These Jack Daniels Chicken Strips are a delicious copycat recipe from TGI Fridays! They're made with panko sesame crusted chicken strips, tossed in a mouthwatering whiskey bbq glaze. For this recipe, you can cook the chicken in an air fryer, pan fry it on the stove or bake it in the oven. Once it's perfectly crispy, toss it in the signature whiskey glaze for an incredibly flavorful appetizer or party dish!
In another shallow bowl, add the all-purpose flour.
In a third large shallow bowl, combine the panko breadcrumbs and sesame seeds.
Cut the chicken breasts into approximately 1 inch cubes.
Toss the cubes of chicken with the chicken seasoning, until they’re fully covered.
Place each piece of seasoned chicken in the egg wash.
Once it’s fully covered in the egg, allow any excess to drip off before transferring the chicken to the bowl of flour.
Cover the chicken completely in the flour, then add it back to the bowl of whisked eggs.
Once fully covered in the egg again, dip the chicken in the sesame breadcrumbs, pressing down slightly on all sides to make sure the chicken is fully covered in the breadcrumbs.
Transfer the breaded chicken to a cutting board, then repeat with all of the remaining pieces of chicken.
Once all of the chicken is breaded, either air fry, oven bake, or pan fry the chicken.
Air fry the chicken.
Add the breaded chicken strips to an air fryer basket, making sure there’s room around each piece of chicken for the air to circulate.
Spray the chicken strips with cooking spray, then cook at 400°F for 4 minutes.
Open the air fryer, flip the chicken, spray with cooking spray and cook for an additional 4 minutes.
Sauce the chicken.
After all of the chicken is cooked, place the chicken strips in a large bowl.
Pour room-temperature, or warm Jack Daniels bbq sauce over the chicken in the bowl and use tongs to gently toss them in the sauce, until they’re fully covered.
Do not sauce the chicken until you’re ready to eat it. Once sauced, the chicken should be eaten immediately or it will get soggy, and lose it's deliciously crispy texture.
Serve garnished with sesame seeds and diced green onions, if you'd like.
Notes
How to bake the chicken in the oven, instead of air frying it:
Preheat the oven to 425°F. If your oven has a convection setting, I recommend using that.
Place the pieces of breaded chicken on a wire rack, on top of a foil-lined baking sheet. Spray with cooking spray.
Bake in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, or until they’re golden brown. Because you’re cooking them on a wire rack, you don’t need to flip them throughout the cooking process. If you’re cooking them directly on a baking sheet, I recommend flipping them halfway through the cooking time.
Once all of the chicken is cooked, follow the instructions above for tossing the chicken with the sauce before serving.
How to pan fry the chicken, instead of air frying it:
Add enough canola oil (or vegetable oil) to a large skillet, so that you have 1/2 inch of oil in the bottom of the pan. The amount of oil will vary depending on how large of a pan you’re using. I recommend starting with 1 cup of oil, then adding more if needed.
Place the pan of oil on the stove over medium-high heat.
Once the oil is hot, add the chicken pieces in batches, making sure there’s room around each piece of chicken. If you overcrowd the pan with chicken, it won’t cook properly and get crispy on the outside.
Fry the chicken for 3-4 minutes per side.
Use a slotted spoon to remove the chicken strips from the oil when they’re golden brown and transfer them to a wire rack, with paper towels underneath the rack. This will allow any excess oil to drip off the pieces of chicken through the wire rack, and will keep the chicken nice and crispy while you pan fry the remaining batches of chicken.
Once you’ve cooked all of the chicken, follow the instructions above for tossing the chicken with the sauce before serving.
When breading chicken, always use one hand for the wet ingredients and one hand for the dry ingredients. This will prevent clumping, keep your hands from becoming coated in the breading, and it will help keep the breading ingredients separated.
Do not toss the chicken in the sauce until you’re ready to eat it! If you plan to eat the chicken in batches, just toss however much you want to eat in the sauce, and save the rest for later. After you toss the chicken in the sauce, you need to eat it quickly, or it will loose it’s wonderfully crispy texture!
Do not toss the cooked chicken strips with cold sauce. That will cool down the chicken. Instead, either place the Jack Daniels sauce on the counter before you start this recipe to warm it up to room temperature, or microwave the sauce for 30 seconds before tossing it with the chicken strips.
To make gluten free Jack Daniel’s Chicken Strips, replace the all-purpose flour with a gluten-free flour blend, or rice flour. Use gluten-free panko bread crumbs, instead of traditional panko. The homemade bbq sauce is gluten free. Refer to the blog post for more details.