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, you’ll appreciate these boneless strips. They’re 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?
There’s 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 Ray’s is my go-to for this recipe. If you don’t like super saucy chicken fingers, you can always go light on the sauce.
- Celery sticks and blue cheese sauce: There’s 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 make—you just need some blue cheese, mayonnaise, sour cream, milk, and a little Worcestershire sauce. If you’re 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 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
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 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 teaspoons milk
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2/3 cup (75g) blue cheese crumbles
Instructions
- If using chicken breasts, pound down and cut into strips.
- Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C). 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 until the cereal 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, 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. 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 is 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: Stir sauce ingredients 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 350°F (177°C) 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. Bake frozen chicken fingers in a 350°F (177°C) oven for 20 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
Keywords: baked buffalo chicken fingers
I made just the chicken fingers…great recipe. I don’t have any excuses not to make buffalo chicken tenders again. So much easier to eat that wings. 🙂
★★★★★
Do you think these can be made in an air fryer?
Hi Anna, Definitely! But we haven’t tried them out in an air fryer, so we don’t know exact the bake time. Enjoy!
Simple, tasty, and surprisingly quick! I rarely take shortcuts in the kitchen as achieving satisfying taste is always worth the time and effort; however, this recipe yields delicious, crispy chicken fingers in record time – and pairs perfectly with the blue cheese sauce. I make and deliver dinner to my family members every other Sunday, and my next menu will certainly include Sally’s Buffalo Chicken Fingers! (Of course, I’ll serve them with another one of my favorite Sally recipes…Soft Dinner Rolls)!!! Thank you 🙂
★★★★★
I’m wondering if I can use Panko instead of corn flakes. That is what I have in my pantry right now.
Thank you.
Sure can, Grace. Enjoy!
So good!! Best I’ve ever had.
★★★★★
My family loved this recipe! Very tasty, easy enough to make, we had leftovers but they were gone when the kids fought over them the next day! Thanks for the great idea – I was tired of frying strips! This is so much easier and allows me to make them ahead of time.
★★★★★
So crispy and easy!
★★★★★
First, I’m a good cook. I make some great stuff. But I fail at chicken in the oven 92% of the time. I also don’t ever comment on recipe sites. But had to cause these turned out perfect and such an easy recipe.. thanks
Hey! Love all your recipes!
What are your suggestions for this be made in an air fryer instead of oven-baked?
Hi McKayla! Thanks! I don’t own an air fryer so I’m unsure of any exact instructions you’d need. Let me know if you try it!
Literally our go to recipe, love, love, love this! We are about to make some, it really is quick, easy, and delicious. We have made it several times with Moore’s buffalo sauce, but today we are going to try Sweet Baby Ray’s. Thank you so much for this recipe!
★★★★★
Made these for the Super Bowl. They are delicious and so quick and easy to make. The cornflakes make so much difference. Thanks for an easy tasty recipe
We just had these for dinner. Everyone really loved them, some with honey mustard sauce, some with the Sweet Baby Rays sauce and one with good old catsup!! I don’t like to fry too many dishes, so the baked chicken fingers worked out very well. Thank you for the easy to follow recipe!
I just made these and they came out delicious. I made my own buffalo sauce because I like it spicy. You are a life saver !!! These are incredible!
Great recipe! Was a little spicy for me but my husband LOVED them…made the honey BBQ ones for the kids. Adore your baking recipes! They are seriously flawless. And this one was great too….I might need to find a sauce that is not so spicy but the texture etc (the hard part) was PERFECT!!! Thanks!
YUM! These were delicious! I’ve never cooked with cornflakes before, and they made the chicken tenders perfectly crispy. Will definitely be making this one again!
They are such an unexpected fun way to make chicken fingers! Glad you liked them!
I just made these, following your recipe perfectly and they were absolutely amazing! I had to use a different buffalo sauce as I live in the UK. Thank you so much!!
I Love these tenders. I tried them with the Sweet Baby Ray sauce, and it was a little to spicy for me. I made them a second time, and made my own sauce, and they were great. The chicken is crispy outside, and tender on the inside. Great recipe!
Just made these tenders tonight for dinner…loved them! Just perfect using the cornflakes and super easy recipe! Plus I really liked Sweet Baby Ray’s buffalo sauce.
My kids love these! The recipe is easily customizable to the preferences on your our home. They would also work well as a pot-luck appetizer. Thanks!
What can I do if I don’t have a food processor?
You can easily crush the cornflakes in a zip lock bag with a rolling pin or hammer, then put your salt, pepper, etc and shake the bag to mix it up.
These are so deeeelish! I’ve made the popcorn chicken before, but I wanted to try tenders because I felt like they would be easier! I tossed half in SBR’s buffalo and used bolthouse farms yogurt ranch for dipping, and the other half tossed in SBR’s honey chipotle BBQ! Love them! These will definitely be on my super bowl snack line up this year
This recipe was such a hit with my whole family–everyone was fighting over the last strip! My husband and I diced the chicken and put them on a salad, and the kids dipped them in ranch. I’ll be making this again soon. Thanks for the great recipe!
Delicious! I didn’t have enough corn flakes so I filled in panko breadcrumbs for the difference…crunchy and yummy! Thanks for this go-to recipe!
I LOVE this recipe. I have made it multiple times now. It never disappoints. I sometimes like to do it with a “bang bang” sauce too! It is delish!!! I highly recommend trying!
Mayo, Sweet Chili Sauce, hot sauce, and honey!
Can I use Ritz crackers instead of the cornflakes? And if so, how much?
Hi Mary, I’d use about 5 cups of crushed Ritz crackers.
It turned out very well and very easy. It thickened up fine, didn’t take too long and the flavor was very very good.
Hi Sally! These are on the menu for this week! To make ahead, do you think I could coat them and then freeze before baking them first? Or should I bake, freeze, and out in the oven again? Thank you!
You could, but the cornflakes may get a little soggy. I always bake then freeze.
Thanks for the recipe Sally! I can’t wait to try it. Does it require Corn flakes or can it be any kind of breakfast type Flake? Wheat/Rice/etc.??
Really any type of flake cereal. You can coat chicken in nearly any crumb.
I just made these for dinner tonight. They are so good! Not everyone at my table is a fan of buffalo sauce, so I left some plain. These are probably the best baked chicken tenders I have tried, and I have tried a lot! Thanks, Sally, for another keeper!!