These homemade baked buffalo chicken fingers are always a favorite and disappear fast. After the coated chicken strips bake, toss in buffalo sauce and serve with ranch or the blue cheese dipping sauce recipe below.
Tell Me About These Baked Buffalo Chicken Fingers
- Texture: Thanks to a seasoned corn flake cereal coating, these chicken fingers strike the perfect balance of crunchy and tender.
- Flavor: If you love buffalo wings, youโll appreciate these boneless strips. Theyโre spicy and extra saucy.
- Ease: Cooks of any skill level can handle this recipe. Coat the chicken in flour, dip into an egg mixture, then roll it in the seasoned corn flake mixture. Bake, then toss the chicken fingers in buffalo sauce.
- Time: Set aside about 1 hour total, which includes roughly 30 minutes for prepping and another 25 for cooking and cooling.
FAQ: Why All the Layers of Coating?
Thereโs a rhyme & reason for each layer. Flour makes the egg stick and eggs make the corn flakes stick. Tip: The coating process can get a little messy, so what we usually do is have 1 hand for the wet (eggs) and 1 hand for the dry (flour and corn flakes). Still a little messy, but it helps.
Choosing the Right Ingredients for Baked Buffalo Chicken Fingers
- Corn flakes cereal: The cereal is key to having that superb crunch. We always prefer it over breadcrumbs when making homemade chicken fingers or bites like honey bbq popcorn chicken.
- Seasoning mix: Add salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and smoked paprika to the corn flakes.
- Buffalo wing sauce: You can make your own, but I prefer to use a store-bought version, and Sweet Baby Rayโs is my go-to for this recipe. If you donโt like super saucy chicken fingers, you can always go light on the sauce.
- Celery sticks and blue cheese sauce: Thereโs a reason the two are always paired together: the creamy coolness of blue cheese hits the spot when paired with the spicy kick of buffalo sauce. The blue cheese sauce is easy to makeโyou just need some blue cheese, mayonnaise, sour cream, milk, and a little Worcestershire sauce. If youโre not a fan of blue cheese, your favorite ranch dressing works just as well.
More Favorite Dinner Recipes
- Pecan Crusted Chicken Fingers
- Mac and Cheese
- Chicken Pot Pie
- Black Bean Burgers
- Chicken Meatballs
- Slow Cooker Chicken Chili
- Crispy Coconut Chicken
Crispy Baked Buffalo Chicken Fingers
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: serves 4
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Cooking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These homemade baked buffalo chicken fingers are always a favorite and disappear fast. After the coated chicken strips bake, toss in buffalo sauce and serve with ranch or the blue cheese dipping sauce recipe below.
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breasts or tenders
- 5 cups (140g) corn flakes cereal
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2ย teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2ย teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 cup (125g) all-purpose flourย (spooned & leveled)
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4ย cup (60ml) milk
- 1 cup buffalo wing sauce such as Sweet Baby Ray’s
- optional for serving: celery sticks and blue cheese sauce (recipe below)
Creamy Blue Cheese Dipping Sauce
- 1/2 cup (104g) mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup (120g) sour cream
- 2 teaspoonsย milk
- 1 teaspoonย Worcestershire sauce
- 2/3ย cup (75g) blue cheese crumbles
Instructions
- If using chicken breasts, pound down and cut into strips.
- Preheat oven to 400ยฐF (204ยฐC). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Set aside.
- Place the corn flakes, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and smoked paprika into a food processor (you can do this in stages if the processor isn’t large enough). Pulse 4-5 times untilย the cerealย is broken down. Not completely crushed; some larger pieces can remain. Pour into a large bowl. Place the flour into a separate bowl. Then in a third bowl,ย whisk the eggs and milk together.
- Coat each chicken strip in flour, shaking off any excess. Then, dip in egg mixture and let any excess drip off. Then generously roll in the corn flakes, shaking off any excess.ย Place the chicken strips on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 10 minutes. Turn each piece over and continue baking until the outside is crisp and the centers are cooked through, about more 10 minutes. Baking times may vary, just make sure the chicken isย cooked through by cutting into a thick piece. If you like them browner, bake a couple minutes longer. Careful, you don’t want to dry out the chicken inside.
- Allow to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet (we usually make the blue cheese sauce during this time), then carefully place the chicken fingers into a large bowl. Pour the buffalo sauce on top and gently stir to coat. Taste and add more sauce if desired. Serve warm with blue cheese dipping sauce.
- Blue cheese dipping sauce:ย Stir sauce ingredientsย together in a small bowl and serve.
- Leftover chicken fingers keep well in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Reheat in the microwave or for 10-12 minutes in a 350ยฐF (177ยฐC) oven.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Prepare the chicken through step 4. Refrigerate for up to 1 day before continuing with step 5. You can also freeze the baked chicken fingers before tossing in the buffalo sauce. Bakeย frozen chicken fingers in aย 350ยฐF (177ยฐC) oven for 20ย minutes or until warmed through, then coat in sauce.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Baking Sheet | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Food Processor | Glass Mixing Bowls
Reader Comments and Reviews
These are a long-time family (and friends) favorite. Easy, delicious & a very healthy alternative to fried chicken tenders. The cornflakes give them a nice crunch. Canโt speak to the blue cheese recipe as we always make my momโs recipe but that sounds great, too.
I made these wings for a family brunch. Everyone loved them, my son said they were better than store bought! The recipe was easy to follow too! Thank you Sally and team.
These came out so tasty and crispy, i will definitely be making these again!
My family loved these Buffalo Chicken Tenders! They were crispy on the outside but juicy and tender on the inside. Perfect! So easy to pull together. I will be definitely be adding these to our regular rotation.
Can you cook these I the zir fryer? How long?
Hi Susan, you certainly can! We havenโt tried them out in an air fryer, so we donโt know exact the bake time. Enjoy!
This is a nice recipe that worked out very well.
However, as native of Buffalo, NY I do have two comments.
First, his s recipe was indeed labeled as for Buffalo tenders. But why not go for the more-real-thing and use wings? Tenders (aka as boneless wings and the like) are ok, but the white meat in a wing tastes better than breast white meat. And the shapes are more fun.
Second, instead of a wanna-be sauce, try one of the 6 Buffalo Wing Sauces from the Anchor Bar which is the home of Buffalo Wings. Some of the larger super markets carry Anchor Bar; and, of course, mail order is just a few clicks away.
Keep up the interesting recipe work.
Hi Paul, you can certainly use wings if you prefer, and your favorite Buffalo sauce. The one we mentioned is just more readily available for most. Thanks for giving this recipe a try!
This recipe is AWESOME!!! Made it tonight for dinner, I kinda went my own way and used a packet of ranch seasoning in the corn flake mix. We also coated other chicken fingers in BBQ sauce because not everyone in my family likes buffalo sauce. This recipe is a keeper for sure!
We all know Sally can bake. Sally is my baking queen. But can Sally cook? Well I wasnโt sure and was curious to try this recipe. Iโm happy to report Sallyโs cooking recipe is also a success. I have tried many oven baked chicken tenders and this is the only one I actually loved. Chicken was crispy and juicy. Family approved it. I will be making it again. Thank you Sally.
Glad you enjoyed these! Thank you for turning to my recipes when you want something to bake, and also to cook!
My husband and I liked the crispiness of the chicken. I made ahead and cooked tonight and the corn flakes stayed crispy through the process.
The only things I would say is maybe season the chicken before breading. The corn flakes need to be fine to make 5 cups work for 1.5 lbs. Of chicken. I had to use 7 cups total corn flakes.
Also, I’m not sure why the flour needs to be spooned and leveled. Maybe if we were using it for something other than dredging, but here I really don’t think it’s necessary.