Grilled Chicken Tenderloins (Without The Grill!)
Submitted by southernplate on Friday, October 31, 200826 Comments
Okay, ya’ll, listen to me here, YOU ARE GOING TO LOVE THESE!! Seriously, you are going to absolutely love, love, LOVE these! So you need to make them, alright? Trust me.
This is a widespread copycat version of Cracker Barrel’s grilled chicken tenderloins and they are absolutely amazing, I think they are much better than Cracker Barrels, actually!
I’m not sure where I got the recipe because it is all over the internet, but I got it five or seven years ago and have been making it on a very regular basis ever since with rave reviews each time.
Did I mention that I really think y’all are going to love this? Oh, and I have a truly embarrassing Halloween story at the bottom, what more could you want? ~grins~
You’ll need: Lime juice, Zesty Italian Dressing, honey, and some chicken.
You can purchase chicken tenders or just do like I do and buy boneless skinless breasts and cut them yourself (its cheaper!). The original recipe called just for Italian dressing, but I LOVE this with Zesty Italian!
Oh, and in a pinch you can use lemon juice if you like. 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 they are sooooooooo good for breakfast!
Pour in your Salad 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?
I like to mix this up in a mason jar because it is so dern easy that way. You can just stir it up in a small bowl if you like though.
Add your honey..
Add Lime juice.
For some reason I am wanting to speak with a German accent as I do this tutorial tonight. I think I need sleep and lack thereof is making me silly. So in my mind, I am doing this entire tutorial in a German accent. Folks, I’ve gone off my rocker after the day I had today! (By the way, my German accent is learned entirely from one of those Disney Characters that looked like Donald Duck but was actually a distant relative…)
Don’t you just love German chocolate, though? Ritter bars are my favorite….
Screw Ze Lid On Ze Jar!
(give it a good shake)
If you’ve got chicken breasts, cut them into strips.
I used 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!).
e=”clear:both;text-align:center;”>
Voila! Ze Chicken!
Now what I do is put all of my chicken in a big gallon ziplock bag and just pour the marinade in there with it. Then you seal it and stick it in your fridge for at least an hour.
You can do this the night before if you like and just keep it in your fridge until you’re ready for supper. Another thing I have done before is mix this up and get it to this stage and just freeze the whole bag. Then on a morning you are headed off to work just pop the bag in the fridge to thaw out during the day.
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 forty 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 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.
About thirty…now we’re starting to get somewhere!
And around forty minutes the good stuff starts showing up!!
Its getting really thick on the bottom now and this is where I start moving my chicken around a lot, getting it all nice and browned.
In another minute or two that watery stuff will all be caramelized and wonderful….
Like this. It looks black in the pic but its really not. That dark stuff is the carmelized marinade. At this point, 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.
Like this!!
(It tastes even better than it looks!)
This has so much wonderful flavor that I like to serve it with a simple side dish. Tonight we had it with stewed potatoes that I had just put a little butter and salt on. YUM!
Grilled Chicken Tenderloins
(Like Cracker Barrel’s)
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips.
1 cup zesty Italian dressing
2 tsp lime juice
3 tsp honey
Place chicken in gallon ziplock bag. Combine all other ingredients and pour over. Seal and marinate for at least an hour.
Pour all ingredients into a large skillet and cook over medium heat until liquid evaporates and remaining marinade becomes thick and caramelized. Coat
each piece of chicken in marinade by rubbing it around on the bottom of the pan before removing it
each piece of chicken in marinade by rubbing it around on the bottom of the pan before removing it
*I put off doing the newsletter until this weekend after my little mishap with emails and google yesterday. I figured all of you wonderfully kind people deserved another recipe today!Thank you all so very much for your understanding. I’ve gotten a multitude of emails that are so very kind and reassuring and I cannot tell you how much better today is as a result of that! You are so wonderful. Someday, SOMEDAY, I AM going to figure out how to cook a big old meal for you all, just wait! OOoh, how about an embarrassing Halloween story? Yup, thats just what we need! Here goes…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let me tell y’all what I did one Halloween, and this is really pretty embarrassing and out of character for me but hey, its just us I’m talking to, right?
If you’ve read the coconut pie post, you know all about Mama’s accident. She was completely bedridden for several weeks and her spirits were understandably very down. I had never seen Mama anything but upbeat and I took every opportunity to try to cheer her up as best I could.
Then she called me on her cell phone one day and said “Guess what I’m doing?” Mama sounded happy and I instantly perked up. She was all excited because she was actually out, riding in a car, for the first time in weeks. It had been quite an ordeal to get her in the car with both legs in casts but she was sitting in the back seat with her legs up on the seat and looking out the window, and called me to tell me about it. I was thrilled.
“Where are you now?” I asked, all excited.
“We’re in Athens, almost close to your neighborhood”
so I replied “Well come on by and we’ll come out and see you and do the happy dance!”
This really was a big day for us and I was so happy for her, couldn’t wait to see her.
Then I got to thinking, what else could I do to get her to smile, maybe even make her laugh, and help her remember this day?
It came to me….I was about eight months pregnant and it was almost Halloween….
Now y’all, I am NOT someone who likes in any way, shape, or form, to have my stomach touched, caressed, cuddled, or otherwise noticed any more than it has to be whilst I am with child. I tend to be an EXTREMELY modest person as well. So I thought of it, the one thing that would shock my mother (the person who knows me better than anyone) and get a good laugh at the same time.
I hurried into the kitchen and grabbed the first thing I could find to write with and then darted off to the bathroom. When Mama pulled up in the driveway, I went out, walked up to her window with a huge grin and pulled up my shirt just enough to reveal a very pregnant belly with the face of a jack o lantern drawn on it!! (You know, this really is embarrassing to tell…I bet Mama will be surprised I admitted to it and it will make her laugh again today!).
Mama’s eyes got so big and she looked at me and said “Don’t you have a Doctor’s appointment tomorrow?”.
Then we both burst out laughing after I said “OH my God, I do…and I USED A SHARPIE!!”.
Then we both burst out laughing after I said “OH my God, I do…and I USED A SHARPIE!!”.
I found out just how permanent sharpies were as it took quite a bit for that to wear off, but my midwife had a good sense of humor and she had been well aware of Mama’s ordeal and how much it meant to me to get one more laugh out of her on that day!
>
>
And that was a REALLY great day!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(if you are feeling exceptionally generous today, please go here and vote for Southern Plate. If I win, I’m going to use the prize money to buy myself the special light I have been wanting to use in my food photography!! You do have to register, but its not a lengthy registration and you don’t have to sign up for anything and it IS a great site…and oh I would just love love love to win it..I doubt i will but still, WOW it would be so amazing if I did!!!!!)
Happy, Happy, Halloween!!!!
BOO!
Christy
Forget Cracker Barrell, we will be having restaurant style grilled chicken at home. This looks absolutely delicious. Thanks for the recipe. Happy Halloween! See ya at the party. Love the belly story, lol!
Laura-Athens
I’ve actually never heard of this recipe before. Your pictures and description were great, so I guess I’ll be trying them!
I think you went French there for a minute, too. Super recipe, hilarious about the “surprise” for Mother. You deserve a prize–I’m not sure what that is but I’m going to follow the link and find out! Cheers!
OOOOhhh this looks quite tasty!! Thanks for another great recipe!
Laura I forgot I was actually going to see someone I knew after telling that story! LOL
Jodie Oh Jodi, I need to get you to a cracker barrel!! hehe! It really is good, and on just about any meat you can think of, too!
Tomato Lady (still lovin your blog, btw!) hehe, I think you’re right, I did go a wee bit french ! hehe. You know those two years of high school french made me an expert, too! FRENCH FRIES! hehe. oh thank you so much!!! Its kind of a pipe dream about winning but OH LORD it would mean so much that I had to try! I only have a month, though!
Lmerie Thank you for taking the time to read!! I really appreciate it!!!
Off to more halloween parties at schools, the circuit never ends! LOL
Christy
That chicken looks awesome! I am going to make that this week - good with mashed potatoes!
bOo!
Gal, now I know what I want for supper ;D
I love to comment here, but for some reason it is getting hard for me to pull your site up…I use IE so that is probably my problem.
Love your blog!!!
Have a happy and safe week-end!
This looks so good. I will try it. I love chicken breast baked in Honey, butter and Curry so Im sure I will love this.. thanks! Oh.. ya have an email reply too when ya have time to wade through them!
Oh yeah.. I just voted too.. good luck!
Biz You are sooooooooooooo right. Supreme with Mashed potatoes!
Tammy EEk, I am so sorry about your problems!!!! I do know that over eighty percent of all of my readers use Firefox according to my stats. We’ve had so many issues with IE that we all just switched, my husband has a website too. Even my son has a blog……..do you think we need to get out more?
Thank yo SO MUCH Tammy of Lurksville! Its great to “meet” you!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bill THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!
Bill, while I’m at it……..thank you!
Off to get ready for my final Halloween Party tonight…I think once everyone leaves I’m just going to drop wherever I am standing and sleep there!
Love y’all!
Christy
This really doesn’t have anything to do with this particular post, but I was wondering if you had a good recipe for Brunswick Stew. I grew up in So.Ga and had a fantastic recipe but I’ve since relocated to Oklahoma and can not find all the ingredients. With the cold months approaching, a good pot of Brunswick stew is one of the most comforting things! Please help…
Yummy! Cracker Barrel is my favorite resturant and the closest one is over 60 miles away! I am going to make these tomorrow night for my family. They look so yummy! I bet they’d be great with fried potatoes! yum yum! Thanks for sharing!
Just wanted to let you know that I usually use one of your recipes at least once a week. I love the fact that they are good, basic southern food. I don’t mean basic like plain I just mean they don’t have an overload of things going on at one time. I have found that even the simplest “30 minute” meals have a mishmash of ingredients that confuse my southern palate. I guess I like to keep it simple and familiar. Anyway, I’m cooking these tenders sometime this week. Love your blog and I voted for you by the way. I figured it was the least I could do for using all your recipes
These look yummy. I may have to put them on the menu for next week. Looks easy enough for a weeknight meal.
Fabulous recipe, and I love that no grill is required. They look tender and juicy!
Hi Christy: First I wanted to congratulate you on your successes and tell you I think you have a great blog. Your recipes are like what I grew up with in N.C. I look forward to all the recipes you send and the newsletters.
Another great recipe. If I had more chicken on hand and it wasn’t already too late to start cooking, well I’d be making these now. As it is I have to wait until tomorrow to get more chicken so I can try this. It looks and sounds fantastic.
What a great story about your mama. These are wonderful moments to always remember. I don’t have many memories of my grandma. Dad’s parents passed on before I was born. My Grandma when I was three. I have some memories but they are limited. My Grandpa was ill most of the time and I didn’t get to spend much time with him but I do have good memories from when I did. I look forward to sharing your memories with you.
I just made these and they were wonderful. Much easier than grilling!
Just stopped by to tell you I am making this AGAIN tonight! The boys LOVE these. So good and so incredibly easy.
I’ve been reading this site for about a month now and this is the first recipe that I finally got around to trying. I substituted chicken thighs because we like dark meat, cut back a bit on the honey, and neglected to tell my fanatically low carbing husband that it was in there! My marinade scorched a little bit (’cause I was tired from doing laundry and didn’t check it every few minutes), but they were still good!
The LaBouffs hey! I am actually going to post my recipe for that soon. I have one we are looking at using at my brother’s BBQ place (for those of y’all that don’t know, Brunswick stew is a staple at BBQ joints in the south!). Now another thing , our family’s chicken stew recipe was actually originally called Brunswick stew so you might want to check that out! The one I am using (which I call Brunswick stew) is the classic in that it uses pork and chicken in it…did I confuse you yet? I am good at that!
Kat I hope you liked them!! Thank you so much!!
Rachel I know JUST what you mean!!! I love recipes and such but when I look at a mile long ingredient list, I just tend to pass it right over! I have a very well stocked pantry and I like recipes that include “normal” ingredients = what I have on hand! Thank you so much for voting for me on Divine Caroline!!! I am wanting to win that so bad!!!
I appreciate you reading and am THRILLED you like the recipes!!!!!!
Kingsqueen Hey!!! Oh yes, they are easy. I like to make double and have them two nights in a row! Y’all know how lazy I am….
Meg Thank you!!!! I hope you like them, Meg!!!!
Anonymous Thank you so very much!!! You are so sweet! I will never get over how good you all are to me. I truly appreciate you taking the time to read my ramblings!
Bev I am honored that you read Southern Plate. Thank you for being so very good to me. I am also grateful that I am able to realize what good fortune I have in my life while I still have it, and what a rich history I come from. I am glad y’all understand why that means so much to me and bear with me while I rattle on about it in my posts!
Rachel YAY!!!!! I’m so glad you liked them and THANK YOU for letting me know!
Deanna OHMIGOSH thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!
~waves at boys~
Sonya I can totally sympathize with the being tired thing!! Why don’t we have people to do our laundry for us? I think we should be rich and pay people like…fifty bucks an hour for that, don’t you? I’m gonna add that to my list… ~winks~ I’m glad you loved them, never thought of using thighs, gonna have to try that!
Gratefully,
Christy
Hi, Christy! Found your blog when someone on a message board posted a link to your Pecan Pie Muffins. Yesterday I made the tea cakes and this chicken. It was a good day for eating at my house! Thanks, and keep up the good work.
Oh my , I made this for new years eve and it was a huge hit, I didnt make enough so I’m going to make it again tonite for the football game. this was GREAT.
I am making the Grilled Chicken Tenderloins. I hope they turn out okay because I looked up, down, and sideways for a temperature and never found one. All you say is “medium” heat. What is medium heat? Thank you.
Medium heat: The dial on your stove eye generally goes from 1-9, and is in the fashion of a clock. Medium would be five or if you look at it as if it were a clock, whatever temperature is at six o’clock
medium - whatever is the mid point between low and high on your stovetop.
hope this helps!
Christy
Leave a comment!
Buy the Cookbook!
E-mail List
Free! $10.00 in Coupons from Pilsbury!
Free $10.00 in Coupons From Betty Crocker!
Free Fruit Roll-up!
Grab My Button and Link to Me!
Categories
Recent Posts
Archives
My Twitter Feed
What's Christy Up To?
Click Here to Visit The Top 100 Mom SitesSouthern Plate on Facebook!
Random Posts
Latest Video Post
Southern Plate recipes and stories by Christy Jordan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at www.southernplate.com.
Most Commented
Most Popular