great!






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