Whataburger Chicken Strips Recipe
If you’ve ever ordered chicken strips expecting a thin, breaded coating and gotten something thicker and craggier instead, that’s Whataburger’s signature style. This copycat recipe soaks chicken tenderloins in buttermilk, then coats them in a thick, seasoned buttermilk batter instead of breadcrumbs for a craggy, golden crust. The batter fries up extra crunchy while the buttermilk soak keeps the meat tender and juicy all the way through. It comes together in about 25 minutes of active time, making it an easy weeknight dinner or game-day appetizer.
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What Makes the Whatachick’n Strips So Good?
Those unfamiliar with the Texas-based chain might wonder why they should bother making chicken strips at a burger restaurant. But one bite is all it takes to know these aren’t your typical fast-food chicken tenders.
The juicy meat and thick, well-seasoned batter, not breadcrumbs, will change how you think about fried chicken forever.
Why You Should Unlock the Secrets to These Chicken Strips With This Recipe
Like the best traditional Southern fried chicken, these strips need to marinate in buttermilk for a few hours. A long buttermilk bath helps tenderize the meat by breaking down some of the proteins without turning it into a mealy mush.
The buttermilk’s acidity also adds a subtle tang to the Chicken Strips that is the mark of all great Southern fried chicken recipes.
Chicken Strip Ingredients
For breading the Whataburger chicken tenders, you’ll need:
- Chicken tenderloins – The base of the recipe. Their smaller size cooks through quickly and evenly in hot oil.
- Buttermilk – Marinate the chicken to tenderize it and add tang, then form the base of the batter.
- All-purpose flour – Builds the batter’s body, which turns thick and craggy once it hits the hot oil.
- Salt – Seasons the batter throughout, not just the surface.
- Ground black pepper – Adds a mild, warm heat that balances the tangy buttermilk.
- Garlic salt – Layers in savory flavor alongside the plain salt.
- Vegetable oil – Fries the strips; its high smoke point holds steady at frying temperature.
- Honey mustard sauce – Served alongside for dipping, though any favorite sauce works.
Ingredient Notes
- Chicken tenderloins work best here since they’re naturally uniform in size, but sliced chicken breast strips can substitute in a pinch.
- Full-fat buttermilk gives the thickest, tangiest batter. Low-fat buttermilk will still work but yields a slightly thinner coating.
- Don’t skip the garlic salt for plain garlic powder. The extra salt seasons the thick batter all the way through.
Equipment Needed
These chicken strips are deep-fried. You can make these in a deep fryer like my favorite T-fal FR8000 Oil Filtration Ultimate EZ Clean Easy to clean 3.5-Liter Fry Basket Stainless Steel Immersion Deep Fryer, or you can fry these in an iron skillet.
How to Make Chicken Tenders Like Whataburger
To prep the chicken for frying:
- Trim off any leftover skin and fat from the chicken tenderloins and place them in a bowl.
- Cover the chicken with buttermilk. Spread plastic wrap over the top of the bowl and chill for about two hours.
- Before taking the chicken from the fridge, mix the batter in a large bowl by whisking together the flour, salt, ground black pepper, garlic salt, and a half cup of buttermilk. You can use either the buttermilk from the marinade or fresh buttermilk.
- Set a wire rack over a rimmed baking tray next to the bowl of batter.
- Dredge the marinaded chicken tenders directly into the flour mixture. Make sure to coat all sides and shake off the excess flour. Place the battered chicken on the wire rack.
- Batter the remaining chicken.
To fry the breaded chicken strips:
- While the batter sets, heat the oil for frying.
- A countertop deep fryer makes frying easier, but a heavy pot with a clip-on deep-fry thermometer works too. If you use a pot, heat the oil over a medium-high flame.
- Place a paper towel-lined wire rack on the counter close to where you plan to cook the chicken.
- Add a few pieces of chicken once the oil is at 350°F. Don’t overcrowd the oil. Monitor the thermometer and adjust the heat to maintain the proper temperature.
- Cook the chicken until golden brown, about 6 to 8 minutes. Use a skimmer to flip the tenders halfway through cooking.
- Remove the cooked chicken strips with the skimmer and drain them on the paper towel-lined wire rack.
- Finish frying the remaining chicken strips. You can keep the cooked crispy chicken tenders on a baking tray in the oven set to WARM.
What to Dunk Your Chicken Strips Into
Don’t just eat your chicken tenders plain! Dress them up with some dipping sauces. Here are a few options:
- Polynesian Sauce. This Chick-fil-A-inspired sauce combines Catalina dressing, honey, and apple cider vinegar for a tangy and sweet taste you will love.
- Sawmill Gravy. Everyone loves Chicken Fried Chicken, so why not recreate the flavor by dipping your tenders in Sawmill Gravy? Don’t want to make it from scratch, Pioneer Peppered Gravy Mix makes it easy to whip some up.
- Mustard-Cream Sauce. This recipe will take a bit more work than the other dipping sauces on this list, but you’ll never find this decadent Mustard Cream Sauce on any fast food menu!
- BBQ Sauce. Either homemade or your favorite store-bought barbecue sauce.
- Buffalo Sauce. A classic sauce for wings and chicken tenders.
What to Serve Them With
Whataburger chicken tenders are so good that they deserve to be more than just a snack. Turn them into the main attraction by pairing them with some fantastic sides, such as:
- Mac and Cheese. Skip the blue box and make something better, like this Macaroni and Cheese Skillet recipe.
- Sweet and Sour Coleslaw. This is not your standard creamy coleslaw recipe. Sweet and Sour Coleslaw has the ideal balance of sweetness and acidity to excite your taste buds.
- Costco Quinoa Salad. This three-grain salad has a bold, refreshing dressing and plenty of herbs and veggies to interest even non-quinoa fans.
Whataburger Chicken Strips meal comes with French fries, a slice of Texas toast, dipping sauce, and a beverage.
Other Ways You Can Use Chicken Strips
Whatachick’n® Chicken Strips are versatile, and you can use them in almost any dish that calls for cooked chicken.
- Recreate your favorite Whataburger Chicken Strip Sandwich at home with 2 slices Texas toast, lettuce, and tomatoes.
- Chop up some chicken strips and add them to tacos, quesadillas, or burritos.
- Cover a few tenders with pasta sauce and mozzarella cheese, then bake in a hot oven for a few minutes for instant chicken parmesan sandwiches or a pasta side.
- You can even dice cold chicken strips and make one of the tastiest chicken salads you’ve ever tried.
How to Store Them
Keep extra Whataburger Chicken Strips in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days. Freeze room-temperature tenders on a baking tray before transferring them to a freezer bag. Frozen chicken strips will stay good for a month. Thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating.
What Is the Best Way to Reheat Chicken Strips
Air fryers are getting more common these days, so if you have one, use it to warm up the chicken tenders, but if you don’t have one, use your standard oven:
- Preheat the air fryer to 350°F or the oven to 375°F.
- Warm the chicken tenders in the preheated air fryer for about five minutes, turning after three minutes. Increase the cooking time to about 10 minutes if you use the oven.
Love Chicken Strips? Try these recipes!
- Chicken Crispers
- Coconut Chicken Strips
- Honey BBQ Chicken Strip Sandwich
- Grilled Chicken Tenders
- Long John Silver’s Chicken
Favorite Fast Food Copycat Recipes
- Chick-fil-A Sandwich Recipe
- Chicken Salad Chick Chicken Salad
- Copycat Chick-fil-A Nuggets
- Culvers Burgers
- KFC French Fries
- Long John Silver’s Fish Batter Recipe
- Steak N Shake Chili
- Wendys Frostys
- Whataburger Patty Melt
Check out more of my easy chicken tender recipes and the best fast food recipes here on CopyKat!
Plus you’ll get great new recipes from us every week!
Whataburger Chicken Strips
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds chicken tenderloins
- 2 1/2 cups buttermilk
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
- vegetable oil for frying
- honey mustard sauce or other dippings sauce to serve
Instructions
- Soak the chicken strips in the buttermilk for at least 2 hours or ideally overnight.
- Place the flour, salt, pepper, and garlic salt in a shallow bowl and mix well. Add about 1/2 cup of the buttermilk that was used to soak the chicken and stir. The batter should have a shaggy texture. Discard the remaining buttermilk.
- Coat the chicken with the batter, place it on a rack, and allow it to dry for a few minutes to help the batter adhere to the chicken during frying.
- Heat the oil to 350°F in a deep fryer or large heavy-bottomed pot.
- Gently place 3 or 4 breaded chicken strips into the hot oil and fry until golden brown. Remove from the oil and drain on a clean wire rack over a rimmed baking sheet.
- Serve with honey mustard or other dipping sauce.
Never been to that restaurant but wanted to try – I think in the recipe if you call the flour/buttermilk mixture a coating rather than a batter it would be quite helpful. I would have understood that to be a dry, crumb mixture. I added more buttermilk to get a “batter” since that’s what it called for and it was a bit of a mess. They tasted good, but it would have been better with a dry crust on the outside. And I realize you show that in your video but I never watch videos of recipes. Thanks for the recipe.
Thanks for letting me know Elaine. That batter/breading is kind of a mess.
Thank you for this recipe, I don’t near a Whataburger any longer! This was really close.
Just found this! Now all I need to do is make some buttermilk biscuits and order honey butter from HEB and I can have my favorite meal from there… and it’ll do until I travel back that to the promised land (aka whataburger territory).
I love this 😉 The promised land. When I moved away I was Tex Mex cheese enchiladas more than anything.
what type of dip do you recommend for this?
I typically get the gravy when I order this.
Thank you Stephanie! This is my all time favorite fast food meal. I’ve always wanted to try it! Thank you so much!
The extra buttermilk is to soak the raw tenders in overnight.
Why does the ingredients list call for 2 1/2 cups f buttermilk but the instructions only use 1/2 cup?
that may be a typo in the instructions. Recipe calls for 2 cups of flour. 1/2 cup buttermilk doesn’t seem like enough to make a batter of that much flour. I would add in the buttermilk till you get a nice batter then stop adding it.
You are trying to make a shaggy batter. The recipe is intentional. You may want to review the video, as I may have failed to convey the reasoning behind the method in the written recipe.
Oh this looks absolutely divine. I’m going to have to try this
Yippee! So excited to read your post. I’ve been cooking from your recipe