Dairy Free Buffalo Chicken Tenders
Crispy, saucy, and seriously satisfying, these buffalo chicken tenders deliver everything you want from a game-day classic — without a drop of dairy anywhere in the recipe. The secret to keeping them completely free of butter and cream is a simple swap: vegan butter melted into Frank's RedHot with a splash of white vinegar creates a glossy, tangy buffalo sauce that tastes just as bold as the original. A three-step breading process — seasoned flour, an egg-and-hot-sauce wash, then a coat of panko — gives each tender that shatteringly crunchy exterior before it ever hits the pan. Pan-frying in vegetable oil locks in the crunch and gets the chicken to a perfect golden brown in just a few minutes per side. Once every tender gets tossed in that glossy buffalo sauce, the coating stays crisp while soaking up all that heat and tang. Serve them up with celery sticks and dairy free ranch on the side and you've got a crowd-pleasing plate of four that nobody will believe skips the dairy entirely.
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Learn more →Ingredients
4 servings
For the chicken
- 1 ½ lb chicken tenders
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tbsp hot sauce
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
- ½ cup vegetable oil, for frying
For the buffalo sauce
- ½ cup hot sauce (such as frank's redhot)
- 3 tbsp vegan butter
- 1 tsp white vinegar
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
For serving
- celery sticks, for serving (optional)
- dairy free ranch dressing, for serving (optional)
Instructions
- 1
Set a wire rack over a baking sheet and place it near the stove. In a shallow bowl, whisk together the flour, garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, salt, and black pepper. In a second shallow bowl, whisk the eggs with 1 tbsp hot sauce until combined. Place the panko breadcrumbs in a third shallow bowl.
- 2
Working one at a time, dredge each chicken tender in the seasoned flour and shake off the excess, then dip it in the egg mixture, letting any excess drip off, then press it firmly into the panko so the crumbs adhere on all sides. Set the coated tender on the wire rack and repeat with the remaining pieces.
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