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!
- 2 lbs of chicken tenders
- 1½ cups of panko bread crumbs (can be found in the Asian aisle of grocery stores)
- 1 cup of shredded sweetened coconut
- 1 egg
- ½ can of condensed milk
- ½ cup of orange juice
- salt and pepper to taste
- Peanut Oil for frying
- Marmalade:
- Honey Marmalade Dipping Sauce Recipe:
- ½ cup of honey
- ½ 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.
- 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.
- Heat peanut oil in a medium pan or skillet on medium-high heat. Fill pan to about ½" of oil. Dip and fully coat each tender in the egg mixture first and then the panko/coconut mix.
- Set each coated chicken on a cookie cooling rack.
- Fry each tender for 6-8 minutes until golden brown. Serve with Honey Marmalade dipping sauce. Enjoy!
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.
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.
Set each coated chicken on a cookie cooling rack.
Fry each tender for 6-8 minutes until golden brown. Serve with Honey Marmalade dipping sauce. Enjoy!
Is there another oil you would recommend? I can’t use peanut oil in my house due to allergies.
Thanks
Glad you liked it Lynn!
Made these tonight for dinner and even my son (who claimed he hated coconut) loved them! The honey/marmalade dip was really sweet and it was a new experience for me to eat a “sweet” tasting chicken, but I loved it!
Hi Melanie, I’m curious about this too. Didn’t see a response to your question. Is it sweetened condensed milk or evaporated milk? Thanks to anyone who can answer!
I am making this tonight for dinner and am super excited!! Me and my fiance love coconut and have never made it in anything but bake goods. I saw you said you couldnt find the cocnut and the panko bread crubs. I live in Tennessee in the USA and I live it a small town with a small store I thought i would have to go to walmart 20 minutes away but i called the store in my town and to my suprise they sold both there. The coconut you will find in your super markets in bake goods probably lower down on the shelves under chocolate chips and all that. The panko crumbs are in the same isle with bread crumbs i found mine on a top shelf cause its a single type of crumbs. You can also find the panko crumbs in the asian food isle if you have one in your stores. I really hope this helps for next time you make it.
I just made this recipe and it didn’t turn out as good looking as your picture did. Mostly bread crumbs stuck to the chicken and not alot of coconut, so they basically just tasted like regular chicken tenders. And the marmalade/honey sauce was overwhemingly honey-flavored. I ended up using a whole jar of marmalade to the 1/2 cup of honey. It tasted good but it didn’t taste like it was supposed to I don’t think.
Hi Alice!
I’m making these tonight for the first time. This will be the first “actual” recipe I have made from you because up until now it has been nothing but your AMAZING chocolate chip cookies! I can’t wait to see how these turn out. Thank you so much for the recipe! Both my tummy and I greatly appreciate your constantly updating blog. 🙂
i made this for dinner tonight. i couldn’t find panko crumbs or sweetened coconut, since i’m out in italy, so i used stale bread and regular shredded coconut. also, i used orange juice instead of marmalade(i realized i didn’t have any, so i improvised.) and i put garlic in it. and reg. milk instead of condensed. but it was still amazing. thank you so much for this recipe!
whole thing sounds really sweet! sweetened milk, OJ, coconut, honey, marmelade….making this (or using this recipe for inspiration and will kinda make it up as I go) for dinner tonight. I think I am gonna do my egg mixture with a little reg milk and and OJ. And for the sauce, I plan to add some dijon mustard to even out the sweetness a bit. Love anything in panko! made the best version yet of oven baked crispy zucchini fries the other night with panko- amazing!
YES! I would bake them! while I love the greasy, flavorful and colorful result of pan frying….I dont like the extra fat and I hate pan frying when there are a lot of batches. I would use a parchment (my favorite) or non-stick foil lined cookie sheet (or spray with Pam or similar). Oven at 425 degrees. If you want a little extra color or flavor, LIGHTLY drizzle (or spray) the chicken with oil or melted butter before baking. Bake for 6-8 minutes on first side, flip over and bake another 6-8 minutes or until browned and cooked through. I am planning to make coconut chicken tender and coconut shrimp for dinner tonight and plan on baking them all! good luck!
One question, you mean sweetened condensed milk?
I have tried this recipe twice and liked it both times but i am having trouble with the frying part. It’s the only part of the recipe that I don’t like. Is there any way to bake these?
Made this for my Husband and son tonight and they loved it. Pretty easy too.
Great recipe and very versatile.
Didn’t have some of the ingredients so I used:
skim milk w/ 1 tsp sugar
no orange juice
Fried in Coconut oil
and used Honey Mustard dressing
Put it on top of a big salad.
Husband loved it, Yum!
I just came across your website and found these wonderful recipes for Coconut Chicken Tenders and the Honey Marmalade Dipping Sauce. I can’t wait to try them out on my family this weekend! I will definitely be back to this website and see what other recipes you have that I can try. Thanks for being here!
I just made these chicken tenders and now I’m sure that I can make whatever you post here and I can’t do it wrong- it will taste simply wonderful.
I am looking forward to tasting this recipe!!! Got everything prepped! Easy and quick thank you for that! The kids are excited for dinner!
Hi Leslie,
Sometimes Panko can be found where regular bread crumbs are shelved. If that doesn’t work, crushed Corn Flakes would be a great alternative. I don’t recommend regular bread crumbs because the texture doesn’t compliment the coconut very well. You could also try just using coconut.
Alice,
I was wondering what other bread crumbs can I use? I couldn’t find panko bread crumbs in my asian isle…
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.
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.
Also,
what kind of sides do you make with this? Suggestions?
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.
These were so easy and delicious!! Big hit with my boyfriend, Mom, Dad and sister! Will make time and time again! Thanks!
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!