I want to develop a chicken strip recipe.

[Attjack]

We like chicken strips. I want to create a recipe so that I can make and freeze the chicken strips to be popped into the air fryer for a quick meal at a later time. I'm thinking of wet brining the strips of breast meat, dredging, and breading them. I'm thinking maybe they then would need to be par-baked before freezing them to set the coating. Has anyone done something similar?

[Huskee]

Is a par-bake better than a full bake? I'm thinking of the Schwan's crispy chicken strips we used to get (amazing, by the way), they were fully cooked and re-heated 100% fine in the oven or air fryer.

[Attjack]

I would think fully cooking chicken breast multiple times would produce dry chicken. To combat that further, I was thinking a wet brine would be a good idea. I rarely do that. I would like to try those strips you buy. I imagine they were deep fried which would probably help with moisture retention.

[Steve R.]

Schwan's is the first thing I thought of. That has been a staple in our house for quite a while. That's how I would do it from scratch.

[Attjack]

I'll add that the best frozen boneless chicken products I have purchased were all raw with breading on them that need to be fully cooked.

[jfmorris]

This is an interesting subject, as having JUST gotten an air fryer, the wife was asking if I could make my Korean style wings in it, and I told her no, because those are dredged and battered, and really need to get dropped into hot oil to set the coating, as its kind of a wet coating that wouldn't work in the oven either.

So why not just air fry them to set the coating, just not all the way? Or is the coating too delicate, and needs to be on a pan in the oven (or in oil in the fryer)?

[Attjack]

I've done fish and pickles with pretty good results. I'm also considering a batter to get better coverage.

Like I said to Huskee I want moist chicken and I think it might dry them out. I may try both ways though.

[rickgregory]

I've not done this but in your shoes I'd grab a dozen, prep them through breading and then bake 4 fully, parbake another four and freeze the final four. For the uncooked ones, I'd put them on a plate etc, freeze them solid, then vac seal or maybe ziploc. After a day or so, grab them out of the freezer and cook.

See what the differences in quality are and then go with the best one.

[Attjack]

That's a good call. I had planned on trying various methods. I have a big pack of breasts in the fridge so I'll have to get going on it soon. I'll try those 3 options and see what we get.

[jfmorris]

Freezing the raw breaded meat might be a good way to go - it would set the breading, and hopefully the breading would cook and set solidly in the air fryer by the time the chicken is done.

[rickgregory]

jfmorris - the one thing I think might need to be done with the raw frozen strips is to balance browning on the outside with enough heat to cook the inside. If the volume isn't too much, that should be OK. Might want to do a slightly lower temp like 325F?

[Dadof3Illinois]

If you don't mind paying a little more I would recommend using chicken tenderloins. They cook super fast and could be done either way (precooked or par-cooked). My son is a chicken strip air fryer expert.....I'm not sure of the brand name but the ones he really likes are pre cooked and frozen...throws them in for 18 mins and eat them like candy. I've never had one, heck I haven't had anything battered and deep fried in a couple years........man those are starting to sound pretty darn good!!!!....LOL.

[Attjack]

I'm not completely against doing tenders but I'm going to try it with the big pack of breasts I already bought. They sell tender right next to the breasts that I buy.

I'm looking for a relatively healthy end product. I'll dip them in mustard which is delicious.

[Dadof3Illinois]

Attjack Yea understand.....We do tenders because they cook so darn fast and tend to stay moist longer. But if we find breast on sale I'll buy those, cover with mustard and my favorite rub then grill or bake.

[RichieB]

Trader Joe's Chicken Tenders comes out perfect in the air fryer.

[texastweeter]

John souls foods country style chicken strips are the best we ever bought. They may be par cooked but for sure not fully, as the chicken inside is raw.

[texastweeter]

I do cheese this way. Freeze string cheese, wet batter, quick hit fry to set batter, then freeze. Cheese ok if under cooked so I don't know if it will translate to the chicken. I also par fry french fries (after boiling in vinegar spiked water) before freezing to make easy fries that are just like mcdonalds.

[Attjack]

That cheese sounds good. We buy fried cheese curds at the bar and she wanted to give it a go at home. They came out well. These were deep fried and we think next time going with a slightly lower temp will make these even better.

[Oak Smoke]

We are normally feeding grand kids when we drag out the air fryer. The other night we wanted a quick dinner so we threw some Tyson chicken strips in the air fryer, they were great. They had definitely been partially cooked before being frozen. The batter was some what brown coming out of the bag, but they were moist. I’ll eat those again.

[mrteddyprincess]

Okay, maybe you're trying to stay healthier with air fry only, but when I met my wife, she had two boys who "wouldn't eat chicken strips." They would eat nuggets, but nothing else chicken related. I have been frying chicken strips for them for eight years now, and they actually request it on birthdays.

Long story short, I fry them up in a skillet, we eat them, and then we warm up the leftovers with the air fryer setting on our oven. Best way to warm them up!

I think I could freeze those fried chicken strips and repeat the process with the air fryer to warm them up with good results.

I suppose I could air fry them from the start, freeze them, and then use the air fryer function to warm them up all the same. We have not noticed a "drying out effect" by warming up the chicken strips in our oven.

[Old Glory]

Here are a few ideas

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/homemade-frozen-chicken-fingers-recipe-2108933

https://freezermeals101.com/ranch-chicken-tenders/

[Attjack]

Thanks, I shall consult those recipes.

[FireMan]

Ya might get the best meat fer the strips from the front legs of the chicken, just sayin.

[Attjack]

I just looked and mine are missing!

[nunyaz]

Somehow, that reminded me of this:

https://youtu.be/i3kpYiWdVWY

Ronald Reagan's infamous three-legged chicken joke 😂

Peace,
Nunyaz

[CHNeal]

This won’t help your quest for breading then freezing but a great variation on the regular chicken strip is the Italian chicken strip.
I marinade them in olive oil and my Italian seasoning blend just like the breasts I grill. Actually I cut them from breasts, then bread with panko then either pan or air fry then use Caesar dressing as the dipping sauce.
My girls eat them up!

[Attjack]

I gotta say these are delicious. They're moist, crunchy, and, well seasoned. I have another batch air frying now destined for the freezer and a third batch that will be frozen raw. No par baking this round and I may not even try that at all.

[Attjack]

The dipping sauce is on point too.

[Attjack]

Into the freezer they go.

[texastweeter]

I may do the same with some venison shanks tonight

[Attjack]

texastweeter I'm not sure when I'll do mine but the recipe is in Paprika now.

[texastweeter]

All this talk about it and I threw in 4 venison shanks today

[Attjack]

These were the ones I cooked and froze. 20 minutes in the air fryer and I have moist delicious strips. But I'm curious how the raw ones come out because they're a lot less prep.