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Herbed Chicken Tenders with Tomato Sauce

Herbed Chicken Tenders with Tomato Sauce
  • Category

    Dinner

  • Cusine

    Italian

Ingredients

2 pounds chicken tenders

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1 cup breadcrumbs

2 tablespoons Italian seasoning herbs

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons butter, melted

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup minced onion

1 chopped garlic clove

1 tablespoons tomato paste

1 15-ounce can tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

Directions

Soak tenders in buttermilk for 15 to 30 minutes. While the tenders are soaking, make the tomato dipping sauce.

Heat the olive oil in a pot over medium-high heat. Sauté the onions, stirring often, until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook another minute. Add the tomato paste, mix well and cook for 1 to 2 minutes more. The tomato paste should darken to a brick-red color. Add the tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes, salt and sugar and bring to a boil. Cook this for 5 minutes if using tomato sauce, 10 minutes if using crushed tomatoes.

Put the sauce into a blender and purée until smooth. Hold your hand over the blender lid to keep it from popping off, and start the blender at a low setting and work up to the highest. The sauce will keep in the fridge for up to a week. oven to 500 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with foil and set an oven-safe metal cooking rack inside. Baking the tenders on this rack will help get them crispy on all sides.

Mix together the breadcrumbs, Italian seasoning, and salt in a shallow bowl. One by one, remove the chicken tenders from the buttermilk and place in the bowl with breadcrumbs, coating them on all sides with the breadcrumbs. Place on the wire rack set inside the sheet pan, spaced slightly apart.

Drizzle a little melted butter over each chicken tender. Place the pan in the oven and bake for about 12 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the pieces are lightly browned. Serve with a bowl of the sauce for dipping.