Pickle-Brined Baked Chicken Tenders

These juicy, flavorful chicken tenders are marinated in pickle juice then breaded and baked in the oven.

While I was on set doing the photography for my next cookbook in Charleston, I was chatting with the food stylist and Helene, my photographer about (what else) food and we got to talking about Chick-fil-A somehow and Abbie mentioned the secret to their amazing chicken is pickle juice. What!!? My daughter Madison LOVES pickles, and we go through jars of them each month and I always hate tossing the juice, so I loved the idea of reusing it.

Helene shared a recipe she often makes from The Southern Made Fresh Cookbook where she brines her chicken breast and pan fries them, I was inspired to try this when I got home! I didn’t follow the recipe from the book, but I did brine my chicken for 8 hours as instructed in her cookbook. Glorious results, I loved this so much I even created a short video! This is a recipe I will be making again and again!

(more…)