Give Chicken Tenders A Delicious Twist With This Seasoning Blend Packet

Chicken tenders and chicken fingers, which are two different things entirely, are perennial favorites to many of us. However, they're usually pretty simple dishes, and despite the fact that different recipes may include specific seasonings and techniques, like Bojangles' 12-hour approach, most of them taste pretty similar. And while you can usually jazz them up with a dipping sauce, most chicken tender purveyors usually stick to honey mustard, barbecue, and maybe ranch dressing if you're lucky. This can all make for a pretty repetitive taste experience, especially if you believe that variety is the spice of the dining table. But shaking things up when it comes to tender fried poultry strips is actually pretty simple if you look at some tried-and-true spices used in other dishes, like taco seasoning.

Available in most American supermarkets, these packets of mixed spices can vary from brand to brand but typically feature salt, ground chili peppers, onion powder, and some manufacturers may include paprika for color, garlic for extra umami, and a little sugar to balance out the savoriness. Homemade recipes may also add cumin and Mexican oregano. Sprinkling a bit of taco seasoning onto prepared chicken tenders right before eating them is an easy way to add big, bold flavors to what can sometimes seem like a mundane meal, and it even works with fast food tenders. For optimal flavor, you can place your fried bird into a paper bag, like the ones you get from a drive-thru, add your spices, and give it a good shake. If you're making chicken tenders from scratch, you can also use taco seasoning to marinate your poultry or use it in the breading or batter.

There are so many pre-made seasonings that are just waiting for you to use them on your crispy fried poultry strips. If you like Mexican food, then you may want to add some Tajín to your chicken tenders, which is a salty, sour, and spicy seasoning that's added to almost everything in Mexico, including candy and fruit. Cajun and Creole seasonings also work marvelously well too, and include a medley of spices that will add nuance to your bird, such as cayenne pepper, basil, thyme, and white pepper.

For an even more complex mix that still packs a spicy punch, get your hands on Indian chaat masala, a highly aromatic and tangy blend of up to 12 different spices that is used in street foods throughout the Subcontinent. If the idea of hot peppers is enough for you to reach for a glass of ice water, there are several other seasoning options that forgo the heat. If you love the perfume of Indian food but not the capsaicin of chilis, opt for garam masala, which includes warm, sweet spices like cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom.

If you have an African market in your vicinity, you also owe it to yourself to get some suya spice to add to your tenders; it's a fiery mix of chiles, ginger, ground peanuts, and other spices hailing from Nigeria. And you cannot forget Japanese furikake, which is also spectacular on french fries. This seasoning is used to sprinkle over rice or anything else that needs a huge boost of umami from its combination of seaweed flakes and other ingredients that can include sour plum, sesame, and more. There's a huge variety of flavors available in most Asian grocery stores, and we can't think of a single one that wouldn't be amazing on chicken tenders.