Julie Clark
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Paleo Chicken Fingers
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These healthy, kid-friendly Paleo Chicken Fingers are gluten free and dairy free. Lightly breaded and pan fried to a golden brown in coconut oil.
I’m super excited about this little Paleo Chicken Fingers recipe I’m sharing with you today. If your family is anything like ours, you are busy. Running to soccer practices, cross country practices, ballet, piano…by the time dinner comes and it’s nearing time to plop down at the table, I like something fast. And healthy. And easy. And tasty.
What makes a dinnertime recipe really stand out is when I see smiles on my kids’ faces (and my hubby’s, too!) and statements of “Now THIS is GOOD!”. These Paleo Chicken Fingers hit every single one of those requirements.
What makes these chicken strips paleo?
Years ago, we ate a paleo diet 80% of the time. This was one of the recipes I developed at that time. They are paleo because they are grain free, gluten free, dairy free and sugar free.
Even if you are not gluten free or dairy free, this is a recipe you can keep on hand for when you have friends over who may be. It’s a chicken recipe everyone can enjoy.
Chicken for Chicken Fingers
To make these best paleo chicken fingers quick to cook, I used the chicken breast tenderloins that are already trimmed and ready. I know I’m not the only one out there that isn’t a huge fan of handling raw chicken. The fact that this comes trimmed and ready to cook is genius.
How to Make Paleo Chicken Fingers
- Heat ¼ cup coconut oil in a skillet over medium-high heat for 5 minutes, until it reaches about 350ºF.
- While the oil is heating, prepare the chicken. Place almond flour, tapioca starch, garlic salt, salt, Italian seasoning and pepper in a bowl and mix.
- Put the whisked eggs in a separate bowl.
- Dip each chicken tenderloin into the egg and then coat each with the almond flour mixture.
- Place the prepared chicken into the hot oil and fry it for 4 minutes. Once the first side is browned, turn the chicken and fry the other side for another 4-5 minutes, or until the chicken is golden brown and shows no pink in the middle. The exact timing will depend on how thick the chicken is.
- During the last minute of frying, sprinkle paprika over the chicken.
Our trick for crispy chicken
When the paleo chicken tenders are done frying, place it on a wire cooling rack with paper towels underneath to catch any drips. The wire rack will allow air to circulate around the chicken, preventing any soggy bottoms. This is how we keep our fried pork tenderloin crisp, too!
Recipe Variations
- We generally make ours Italian flavored, but add any other spice or seasonings you’d like: garlic powder, cayenne pepper or onion powder.
- Cut the pieces smaller and make healthy paleo chicken nuggets!
- I’ve not tried it, but you can most likely cook these paleo chicken strips in an air fryer, too. Spray the air fryer basket with cooking spray, then cook at 350ºF for about 10 minutes, turning once in between.
Serving Ideas
- Serve the paleo chicken fingers with several dipping sauces such as ketchup, ranch, bbq sauce, honey mustard or buffalo sauce.
- Served with spaghetti sauce over spaghetti squash: it’s your very own paleo chicken parmigiana.
- Slice the paleo chicken strips into bite size pieces and serve over a large salad with your favorite veggies.
Make it a meal.
Serve the paleo chicken fingers in a basket with sweet potato fries and a side of antipasto salad.
You may also like our paleo baked chicken and peach nice cream!
Paleo Chicken Fingers
These healthy, kid-friendly Paleo Chicken Fingers are gluten free and dairy free. Lightly breaded and pan fried to a golden brown in coconut oil.
Servings 8
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 12 minutes
Total Time 22 minutes
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup coconut oil for frying
- 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken tenderloins
- 1 cup almond flour
- 3 tablespoons tapioca starch
- 11/2 teaspoons garlic salt
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 large eggs whisked
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
Instructions
- Heat ¼ cup coconut oil in a skillet over medium-high heat for 5 minutes, until it reaches about 350ºF. ¼ cup coconut oil
- While the oil is heating, prepare the chicken. Place almond flour, tapioca starch, garlic salt, salt, Italian seasoning and pepper in a bowl and mix. 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken tenderloins, 1 cup almond flour, 3 tablespoons tapioca starch, 1½ teaspoons garlic salt, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning, ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- Put the whisked eggs in a separate bowl. 2 large eggs
- Dip each chicken tenderloin into the egg and then coat each with the almond flour mixture.
- Place the prepared chicken into the hot oil and fry it for 4 minutes. Once the first side is browned, turn the chicken and fry the other side for another 4-5 minutes, or until the chicken is golden brown and shows no pink in the middle. The exact timing will depend on how thick the chicken is.
- During the last minute of frying, sprinkle paprika over the chicken. When the paleo chicken tenders are done frying, place it on a wire cooling rack with paper towels underneath to catch any drips. ½ teaspoon paprika
- Serve with your favorite dipping sauce or with spaghetti sauce over spaghetti squash.
Video
Notes
Because these chicken fingers have a light, gluten free “breading”, that crispy coating may come off if you are not careful. We used a spatula (instead of a fork) to turn the chicken fingers and remove them from the pan when they were done. Our crispy coating stayed perfectly on the chicken.
Refer to the article above for more tips and tricks.
The calories shown are based on the recipe making 8 chicken strips, with 1 serving being 1 chicken strip. Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the calories shown are just an estimate. **We are not dietitians and recommend you seek a nutritionist for exact nutritional information. **
Nutrition
Calories: 316kcal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Protein: 28g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Cholesterol: 119mg | Sodium: 2038mg | Potassium: 443mg | Fiber: 1g | Vitamin A: 170IU | Vitamin C: 1.3mg | Calcium: 50mg | Iron: 1.4mg
amzing I always was looking for a way to make it crispy ! the tapioca starch is my answer !!
Made this tonight for my family and company, it was so good!! Everyone enjoyed it, it def does not “taste paleo”. I butterflied a couple chicken breasts, cut into smaller strips, and cooked in Ghee on the stove. I also used garlic powder instead of salt. They were perfect, will def be making again thanks for the recipe!
Made this for dinner last night and I didn’t want to share! The crispy coating seriously just melts in your mouth. I don’t have garlic salt that is sugar free so I just subbed for garlic powder. I will definitely be making this over and over again!
just started paleo and this is the first dinner recipe that I have tried, I’m picky when it comes to chicken and these were amazing!!!! They are definitely better than some regular chicken cutlets that I’ve had. I will definitely be using this recipe a ton. Thank you so much!
Crushed up pork rinds work very well as a breading too!
I’m new the paleo so I don’t have a favorite chicken recipe yet but this one looks awesome.
hi! I love this recipe, I’m starting on the healthy path, and this looks like my husband would eat it lol! Do you have a break down of the nutritional information on the chicken with the “breading” on it! Just calories would be great info, thank you so much:)
I made these last night, but did not use salt and they tasted amazing!!! I substituted the salt for Mrs. Dash.
Do you know the nutrition facts about the chicken strips by chance?
Do you know if you can bake instead of cooking stovetop? If so at what temp and for how long? Thank you!
What can be subbed for the almond meal? Have a kid who is allergic to tree nuts
I am allergic to almonds, do you think this recipe would work with coconut flour?
Oh my goodness these were amazing. My 18 month old and my 7 year old cleaned their plates. We are new to Paleo and were scared to lose our chicken strips. Now we know we don’t have to! We will make these again (and again… and again… and again!). Thank you!
My 5 year old daughter said and I quote, “These are so good can you make them everyday? And make extra to put in my lunch box too!” I liked them very much, and so did my husband and my 3 year old son. But frankly, the men will eat anything I give them, it’s us ladies you have to impress. Something that all 4 of us liked and want again is almost unheard of. I had purchased the chicken to make fajitas (I marinate it in line ice and cumin and coriander, it is on fooodtv.com the emeril beef… Read more »
Made these tonight, and both me and son loved them. Wonder what the nutritional numbers arw, cals/fat?
We made these for dinner tonight and they were fabulous! Thank you so much for the recipe. These will be going into our regular menu rotation. 🙂