Doritos Crusted Chicken Fingers

I have a severe weakness for salty snacks. I know that for some people, chocolate is their thing, but not me. I love to have a bag of chips while I am sitting on the couch watching sports, a movie or playing a board game. And if I get to choose any bag of chips – I go for Doritos. Yeah, I know, Doritos are not chips. They are awesome corn tortilla triangles of cheesy goodness! I love every flavor of Doritos but my all-time favorite is Zesty cheese flavor. YUM! So, it should come as no surprise that I look for ways to incorporate Doritos into my recipes. Boneless, skinless chicken breasts were on sale this week, so I decided that the recipe would revolve around chicken. After a little bit of thought the Doritos crusted chicken fingers were born!

I was amazed that they turned out as good as they did. They are perfect crunchy chicken fingers with the clear taste of nacho cheese Doritos. Everyone in the family loved them and it was great fun for the kids as they even got involved making them. They enjoyed dredging the the chicken strips in the various ingredients, but liked eating them even more!

Dorito Crusted Chicken Fingers sq b

I often make baked chicken fingers crusted with corn flakes. It is easy to make and they turn out crispy and delicious. I used the same method to make these but substituted corn flakes with Doritos. I have no idea why this has taken me so long to figure out. Doritos are way better than corn flakes. I do not know if I will ever make them with corn flakes again. There are so many flavors of Doritos that I will have fun trying this recipe with Cool Ranch, Sweet Chili Heat and other great Doritos flavors!

Doritos Crusted Chicken Fingers

5 Step process

  1. Marinate sliced boneless chicken breasts in buttermilk for 2 hours.
  2. Dredge in flour.
  3. Dip in egg wash.
  4. Dredge in crushed Doritos.
  5. Bake in a 400F for 15-20 minutes.

I served it with this buttermilk ranch dressing.

Buttermilk Ranch Dressing sq

Dorito Crusted Chicken Fingers tall b

Doritos Crusted Chicken Fingers

4.35 out of 5
23 reviews
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Oven baked chicken strips coated with crushed Doritos. Easy homemade chicken fingers that have the crunch and flavor of Doritos. Serve with ranch dip, bbq sauce, etc.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Servings: 4

Ingredients

  • 4 chicken breasts , boneless skinless
  • 1 large bag (255g) Doritos , nacho flavor (or flavour of choice)
  • 2 cups buttermilk
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1-2 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
  • 4 eggs
  • cooking spray , optional

Instructions

  • Cut the chicken into thin 1/2 inch strips.
  • Place the chicken in a bowl and pour in the buttermilk. Stir so the chicken is coated in the buttermilk. Cover the bowl and place in the fridge for about 2 hours.
  • Using a food processor, crush the Doritos so that they are a texture similar to panko or coarse bread crumbs. Set aside in a large bowl.
  • Place flour and optional cayenne pepper in one bowl and eggs in another. Whisk the eggs so that they are well scrambled.
  • Preheat oven to 400F and, if desired, spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.
  • Set up the four bowls in order: 1. bowl with the chicken, 2. bowl with the flour, 3. bowl with the beaten eggs, 4. bowl with the crushed Doritos.
  • Using a fork, lift out a few chicken strips and let excess buttermilk drain off. Place them in the flour and dredge them in so they are all coated in flour. Lift the chicken strips out of the flour and shake off any excess. Place them in the egg wash and turn them so they are evenly coated in egg. Lift them out of the egg and then dredge in the crushed Doritos. Place the coated chicken fingers on the baking sheet. Do this with the remaining chicken strips.
  • Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, turning halfway through.
  • Serve with buttermilk ranch dip, bbq sauce or your favorite dip.

Nutrition

Per serving:

Calories: 823kcalCarbohydrates: 93gProtein: 45gFat: 28gSaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 249mgSodium: 713mgFiber: 5gSugar: 9g

Nutrition Disclaimer

Dorito Crusted Chicken Fingers 4x3

 

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88 comments

  • Can You cook in a skillet with a little oil or butter laid in?

    • Reply
    • It should be ok. The only problem I could see is that it might not cook up the sides well if there is not much butter. It might be fine though.

      • Reply
  • 5 stars
    I would think if you mix cayenne pepper with the flour that would stick to the chicken and make it spicy. The more cayenne, the spicier. I’m going to try these out this weekend. Thanks for the recipe.

    • Reply
  • I just made these for dinner using Spicy Doritos…they are amazing!!

    • Reply
  • this was a repost on facebook, and my sister and i decided to make it for mothers day. we used a huge pack of chicken, ( we had 10 people) and used the huge family size bag from sams club. it wasnt enough, because we didnt use a food processor. but it was soooo good. everyone loved it. the coating kept comming off though. but there was no complaints! and we used chicken tenders, so everyone just had two pieces (to start). thank you for the recipe!!!

    • Reply
  • 5 stars
    I realized right after I posted the comment! Thank you!! 🙂

    • Reply
  • 5 stars
    Looks delicious! Do you have the recipe for your buttermilk ranch dressing/dip on your blog to try?

    Thanks!

    • Reply
    • You can click on the pic of just the ranch dressing and it would take you there. Here is the link though. https://www.theblackpeppercorn.com/buttermilk-ranch-dressing/

      Enjoy!!

      • Reply
  • Hi. I made this recipe tonight and I followed it exactly like it said, but my chips tasted stale (it was brand new, never opened bag, bought today) and my chicken was dry – and I marinated it like it said. I don’t know what went wrong…

    • Reply
  • hi, i was planning on making this for my friend’s graduation party and didn’t know how much i should make…its for 10 people, so should i just double the quantity? just wanted to make sure before i started so that its not TOO much or TOO less haha!

    • Reply
    • I made this for my family of 5 (three kids aged 6,8,10) and we had a little bit as leftovers. Doubling it might be ok for 10 people but if there are many young guys (who can pack back chicken fingers!! – Haha), it may not be enough. I would almost think one chicken breast per person would work. Depends as well if you are making anything else. If there is other food then you would not need as much of this. I hope that helps. Have a great party!

      • Reply
  • i could not find buttermilk in our small town store, could i substitute it with half and half or just regular milk?

    • Reply
    • Regular milk will work fine.

      • Reply
    • Also you can make your own “buttermilk”
      For every one cup of milk and add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar and let sit for 5 minutes.

      • Reply
    • Add vinegar to regular milk and in 15mins or so you will have buttermilk

      • Reply
    • 5 stars
      add a little vinegar to the milk

      • Reply
  • Simply put, Thank you! You can’t see me, but I am bowing to you. The perfection and sheer harmony of ingredients begs the question ” why did it take so long for me to find his?”

    • Reply
  • 5 stars
    I literally just made these while my little brother and his friends were over and they devoured them! I used Spicy Nacho flavored Doritos and it was so good! I hoped using spicy nacho would give it a kick but it didn’t really, so next time I’m going to add hot sauce in the buttermilk or something. I really love how these are baked and not fried, it’s so crunchy and delicious. THANK YOU for putting this recipe up Steve! I found it via Pinterest <3

    • Reply
    • Thanks for the comment Vicki! Yeah – they are not spicy. I had thought of adding some hot sauce to the buttermilk as well, but then some of my kids would have not liked the heat. I sure would have though. 🙂 But you are right, it is a great way to get crispy chicken fingers that are baked and not deep fried.

      • Reply
  • I followed this recipe to the T! Buttermilk and lining up my bowls and everything.. for some reason they just didn’t come out right. The nacho chips didn’t stick well to the chicken and because of that the taste was eh. It wasn’t bad but since the crumbs didn’t stick it was like having very plain chicken. How did this happen- your pictures look SO good :((

    • Reply
    • Mandy, I wonder why they didn’t stick. Did you crumble the Doritos fairly fine? I wonder if they were big pieces then maybe they wouldn’t stick as easily. Another thought – did the egg wash stick to the flour or fall off? If there is excess flour on the fingers then the egg wash can just kind of roll off. I shake the chicken fingers to get any excess flour off. Not sure if either of these were the cause. Hope that helps

      • Reply
  • Stunning pic I’m sure the recipe is great too cannot wait to try it do u think I could fry these

    • Reply
    • Thanks! I am sure you could easily fry them. My only comment would be to make sure they are not too thick so they can cook through before the crust gets too dark.

      • Reply
  • Made these 2 nights ago but didn’t soak in buttermilk for 2 hrs…did about 30 mins. They turned out great…curious to try with other Doritos favors…great way to use up old/stale doritos!!!! They were evn fine leftover…no crispy but still yummy

    • Reply
    • 4 stars
      How does your household have old or stale doritos?

      • Reply
  • question:

    Could you Prep these and then freeze them before cooking for later?

    • Reply
    • I am not sure. If you try, I would love to hear how they turn out. My only fear would be that they may lose some of the crispiness. Otherwise, it should be fine.

      • Reply
  • I made these on Friday night and they were really good. I loved the flavour that comes from the Doritos. I had three chicken breasts and it made so many fingers that we had chicken fingers for three meals. But I have to admit, the dip was my absolute favourite! IT WAS SOOOO GOOOOOD!!!!! Loved it! I will definitely make it again!
    THANKS, STEVE!

    • Reply
  • I try my best to avoid processed foods at all costs (and I don’t usually find them tempting anyway) but this is just genius.

    • Reply
  • This is a must try..Love this idea Steve. How did you get those six pictures in one frame? Love it.

    • Reply
    • Thanks Regina! I used http://www.picmonkey.com/ – and I created a collage. I find that it loads up the page quicker when it is one image compared to it being 6 separate images

      • Reply
      • On the radio they were talking about the new KFC Cheetos chicken sandwich and the hosts were like “I dare any restaurant to make a fried Dorito chicken sandwich” and I was like “ I can do that” then Steve came along and ruined it all with his delicious recipie!!! Thanks a lot STEVE!!! Lol

        • Reply
  • This looks great, Steve! Going to give this one a try for sure. Maybe even this weekend!
    Hmmmmmmm!

    • Reply
  • 5 stars
    My kids would go nuts for this chicken. What a clever idea using doritos. 🙂

    • Reply

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