With this Chicken Crispers (Chili’s copycat) recipe you can have juicy, tender, and flavorful chicken tenders at home. Dipped in a homemade honey mustard, they are sure to become one of your kid’s favorite things to eat.
I find myself enjoying making restaurant copycat recipes more and more. Probably because with 2 teenagers, we never seem to be able to coordinate everyones schedules to go out to eat anymore. And frankly, during the winter when it is dark and cold in the evening, I’d rather stay in my warm house than venture out anywhere.
This recipe is based off of Todd Wilbur’s recipe from Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2: More Amazing Clones of Famous Dishes from America’s Favorite Restaurant Chains
. According to Wilbur, Chili’s uses MSG for the flavor in their Chicken Crispers. In order to mimic the flavor in this recipe, chicken broth is used in the batter. It does a wonderful job of producing super flavorful tenders. The batter is thick and coats the chicken really well. One bite and my son immediately asked – Can you fry onion rings in this batter? I think that will be on the agenda for next week.
I fried these Chicken Crispers in vegetable shortening as I think it produces a better flavor and texture than oil and foods fried in shortening tend to taste less greasy. Chili’s Chicken Crispers may be my favorite copycat recipe to date. Next up: Honey Chipotle Chicken Crispers. I can only imagine how good they must be.
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Chicken Crispers (Chili's Copycat)
Ingredients
Honey Mustard Dressing
- 2/3 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup honey
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- pinch of cayenne pepper
Chicken
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- 1/4 cup milk
- 3/4 cup chicken broth
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 cup self-rising flour
- 10 chicken tenderloins
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 6 to 10 cups shortening or vegetable oil
Instructions
- To make sauce, combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
- In a medium bowl, combine egg, milk, chicken broth, salt and pepper. Whisk for 30 seconds. Whisk in self-rising flour and let sit 5 minutes.
- Place shortening or oil in a Dutch oven and heat to 350 degrees.
- Place the 1/2 cup flour in a bowl. Coat each piece of chicken in flour and then dunk into the batter.
- Working in batches of 3-4 tenderloins, lower battered chicken into oil. Fry 7 to 9 minutes, or until golden brown.
- Drain on a wire rack or paper-towel lined plate.
Originally published February 10, 2015.
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More Copycat Recipes
Jack Daniel’s Ribs (TGI Friday’s)
Chipotle Chicken Pizza (California Pizza Kitchen)
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
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Can you use a electric deep fryer?
Nice article and keep it up this great work.
These were delicious, I may add a bunch of herbs and spices to the batter next time. Great recipe!
Had anyone tried these in a an air fryer?
I saw on another recipe site someone said they tried and all the batter fell off.
Dead on! Absolutely identical
Wow! These look fantastic! Definitely going to try this recipe
So excited to see this old recipe. They have changed up some and not big on. Thanks!
Hi! Do I need to use chicken broth ? Or can I use water or milk?
I’ve only tried it with chicken broth Becka. I think you would be safe to use either water or milk though.
definitely going to try this recipe
I made these tonight and everybody loved them AND the honey mustard! I’ve never had these at Chili’s so I don’t even know if they taste the same or not, but they were really good!
Do you have to use a dutch oven? Or is it okay as long as you can get your oil heated to the right temp ? Because I so do not have dutch oven but I really wanna make these!!!
No, you don’t need to use a Dutch oven. A pan or skillet will work too. You just want to make sure that the oil does not overflow the sides when you add the chicken.
These were amazing and just like Chilli’s! I took Pricillas advice and used some beer in the batter (Yum!) and added a little onion and garlic powder and hot sauce to the batter for flavor. The chicken was juicy, and the coating was crispy. Just wonderful. Thanks so much for the recipe! 🙂
So glad you liked it Jessica!
I was very excited to try these. I followed the recipe although I did double. The mustard sauce was awesome. However my Chicken Crispers should be called chicken soggers. I think my oil temp was good but these just were, blah. My daughter who will only eat chicken tenders took one try of these and moved onto homework. I used unbleached flour, I am not sure if that is self rising so perhaps that was the problem. I have never been to Chilis so I have nothing to compare mine to. Most likely it was something I did wrong, or maybe these just are not my taste, but after I spend the next hour cleaning the top of my stove from the oil mess I think I will go back to my other Chicken Tender recipes. I do not always have the best luck with oil. These pictures are great though!
why you gotta be so mean bout it tho, Just try it again maybe?
It may be that the oil didn’t get hot enough. Get yourself a candy thermometer and make sure the oil reaches about 350 degrees before frying anything. I hope this helps!
Sounds like you didn’t use the self-rising flour. Don’t blame the recipe if you didn’t follow it!
If I use vegetable shortening, how many tubs do I need for 6-10 cups of oil?
This was very good. Loved it. Even my picky two year old loved it.
Chicken. Good.
Will all purpose flour work, I forgot the self rising flour
Yes, you can use all-purpose flour.
Self rising flour just has baking powder in it. Add 1/2 teaspoon of aluminum free baking powder. I made this and it was good, but I used peanut oil. I marinate my chicken overnight in Italian dressing and I used beer instead of milk. They were delicious and tender. Great recipe. You can also use club soda instead of beer or milk. Just keep the liquid quantity the same.
Thanks for the tips Priscilla. Love that you marinated yours in Italian dressing overnight. That sounds so good.
SR flour has baking powder and salt in it.. This is probably why yours wasn’t as good.
For Laura Conroy
These crispers look delicious! Looks like the perfect comfort food to pick at! 😀
Oh my gosh, I just had chicken crispers from Chili’s the other night. Yours look even better Christin! I can’t wait to try this recipe!! 🙂
Chicken Crispers looks nice and yummy definitely I will try this 🙂
We don’t have Chili here in Australia – but I can imagine these chicken crispers rival theirs! Wow they look delicious Christin.
Wow!! I think these crispers look even better than Chili’s! My husband would be over the moon if I made them for him! They look perfect!
Wow! These look fantastic! And such a treat. My kids will be home for the weekend and there’s no doubt that if they know I have this recipe – I’ll be making them! Thank you!
Love your recipes Cristin! I want to eat this chicken for lunch right now. Please send some my way!
Much to my foodie heart’s dismay, Chili’s is my hubby’s favorite restaurant… and it’s all because of their chicken crispers! So this awesome… now I can make them at home for him and don’t have to suffer through mediocre chain food! 😉 WOO!!
Yum, Yum, girl these look delish! You definitely mastered that, they look perfect!
Yumm.. Both chicken and sauce sound and looks just amazing!
Yummm
We live close by Chili’s and eat there so often they know us by name.. haha! We love the chicken crispers there too, these look just like them! I definitely need to give these a try! Beautiful pictures too 🙂
Oooooh I should have NOT looked at your blog before dinner. Now I wish I had these instead of my soup. >_< Awesome recipe Christin!
Oh my gosh!! These look amazing!! I never fry anything, but I just might have to make an exception for these delicious looking tenders! 🙂
This sounds really good! I haven’t been to chilli’s before, but I am going to put it at the top of the list when I come to the state’s this year 🙂
Wow, these look perfect, Christin! I haven’t been to chili’s in years but I used to love their chicken fingers. Their honey mustard sauce has always been my favorite too. I can’t wait to make these at home!
Now thanks to you I can make these wonderful crispers at home and enjoy them thoroughly!
These crispers are the way to my heart. I used to order these all the time! Now I can make them at home. Very happy camper!
I love the chicken crispers from Chili, Christin! This copycat recipe sounds fantastic! And these look like they’re better than the restaurant version. Pinned!