In a medium bowl whisk the egg and water together to make an egg wash. In another medium bowl mix 1 cup of bread crumbs, salt, ground black pepper, and garlic powder together.
Next, coat each chicken piece with breadcrumbs: place a chicken piece in the egg wash and coat with egg, then place the chicken in the breadcrumbs and coat.
Repeat this process until all the chicken pieces have a double coat of bread crumbs. Use the second cup of breadcrumbs as needed.
Frying the Chicken:
In a large skillet add the canola oil and bring to high heat. Next, fry the chicken on both sides until crispy and golden, about 3 minutes per side.
Ensure you do not crowd the skillet while frying the chicken. Repeat this process until all of the chicken is fried.
To Serve:
Serve these crispy chicken tenders with a side of homemade French fries or sweet potato fries.
Notes
Invent Your Recipe:In this recipe I am using chicken pieces and Italian seasoned breadcrumbs. Chicken tenderloins are convenient to buy in the store, but they are more expensive then boneless chicken breasts. So I am using boneless chicken breasts in this recipe. Just trim the fat and cut the breasts into strips.For the coating on the chicken I have used plain breadcrumbs, panko breadcrumbs, and corn flakes for the crispy coating. Regular breadcrumbs are pretty straight forward, just substitute in this recipe and follow the instructions. For the corn flakes you might want to put them in a bag and smash them up a bit before using them as a coating.Chicken is my preferred meat to use in this recipe, however, I have used thin boneless pork chops, thin sliced sirloin steak, sliced turkey breasts, and shrimp in the recipe before. Once you perfect the crispy bread coating, you can experiment with different ingredients to fry.