This page may contain affiliate links. Any commissions earned means I can continue providing you free recipes. You can see the full disclaimer here. https://wp.me/Par0A1-uK
Originally I was going to do this recipe for Bacon Chicken Tenders with Sweet Mustard Dipping Sauce, using crumbed tenders. There are lots of restaurants that have crumbed tenders with dipping sauces as a starter on the menu and that was the inspiration for this recipe. But the highlight of these Bacon Tenders with Sweet Mustard Dipping Sauce, was for me the dipping sauce itself.
On top of that, crumbing can be a lot of work sometimes and we’ve done so many crumbed dishes on the website, that at the last minute I decided to do something different. So I decided to wrap the chicken tenders in bacon instead, which made a fantastic change and a great accompaniment to the sweet mustard dipping sauce. And thus was born a super easy and simple recipe for Bacon Chicken Tenders with Sweet Mustard Dipping Sauce.
These were quickly and easily popped into the air fryer but they can easily be oven baked or even pan fried instead for those that don’t own an air fryer or like using one. We tend to do things like this in the air fryer just for the convenience and the minimal clean up compared to baked or pan fried.
When making these Bacon Tenders with Sweet Mustard Dipping Sauce, your bacon strips may not feel tightly wrapped enough for the bacon to stay on, but as it cooks the fat will render and the bacon will shrink and tighten around the chicken tenders as well as crisping up nicely. If deciding to pan fry, you’ll have to be very careful when handling and especially when turning the tenders to make sure the bacon stays on well.
I always offer and use my Homemade Stick Mixer Mayo recipe in things that call for mayo, but for those wanting a store bought keto friendly option, Good Fat Mayo or Vitawerx Original Mayo are two options in Australia I love. For those in the US, a great keto friendly option is Primal Kitchen’s mayo made with avocado oil.
You can also simply use a regular store bought mayo and many people on keto/low carb do. But I personally always advise against them as they are seed oil based. While still low in carbs, seed oils are highly inflammatory to the body which leads to several forms of medical issues.
Unlike oils such as olive oil or avocado oil which are naturally extracted, in order to extract the oil from seeds, a chemical extraction process is needed and by the time you get to the seed oils we buy in shops, the oil is heavily processed, full of chemicals and practically toxic. They also are unstable at high temperatures and oxidise easily, making them even worse when heated and/or used for frying. You can read more about seed and vegetable oils here.
Keto Bacon Chicken Tenders with Sweet Mustard Dipping Sauce
Equipment
- Air Fryer
Ingredients
Sweet Mustard Dipping Sauce
- ¼ cup wholegrain mustard
- ¼ cup Dijon mustard
- ½ cup Homemade Mayo
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ¼ lemon, the juice
- 3-4 drops stevia
Instructions
- Slice bacon in half lengthways to make two strips per piece of bacon. Take a chicken tender and wrap one of the half bacon strips tightly around the bottom half of the chicken tender and the other half bacon strip around the top half of the chicken tender.
- Place gently inside the air fryer or if using, a baking tray lined with baking paper. If pan frying I advise prepping all your chicken first and frying.
- Season well with salt and pepper and cook in the air fryer or bake in the oven at 200°C/390°F for 15 minutes or until cooked through and bacon has tightened around the chicken and crisped. Make sure to turn halfway through.
- While chicken tenders are cooking, make up your Sweet Mustard Dipping Sauce by combined all ingredients for the sauce in a bowl and mixing together.
- Serve bacon tenders with sweet mustard sauce on the side for dipping. These make a great snack or starter but for a full meal simply pair with your preferred side such as a salad.
Notes
Nutrition
[…] Bacon Chicken Tenders with Sweet Mustard Dipping Sauce […]