Black Pepper Asiago Chicken Tenders

Crusted in a crispy black pepper asiago breading and served with a creamy asiago aioli, these asiago chicken tenders cook up entirely in the oven and will quickly become a dinner favorite!

It doesn’t get much more in the back-to-school spirit than a big mess of chicken tenders! With the crispiest breading and made entirely in the oven cause easy-peasy is the name of the dinner game.

We’re also bringing out the asiago cheese in full force and it’s a thing of magic coating these crispy tenders and even better with more added to the creamy aioli.

While we’re on the topic, you may actually want a metric bucketful of that aioli, it’s absolutely ridiculous.

These tenders are seriously SO easy to pull off, friends! We’re just using a standard breading spruced up with some zesty black pepper and lots of sharp asiago, but it absolutely dominates here.

Start to finish you can have these tenders on the table in only about 45 minutes and they go SO well with a variety of meals! Don’t even get me started on them as a late-night snack.

These Chicken Tenders feature…

• A crispy asiago and black pepper breading
• Creamy asiago aioli sauce for dipping
• Minutes to make and completely oven-baked

Making the Chicken Tenders

(scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe)

Ingredients You Will Need

• Garlic
• Lemon juice
• Mayonnaise
• Asiago cheese
• Buttermilk
• Unsalted butter
• Egg
• 2% or skim milk
• All-purpose flour
• Panko breadcrumbs
• Garlic powder
• Onion powder
• Chicken breasts

Choosing Your Chicken

For this recipe you will need either pre-cut chicken tenders or boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into tenders.

I generally opt to cut my own tenders out of breasts since breasts are a little less expensive at the grocery store. Use a sharp knife to cut breasts into roughly about 2×6-inch tenders.

Tips for Perfect Chicken Tenders

1. Use standard breading procedure – this means coating the tenders in flour, beaten egg, and then rolling in the breadcrumbs. This method will help your breading stick to the chicken.
2. Grease pan well – use 2 tablespoons melted butter to make sure the pan is very well greased.
3. Bake tenders at 425F – this high temperature will help the exterior of the tenders crisp up nicely.
4. Flip tenders halfway through cooking – this helps both sides of the tenders crispy up evenly.
5. Soak garlic in lemon juice for aioli – this step helps mellow the garlic flavor.

Recipe Variations

Try these ideas for a different twist on these chicken tenders.

• Use a different cheese – try Parmesan or sharp cheddar in place of the asiago.
• Try a different dipping sauce – if you don’t care for aioli, try dipping tenders in honey mustard or barbecue sauce.
• Add spice – try adding a few shakes of cayenne pepper to breading for some heat.

Reheating Chicken Tenders

These chicken tenders reheat very easily if you plan to store leftovers or meal prep! Oven bake them at 400F 10-15 minutes or air fry at 375F 8-10 minutes.

It’s almost unreal how crispy we’re able to get these chicken tenders for them being completely oven-baked! The spicy black pepper and generous amount of sharp asiago cheese are the perfect flavor pairing and they add so much goodness to otherwise-boring chicken tenders.

And that aioli? Well, it may just change your life forever.

Save this recipe using the ‘save to recipe box’ button below. If you make it, please let us know! Leave a comment + star rating below, or take a photo and tag it on Instagram with #wholeandheavenlyoven.

More easy chicken dishes to make next!

• Sticky Mango Chicken and Zucchini
• Green Goddess Grilled Chicken
• One Pot Curry Chicken and Rice