Chicharrones de Pollo or Fried Chicken Tenders are crispy morsels of fried chicken, marinated with Latin spices and wrapped in a super crunchy crust. Give this Dominican recipe a try, your family will love you for it.

Chicharrones de Pollo ~ Fried Chicken Tenders
It's one of those iconic Caribbean fusion dishes with a Spanish influence.
Ingredients
Chicken:
- 2 ½ pounds boneless chicken uniformly cut strips, breasts, tenders, thighs or mixed
Marinade:
- 1 cup lime juice
- 4 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
- 4 cloves garlic minced
Seasoned Flour Coating:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp paprika Spanish
- 1 ½ tsp black pepper or to taste
- 1 tsp salt or to taste
- 3 to 4 cups vegetable oil or amount needed for frying
Instructions
- You will be first marinating the chicken, then coating it in flour and frying it. This is broken down into steps.
Make the Marinade
- In a large nonreactive mixing bowl or plastic zip-top page, combine lime juice, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and minced garlic.
- Add the chicken strips and allow to marinate for 30 minutes or up to 3 hours.
Make the Seasoned Flour Coating
- In a separate mixing bowl or plastic zip-top bag, combine the flour, paprika, pepper, and salt and mix well.
- Remove the chicken from the marinade. Discard the leftover marinade. Pat the chicken pieces with paper towels. You want them moist enough for the coating to stick, but not so wet that it slides off.
- Coat the marinated chicken well with the seasoned flour mixture.
Fry the Chicken
- Place the vegetable oil for frying into a deep-sided frying pan, or use a deep fryer if you have one. Heat the oil over medium-high heat to 360 F (182 C).
- Don’t overheat or under-heat the oil. You want the chicken to start cooking when you place it in the oil, but not spatter hot oil.
- Don’t crowd the pan with the chicken. Fry it in batches until golden brown outside and completely cooked inside (about 4 minutes per side). The chicken should not be pink in the middle. The Food and Drug Administration recommends 165 F (74 C).
- Place chicken on a plate lined with a paper towel to absorb the oil. Keep the chicken warm until you are ready to serve it.
Notes
The longer the chicken marinates, the stronger the lime taste will be. The maximum marination time is no more than three hours. Beyond that time the chicken is still safe to cook but it can become mushy due to the acid in the marinade.
Do not use the leftover marinade for any purpose unless you boil it for two to three minutes. It will contain bacteria from the chicken that can result in food poisoning or infection unless killed by boiling.
Make sure the chicken strips are of a uniform size, so they will all cook in the same amount of time.
When frying the chicken, don’t overcrowd the pan. The oil will cool down, and the chicken will not cook properly and will absorb oil, with the resulting chicken being greasy.
Do not use the leftover marinade for any purpose unless you boil it for two to three minutes. It will contain bacteria from the chicken that can result in food poisoning or infection unless killed by boiling.
Make sure the chicken strips are of a uniform size, so they will all cook in the same amount of time.
When frying the chicken, don’t overcrowd the pan. The oil will cool down, and the chicken will not cook properly and will absorb oil, with the resulting chicken being greasy.
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