Keto Chicken Strips

This Keto Chicken Strip recipe is a childhood favorite made low carb.  It’s a crunchy munchy zero carb snack.

Hello kids.

Today I’m going to show you how to make Chicken Strips, the star attraction of many a chain restaurant children’s menu.

I can’t think about family restaurants without remembering one of the heartbreaks of my teenage life.

Picture it, it was the 90’s and all I wanted to do was get a job at TGI Fridays so I could wear kicky suspenders and buttons, so so many fun buttons.  As you probably know from watching Office Space, those buttons were known as “flair” in restaurant lingo.  But after that movie came out, the backlash was so great that TGI Fridays actually stopped asking their wait staff to wear it anymore. And that was it for me.

If there was no flair, there was no point.

But enough about me, let’s talk about Keto Chicken Strips.

These little beauties are a low carb take on classic chicken strips, AKA chicken tenders, AKA chicken fingers.  This recipe will change the way you think about these handhelds.  And once we are done with our Keto makeover, we’ll have a batch of crunchy fried chicken strips with zero carbs.  

So let's get started.

You should start thinking about making these low carb chicken fingers the day before.

That’s because they are going to marinate in buttermilk and a little bit of hot sauce for 12 hours before we cook them up and eat them.  This step is optional, but I heartily recommend doing it.  The buttermilk is slightly acidic, so it gently tenderizes the chicken without making it tough and chewy. And the hot sauce is just there to give them a little kick. 

Using a buttermilk marinade also helps the chicken go nice and flaky when you dredge it in the dry mix.

Now about that dry mix…

Classic bread crumb or panko breading is not keto friendly, so we will need to get creative.   You've got several breading options when you are eating low carb. You can use almond flour, coconut flour, oat fiber, flaxseeds, parmesan cheese, or pork rinds. Or some mixture thereof.    

So for these Keto Chicken Strips we’ll be using oat fiber, parmesan cheese and pork rinds.

Pork rinds, you say?

I did.  I did say pork rinds.  But stay with me!  These salty zero carb snacks make the perfect crispy breading for low carb fried foods.  You can alternately use a 50/50 blend of almond flour and parmesan cheese though if you can’t get past the idea of using ground-up pork rinds.

But I say, keep the chicharrones in the mix.

To bread these Keto Chicken Strips, you’ll need to set up an assembly line.

First, set out three shallow bowls.  One bowl has oat fiber, one bowl has a mixture of eggs and heavy whipping cream, and one has a mixture of crushed pork rinds and grated parmesan cheese.  First, you dredge the chicken strips in oat fiber, then you dip them in the egg mixture.  Finally, you coat them with the crushed pork rinds and parmesan cheese mixture.

This method is the best way to stick the breading to the chicken.

Then you just need to decide how to cook the Keto Chicken Strips.

You can either fry the breaded chicken fingers in oil, bake them in the oven or cook them in an air fryer Deep frying things in oil is a hot mess, so I never recommend doing that.  Baking them is a cleaner option that works really well.  But if you have an air fryer, then by all means use it to make these low carb chicken strips.  

It’s the least messy and most tasty way to fry chicken.  

Low carb Condiments anyone?

You can’t go wrong with good old Sugar-Free Ketchup.  You can either buy it in stores or online or make your own.  You can do it like the Europeans, and eat these chicken strips with mustard or mayo, which are both naturally low in carbohydrates.  You can go McDonald’s Happy Meal style and dip them in BBQ Sauce. Or you can mix up a yummy yum yum sauce. 

But whatever you do, I know you’ll do it...with flair.  

Ok, chow for now!

(But let's keep in touch.)

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📋 Recipe

If you liked this low carb air fryer recipe, then you might like my recipes for Air Fryer Buffalo Cauliflower, Keto Fish Sticks, Keto Fried Pickles or Cinnamon Sugar Donut Holes. You can also check out my round-up of 50 Keto Air Fryer Recipes.

You start by marinating 1 pound chicken tenderloins in 1 cup of buttermilk along with a few dashes of hot sauce. Marinate it overnight, if possible. (If not, no biggie.)

When you are ready to cook the chicken tenders, start by grinding a 3.5 oz bag of pork rinds in a blender for 10 seconds until it becomes the consistency of panko bread crumbs.

Set up a breading station using 3 shallow bowls.  Fill one bowl with ¼ cup oat fiber.  Fill one bowl with a mixture of 2 eggs and 1 tablespoon cream.  And fill one bowl with a mixture of the ground pork rinds and ½ cup parmesan cheese.

Take a piece of chicken and dredge it in the oat fiber.

Then dip it into the egg mixture, making sure to cover all sides.  And then dredge the chicken tender into the pork rind mixture.

If you are going to air fry the chicken, then add the pieces to the basket of an air fryer and spray them with cooking spray. If baking, then add the chicken tenders to a cookie sheet and spray them with cooking spray.

Air fry at 400 degrees F for 10 minutes.

Or bake for 25 minutes at 400 degrees F, flipping the chicken tenders halfway through.