Grilled Chicken Tenders (No Grill Needed)
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A copycat version of Cracker Barrel’s grilled chicken tenderloins, these juicy grilled chicken tenders are marinated in a zesty flavoring that no one can resist!
Okay, y’all, listen to me here: you are going to love these grilled chicken tenders! This is a widespread copycat version of Cracker Barrel’s grilled chicken tenderloin dish and they are absolutely amazing. I’ve been making them on a regular basis for the past 20 years and they are a beloved family favorite.
Fortunately, this grilled chicken tenders recipe is super quick and easy to make. All you have to do is marinate the chicken tenders in the deliciously zesty marinade and then cook them on the stovetop or grill. These grilled chicken tenders are as flavorful, juicy, and tender as the name suggests.
So, what’s in this flavoring? You’ve got lime juice, zesty Italian dressing, and honey. They combine to make a marinade that’s to die for (trust me on this, folks).
I like to serve my grilled chicken with a simple side salad (check out Texas caviar and my Greek salad) or some vegetables like grilled asparagus.
Recipe Ingredients
- Lime juice
- Zesty Italian dressing (or just plain Italian dressing)
- Honey
- Chicken
How to Make Easy Grilled Chicken Tenders Without the Grill!
Prepare the Marinade
First, I usually mix my marinade in a quart-sized mason jar. Begin by pouring in your dressing.
The original recipe said to strain and discard the spices but I really like them in here and I have never once actually noticed them on the finished chicken. They either cook up or magically disappear. Either way, why add another step if we don’t have to?
Add your honey…
and lime juice…
Screw the lid on the jar and give it a good shake.
If you are making your grilled chicken tenders with chicken breasts, cut them into strips.
Here is our chicken, all ready for the marinade ingredients.
Now what I do is put all of my chicken in a big gallon ziplock bag and just pour the chicken marinade in there with it. Seal the bag and stick it in your fridge for at least an hour.
Grilling the chicken tenders
After at least an hour, dump the entire contents of the bag into a large skillet.
You are going to be thinking “Wow, this is awful watery, there is no way it is going to look like hers” but oh yes it will!! Hang in there with me, this just takes a little patience (actually it takes about thirty minutes or so).
This is how it will look after ten minutes over medium heat. Just hang in there and let it cook.
I keep my stove eye/burner dial on five. Good thing is, you don’t have to fret over this, just go check on it about every ten minutes and turn it and you’ll be fine!
This is after about twenty minutes.
30 minutes later… now we’re starting to get somewhere!
A little after the 30-minute mark, the sauce thickens and begins to caramelize.
It’s getting really thick on the bottom now and this is where I start moving my meat around a lot, getting it all nice and browned.
Once it gets dark, I take every piece of chicken and one by one rub it around in that marinade before taking it out of the pan and putting it on my platter.
These grilled chicken tenderloins are full of flavor that I like to serve them with a simple side dish. Tonight we’ll have it with butter stewed potatoes. YUM!
Storage
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat them either on the stovetop or in the oven or air fryer. You can also keep leftovers in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating as mentioned.
Recipe Notes
- In a pinch, you can substitute the lime juice for lemon juice if you like. Another option is apple cider vinegar. I know I usually have lemon juice on hand but not lime. I happened to have this because I made Bananaritas the other morning. For any new readers, Bananaritas are not alcoholic and make a delicious breakfast.
- You can prepare the marinade and chicken tenders the night before if you like and just keep them in your fridge until you’re ready for supper. Another thing I have done before is mix up the marinade and chicken and just freeze the whole bag. Then on a morning, before you head off to work, just pop the bag in the fridge to thaw out during the day.
- If you’re using a grill to make your grilled chicken tenders, it will take about 10 minutes (turning halfway). You’ll want to make sure the internal temperature is 165 degrees before taking them off the grill.
- A different serving suggestion: sprinkle with parsley and serve with lime wedges.
- If you love garlic, add one clove of minced garlic or a teaspoon of to the chicken marinade.
- Make sure you don’t overcrowd your pan or move the chicken too much while cooking.
- Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes before cutting and serving, as this gives the chicken time to soak up the juices.
Recipe FAQs
What type of chicken do you use for this grilled chicken tenders recipe?
You can purchase chicken tenderloins or just do like I do and buy boneless skinless chicken breasts and cut them yourself. It’s cheaper to buy them this way and I just use my kitchen shears – by far the greatest utensil known to mankind. This is what I call a “fish and loaves” recipe because the chicken tends to plump up and be extra filling, therefore feeding a much larger amount than it normally would have. I used four chicken breasts and we easily have enough left for another meal (or some great lunches!).
What do you serve with your grilled chicken tenders?
The options are nearly endless, but here are some serving suggestions:
- Serve them with a dipping sauce like our chipotle ranch dressing.
- Do a side of crispy fries or mashed potatoes.
- Serve with a side salad, a simple vegetarian dish like zucchini and squash, or roast vegetables.
- Place them on a bed of rice or pasta, like my cilantro lime cauliflower rice.
You may also enjoy these chicken recipes:
Cheesy Chicken And Rice Crock Pot Version
Easy Chicken and Dumplings Recipe
You may also like this Cracker Barrel Copycat recipe:
Cracker Barrel Hash Brown Casserole Cheesy Copycat
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
- 1 cup zesty Italian dressing
- 2 teaspoons lime juice
- 3 teaspoons honey
Instructions
- Combine all marinade ingredients in a mason jar and shake well to combine.1 cup zesty Italian dressing, 2 teaspoons lime juice, 3 teaspoons honey
- Place the chicken strips in a gallon-sized ziplock bag and pour over the marinade. Seal and marinate for at least an hour.4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
- Pour all of the ziplock bag's ingredients into a large skillet and cook over medium heat until liquid evaporates and the remaining marinade becomes thick and caramelized, about 30 minutes (May take up to 40).
- Coat each chicken piece in marinade by rubbing it around on the bottom of the pan before removing it.
Nutrition
Okay, I am glad to see I am not alone. Christy, I too had chicken that was slightly on the dry side and didn’t get the sauce look. I had the bits with the seperated oil. What did I do wrong? I am to lower the temp once boiling or something?
These are really good and so easy to make. Thanks for another great recipe.
Hi Christy! I made these for dinner tonight to go on top of a big dinner salad. It tasted good, but I couldn’t get the marinade to stick on the chicken at the end. The marinade just stuck to the bottom of the pan and burned. The chicken still ended up tasting good, but it didn’t look as pretty as the pictures. Do you have any suggestions?
Just had these for dinner tonight! They were really good 😀 Served the chicken with roasted brussels sprouts and my lazy version of smashed potatoes (poke a couple red potatoes with a fork, toss in microwave, cook until soft, toss in bowl, mash with potato masher, mash in milk, butter, salt, pepper. Just thought of that method today and it worked great!) The chicken turned out WAY better than when I actually grill chicken (always gets burned then). The finished result actually looked (and tasted!) labor intensive even though it definitely was not. My chicken turned out a tiny bit on the dry side, but was still quite good and my fiance who is the self declared Dry Chicken Police liked it a lot. The marinade seemed to leap frog over the gooey stage and went from “runny” to “burned bits separated from oil” so I didn’t have any marinade to rub my chicken around in, but they looked almost like your picture and tasted great regardless 🙂 I’ll have to try the Great Value brand dressing next time, maybe that’s the key- this time I used Kroger brand.
Thanks, Christy 😀 Tomorrow night I’m making your stuffed peppers. I’m just flyin’ through your recipes, aren’t I?
Mine looked like burnt marinade, and oil separated….it was great regardless but wonder what went wrong?
I know this was four years ago, but will reply anyway. I’ve made this recipe quite a few times since the first time. That first time, my chicken did what yours did- the oil separated out and it didn’t really get gooey, but still tasted great. It has turned out how it should all the other times, though, using both Great Value brand Zesty Italian Dressing and Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing. Tonight I made it with Kraft and it turned out perfectly, I also subbed maple syrup instead of honey because we were out of honey. We just love this chicken. For some reason I’ve never made it for my in-laws and plan to remedy that next time they visit.
Oh and if you’re going to need a really minimal effort dinner in the future, you can just put frozen chicken into gallon bags, add the marinade ingredients, stick it back in the freezer, then thaw and dump in the skillet when you need it.
Darn it, I forgot to say that I cut chicken breasts into rather thick pieces (2-3 per breast, depending on size) so that it will take longer to cook through and minimize the chance of the chicken getting dry. Works great.
I’m planning on making this chicken recipe this week and read that some people had problems with the chicken drying out. As I read the recipe, I was thinking that 40 minutes seemed like a really long time for chicken tenders… I’ll bet it would work to cook the chicken in the skillet with the marinade and all just until it’s done, then pull the chicken out and let the marinade keep cooking. When it’s almost done, add the chicken back in so it gets covered in the sauce and let it cook for a couple of minutes. I wonder if this would work ok! I plan to make it exactly as the recipe says the first time, but if it turns out dry, I’ll try this alternate method the next time. Another solution could be to use whole chicken breasts instead of cutting them into thirds since a chicken breast takes longer to cook.
This is one of my family’s favorite chicken recipes! What I like you can substitute if you have to on the lime juice and use lemon. I have used brown sugar in place of the honey, and the chicken turned out fine. A keeper!
Made these tonight…..delicious! I had Lite Zesty Italian and lemon juice on hand so that’s what I used…..turned out great. I will admit, about half way through I was very skeptical, but it REALLY helped that you put the pictures on here of what it was supposed to look like – be patient and they turn out exactly like the last photo! Do yourself a favor and do NOT taste them midway through the cooking process, you won’t like them -it’s amazing how the flavor changes by the end. Will definitely be making these again – I had Bob Evans mashed potatoes and Allen’s green beans with my chicken and it was a super easy, fast, yummy dinner. Thanks Christy, so far everything I’ve made from your site has turned out yummy and was easy! (I’ve made the puh-min-uh cheese like 4 times in the past week, LOL!)