Coconut Chicken Tenders Recipe

by alice on June 30, 2009 · 33 comments

coconutchicken
You’ve heard of coconut prawns or shrimp. Meet its cousin, coconut chicken. Last weekend we celebrated my daughter’s 8th Birthday with a house filled with girls, Hannah Montana, and food fit for a princess. When deciding on a menu my daughter requested her favorite dish, coconut chicken tenders. Who could blame her? Each tender is dipped in sweetened egg batter, coated with a panko coconut mixture and pan-fried to perfection.

Although the kids prefer them without a dipping sauce, my husband and I love dipping them in a marmalade honey sauce. This kid and adult friendly finger food will be a hit with or without sauce. You are going to love these! Enjoy!

Recipe: Coconut Chicken Tenders with Honey Marmalade dipping sauce

Ingredients:

2 lbs of chicken tenders

1 1/2 cups of panko bread crumbs (can be found in the Asian aisle of grocery stores)

1 cup of shredded sweetened coconut

1 egg

1/2 can of condensed milk

1/2 cup of orange juice

salt and pepper to taste

Peanut Oil for frying

Directions:

coconuttenders
On a cookie sheet, season chicken with salt and pepper on both sides. Set aside.  In a medium bowl, mix orange juice, condensed milk, and a beaten egg until your “wet” mixture is well incorporated.  In another bowl, mix coconut and panko crumbs.

coconutchickenbowls

Heat peanut oil in a medium pan or skillet on medium-high heat. Fill pan to about 1/2″ of oil. Dip and fully coat each tender in the egg mixture first and then the panko/coconut mix.

coconutchickenbatter

coconutpankochicken

Set each coated chicken on a cookie cooling rack.

batteredcoconutchicken

Fry each tender for 6-8 minutes until golden brown. Serve with Honey Marmalade dipping sauce. Enjoy!

coconutchickenfry

Honey Marmalade Dipping Sauce Recipe:
1/2 cup of honey
1/2 of marmalade
Directions: In a small bowl, add honey and marmalade. Heat in the microwave for 1 minute. Stir everything until well mixed and serve with coconut chicken tenders.

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{ 31 comments… read them below or add one }

1
Nutmeg Nanny June 30, 2009 at 4:53 pm

How delicious!!! I have had coconut shrimp but never thought of doing the breading on chicken. That sauce looks super tasty too:)

2
Jim June 30, 2009 at 5:37 pm

Alice,

These look better than tasty. Thanks for sharing!

~Jim

3
Kate @ Savour Fare June 30, 2009 at 5:39 pm

I’m not entirely convinced the Nuni would eat it, but that’s OK because she’d have to pry it out of my hands.

4
jenn June 30, 2009 at 5:58 pm

I never thought of using coconut with chicken tenders. This looks great. I love the honey marmalade dipping sauce you made for it to. Looks and sounds delicious.

5
Deborah June 30, 2009 at 7:13 pm

I love coconut chicken, but have never made it at home. This sounds wonderful!

6
Jen @ My Kitchen Addiction June 30, 2009 at 9:18 pm

These look so good! I KNOW I will be making these. My husband’s favorite dish on our honeymoon in Jamaica was the coconut breaded chicken. I’ve never been able to duplicate it… but this sounds close! He will be sooo happy!

7
Humingbird Appetite June 30, 2009 at 11:32 pm

They look lovely and yummy!

8
Cathy - wheresmydamnanswer June 30, 2009 at 11:51 pm

I cannot wait to try these as I have all the ingredients already in the kitchen! Looks great

9
Amrita July 1, 2009 at 2:44 am

Nom nom nom! This is definitely going on my “try-out” list!! Looks absolutely delish!

10
Danica July 1, 2009 at 1:39 pm

I have always wanted to make coconut chicken and never have….this looks and sounds fantastic – I NEED to make it now :)

11
Kevin July 4, 2009 at 1:01 pm

That coconut crusted chicken whit dipping sauce looks really good!

12
Quynh July 5, 2009 at 6:28 pm

I just made these for dinner, and they were so delicious! I have found a new blog to follow :)

13
jaden July 8, 2009 at 4:03 pm

hey those are gorgeous photos! i love your counter tops

14
joy in the Burbs July 16, 2009 at 12:52 pm

Hi Alice, it’s Joy. I’m looking for some inspiration for dinner tonight. Think I found it. Miss your other blog. Glad your doing this one.

Joy

15
Alice July 16, 2009 at 12:53 pm

Thank you everyone for your kind words.

QUYNH: I am really glad you liked them!

16
joy in the Burbs July 19, 2009 at 5:38 pm

I made them Friday night and loved them. Soooo Good!

17
Danielle July 21, 2009 at 8:45 pm

These were absolutely delicious! I substituted the panko bread crumbs since I couldn’t find them at my grocery store for crushed rice krispy cereal. It was absolutely wonderful and everyone loved it! Thank you for the fabulous recipe!

18
Alice July 21, 2009 at 9:28 pm

Danielle, what a fantastic substitute! You’re brilliant. I bet crushed Corn Flakes would work too!

19
Sarah @ This Heavenly Life August 15, 2009 at 2:28 pm

This recipe was perfect! My family ate it up and begged for more :) I hope you don’t mind, I’m writing a blog post about how much my husband in particular loved it, and I’m including the recipe and a link to you. I should have it up by Monday at the latest, so let me know if you’d rather I didn’t post it for some reason. I’m not a food blogger, so I don’t know if it’s considered OK for me to post someone else’s recipe? I hope so, though, because I think my readers would really like it! Have a nice weekend :)

20
indy September 6, 2009 at 2:05 pm

Do you think you’d be able to cook these in the oven, as oppose to frying them?

Indy

21
Alice September 6, 2009 at 2:10 pm

Indy: Yes you could bake them.. however I’ve found they do not crisp up as much. You will also want to make sure to mix a little bit of butter or oil with the panko crumbs before coating the chicken in order for them to crisp up a little. Baking times will be the same as you would when you normally bake chicken. Hope that helps!
Alice

22
uzma November 15, 2009 at 12:25 pm

I love this recipe!!! Am going to try it tomorrow. My kids are tired of chicken steaks and nuggets…thanks for a lovely recipe!!

23
Connie January 2, 2010 at 7:49 pm

Alice, such a PLEASANT surprise to find your blog. I was in desperate need of going grocery shopping, but last night decided to create something with the ingredients I had left. I had everything your recipe asked for and actually was looking for a coconut chicken recipe when I stumbled across yours! We made this along with the rice and Korean style spinach. The chicken was FABULOUS! My husband thoroughly enjoyed it, and I’m excited to continue using your recipes. As a Korean American, I’m excited to see that you have Kalbi and Bulgogi recipes as well.

24
naomig January 15, 2010 at 12:48 pm

Oh man this looks good! I LOVE coconut prawns, but my husband is not a fan… this will be a great day for me to get a fried meat coconut fix, and for him to not have to eat prawns. :-)

25
Tonya January 24, 2010 at 4:36 pm

If you bake them, you can always turn on the broiler at the end for a couple of minute to give them the extra crunch! I’m making these tonight for my 5 year old son and my husband, thank you!

26
Melanie Craddock January 31, 2010 at 12:58 pm

Hi Alice!
I’m just curious about something in this recipe. Is it SWEETENED condensed milk, as in Eagle Brand?? the recipe didn’t say sweetened, and I’ve never seen any other type of condensed milk, only evaporated milk, so I wanted to make sure.
thanks!! love your blog and all the beautiful photos!

27
Kris April 13, 2010 at 9:42 pm

These were so easy and delicious!! Big hit with my boyfriend, Mom, Dad and sister! Will make time and time again! Thanks!

28
Jessica June 14, 2010 at 12:41 am

Just curious,
do you think it’d be okay to cook with olive oil? I don’t have peanut oil but if you think it will turn out differently I’ll pick some up. I’m so happy I found your blog. Thanks for the inspiration.

29
Jessica June 14, 2010 at 12:42 am

Also,
what kind of sides do you make with this? Suggestions?

30
alice June 14, 2010 at 1:11 am

Hi Jessica,
I find frying anything in olive oil generally doesn’t work very well. Canola oil or vegetable oil would be a better alternative. These chicken tenders are great as a main dish or an appetizer. If I were to pick a few sides, I would go with some type of lighter salad and perhaps some steamed vegetables to offset the fried food. Let me know if I can answer anymore questions.

31
LGof3 July 9, 2010 at 5:04 pm

Sooo excited to try this. Didn’t have all the ingredients so I’m trying a few subs. Soy milk for condensed, no orange juice :-( , and using coconut oil instead of peanut. Side dish of julienned zuchini cooked in coconut oil with a touch of soy and rice. We’ll see how it goes.

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