These air fryer chicken tenders have no breading and get a BBQ sauce finish. They cook at 350°F (175°C) for about 12 minutes, depending on thickness and your air fryer. I brush on the sauce with about 3 minutes left, then check that the thickest tender has reached 165°F (74°C) before serving.

BBQ Chicken is a dish that always makes me think of summer. Specifically, sitting out on the deck, face and fingers covered with sauce, sun beating down with no plans of going down for hours.

Can’t you just feel it? 

For this recipe I used chicken tenderloins, so what you’re making here is a batch of saucy, unbreaded BBQ chicken tenders. If wings are more your thing, you can’t miss these jerk chicken wings, but the tenderloins are the quick, easy dinner version.

What you need for air fryer BBQ chicken tenders

It’s really simple, and you can switch it up any way you’d like, but for this recipe I stuck to:

• Chicken Tenderloins - I used just one pound of chicken for this recipe. This makes it easy to scale the amounts of the other ingredients to fit how much chicken you’re cooking. 
• Salt
• Pepper
• BBQ Dry Rub - You can always swap this out for your favorite chicken seasonings, from onion powder and paprika to just leaving it out completely if you’d prefer just to just use the sauce. 
• BBQ Sauce - go ahead and use your favorite sauce! Because I follow a low carb diet, my go to, just like in my recipe for air fryer ribs, is Ken Davis Sassy 2 Carb. I think it’s the best low carb BBQ sauce on the market, and I’ve tried quite a few of them!

How long do BBQ chicken tenders take in the air fryer?

Every air fryer is different, but right now I’m using the Ninja Air Fryer Max XL. Typically it takes just about 12 minutes to get my chicken to the USDA recommended 165°F (74°C) internal temperature.

Air fryers and tenderloin thicknesses vary, so treat 12 minutes as your starting point and rely on temperature for doneness. That same timing also worked well for my air fryer chicken parmesan, which cooked through without drying out.

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I also use tongs to flip my chicken halfway through the cook time. This helps it get evenly cooked on both sides. 

How to serve air fryer chicken tenders without breading

One of the first things I did was slice the chicken and tuck it into a low-carb tortilla with ranch and shredded cheese. That gives you a quick BBQ chicken wrap, but the tenders are just as easy to serve whole with your favorite sides.

You can also serve it with traditional BBQ side dishes like potato salad, or cauliflower potato salad, if you’re keeping it low carb!

If you’re building a party spread, pair them with something from my easy air fryer appetizers. Keeping dinner low carb? I also pulled together seven keto air fryer chicken recipes in one place. For the full mix of wings, tenders, thighs, and dinners, start with these air fryer chicken recipes.

For more ideas like this one, browse our collection of 20 keto air fryer recipes for easy low-carb meals.