6 Frozen Chicken Tenders, Ranked

There's a reason so many chain restaurants make sure to serve high-quality chicken tenders. They're a tasty and reliable option, especially for customers who might struggle to find things they like on menus and need something simple to default to. The same is true for many home cooks. When time is too tight to cook a lunch from scratch, or you're trying to feed particularly picky eaters, store-bought frozen chicken tenders can come in extra handy.

Tenders (which are different from chicken fingers, by the way) are a super convenient food to keep stocked in the freezer. But not all chicken tender brands deserve your valuable freezer space; something I discovered after purchasing and taste testing six different brands from my local grocery stores. I rated each frozen chicken tender based on flavor and texture (more on that at the end of this piece) to determine which ones I'd reach for again, either to eat on their own or with some sides.

Tyson placed near the bottom in my ranking of frozen chicken nuggets, so it wasn't much of a surprise when the brand's Honey Battered Breast Tenders suffered the same fate. That, and the fact that I was hit with a strong funnel cake scent immediately upon opening the packaging, clued me in that this might be an unpleasant experience based on the batter alone.

Yep, unfortunately, what should've been this product's claim to fame actually ended up being its downfall. The honey batter is meant to give the tenders a sweet flavor, but, despite the smell on opening the bag, it was hardly detectable. Even worse, after cooking, the skin completely separated from the meat, acting almost like a shell that shucked off the tender, rather than holding together in a cohesive bite. 

And it's not like the batter gave way to a delicious interior either. The chicken itself was simultaneously mushy and bouncy, which created a very spongy, unappetizing texture. Hard pass. At this point, I probably won't be going back to try more Tyson products, despite it being one of the top food brands in the world.

Applegate Naturals Gluten Free Chicken Breast Tenders look good on paper. They're good for those with gluten sensitivities, are made entirely using white meat from humanely raised chickens, are free from antibiotics, and contain 13 grams of protein per serving. But on the plate, it's a different story, and it's not quite worth the almost $12 price tag — the most expensive on this list by far.

For one, it's hard to ignore the wildly inconsistent size and appearance of these three randomly selected tenders from the same bag. It's almost laughable, in fact. Just take a glance at the above picture, and you're met with variously sized pieces that look like a seahorse, a squirrel, and a lopsided worm (I'll let you decipher which is which). And if you open up the rest of the pack, you'll find a few more members of the zoo. But I figured, hey, the black specks dotting these wonky strips at least look promising and likely signal a well-seasoned taste. I thought wrong, as there was hardly any flavor to these tenders. If you still decide to pick up a bag (I wouldn't recommend it), now would be the time to whip out those leftover packets of your favorite fast-food signature sauces or search around in your cupboards and try out some unexpected chicken tender dips, like pesto ranch or sweet chili.

Finally, similar to Tyson's Honey Battered Breast Tenders, the batter is a problem and separates slightly from the meat. This doesn't happen here as noticeably as it did with the Tyson tenders, though, giving Applegate a slight edge in the ranking.

The only product to come in a small box rather than a sizable bag is Bell & Evans Air Chilled Breaded Chicken Breast Tenders, with one package containing six strips. And while that might sound incredibly stingy, especially for its $8.99 price point, there's a reason each box only contains relatively few pieces: they're behemoths. These tenders don't look like the slender tenders we've become accustomed to. Rather, Bell & Evans' tenders are extremely thick and akin to mini chicken cutlets, providing a whopping 19 grams of protein per serving. The macros are solid here, but you do lose some of the ease and simplicity of eating chicken tenders — while you'd pick up most tenders with your hands and bite straight into them, these bad boys feel like a fork and knife are required.

Also, even with sufficient time in the air fryer, some bites of the breading were crispy, while others were still soggy. These also had a visibly very thin outer layer, leaving you mostly with a dense hunk of meat to work with — plus, the meat isn't even all that great. The interior is on the drier side, and it tastes much more like turkey than chicken for some reason. I do love turkey, but it's just not the flavor that I (or likely anyone else, I'm assuming) am looking for in a chicken tender.

Banquet has a reputation for carrying some low-quality store-bought frozen meals that people recommend leaving out of your cart. However, its Chicken Breast Tenders are not only the cheapest in this ranking, coming in at just $5.99 for a generous 24-ounce bag, they're also among the yummiest.

 The body of the pieces is coated in orange-hued, audibly crunchy crumbs along with visible black flecks of seasoning, offering a wonderland of crispy textures accompanied by a peppery, paprika-forward flavor. If you've ever tried Burger King chicken nuggets, these are comparable, and I mean that as a high compliment.

I have nothing but praise for Banquet Chicken Breast Tenders, save for one minor critique. Falling on the opposite end of the spectrum from the previously mentioned mammoth Bell & Evans tenders, these are too small for my liking. They're the size of a finger and are on the slimmer side, almost like chicken fries. That means it'll take more of them to satiate an adult appetite, although they're probably perfect for kids. That aside, these chicken tenders are absolutely a great choice flavor- and texture-wise. However, the next two products in our ranking were just a little bit better and more filling.

Finding the best gluten-free options at chain restaurants can be difficult sometimes, and after trying the slightly bland and expensive gluten-free Applegate tenders for this ranking, I was starting to think the situation was the same with frozen foods. But, Walmart's bettergoods brand offers gluten-free chicken tenders that I would recommend to anyone with a dietary sensitivity — and even to those without.

Unlike Applegate, bettergoods' tenders have a strong flavor all on their own, no need for any sauce to dip them in. Despite looking quite pale, they taste much like Costco's famous $5 rotisserie chicken, which members of the big-box store have come to love. With these, you'll get a similarly moist interior and a salty, savory flavor, all in an easy-to-consume size that you can take on the go without any hassle. Not to mention, these tenders have got the same 13 grams of protein per serving as the Applegate ones, and also use no preservatives or hormones, all while being about $5 cheaper.

I'm not one to shy away from eating any form of chicken nuggets or strips, be it Dino nuggies or even alphabet letters, but if I were looking for an elevated version that felt more suitable for an adult lunch, I'd go for Perdue Chicken Tenders. Similar to a few of the other items on this list, these tenders are 100% natural (without hormones or antibiotics) and contain 13 grams of protein per serving.

However, unlike some of the other brands, this product feels high-quality. From the way the satisfyingly crunchy crumb coating turns a beautiful golden-brown in the air fryer to the firm, yet not tough or chewy, bite, everything about these chicken tenders is delicious. They're also among the most uniform in shape and are a pretty hefty size without becoming inconvenient to eat. 

In other words, Purdue Chicken Tenders are reliable, satiating, and delicious all at once, and for a reasonable price of $7.99 for an almost two-pound bag. These certainly hold up eaten on their own, but I could also imagine they'd shine as part of a main dish when paired with veggies or fries for a more complete meal.

For this taste test, I grabbed a few tenders out of each brand's packaging and popped them into the air fryer. I sampled them without any sauce to see how they tasted on their own. Those I felt needed a dip of something to taste better were placed lower in the ranking. Texture was another consideration. I wanted the breading to offer a nice crunch, and if the skin pulled apart and separated from the meat too much, the brand lost some points. Lastly, the value of the product was factored in, and I compared prices against one another. I also took a look at the amount of protein and specific nutrition labels that the brands advertised, although many of them overlapped, so this didn't weigh as heavily in the ranking.