Sesame Chicken Fingers with Spicy Orange Dipping Sauce

I’m on my pediatrics rotation now; these are by far the most adorable patients I’ve ever seen! During ER, I had an adorable boy whose comments made the 12 hour shift totally worth it. I swear he was trying to convince us medical students to go into pediatrics; he totally melted everyone’s hearts.

Boy: I don’t want shots, please, please, please no shots! I feel perfectly ok, in fact, I can to go home and rest and take all my medicines like Advil and Tylenol and elevate my leg while doing my homework, so I’ll feel better on my own, I promise.

ER doctor: Have you ever had any surgery?
Boy: No, I haven’t, oh no, am I doing to get surgery right now??!
ER doctor: No, I don’t think you need any right now.
Boy: Oh, thank you so much for not giving me surgery!
He also kept calling the CT scan a “doughnut” because of its shape, which was too cute.

Anyway, I’ve been learning a lot about how to deal with kids (they’re mysterious creatures). Before I was a sophisticated grown up starving med student /artist, I was a scrawny kid who ate only chicken nuggets and feeding time was the bane of my parent’s existence. No better way to reminisce about my childhood chicken nugget eating days than with sesame chicken fingers with spicy orange dipping sauce.

This orange dipping sauce is key (and way better than ketchup!) – just make sure it’s a good high quality orange marmalade. Adapted from Simply Recipes.

Sesame Chicken Fingers with Spicy Orange Dipping Sauce

Ingredients
CHICKEN
1 1/4 lbs chicken tenders
1/2 cup buttermilk (substitute: 1/2 cup of milk + 1 1/2 teaspoons of vinegar or lemon juice)
1 Tbsp orange marmalade
1 teaspoon soy sauce

BREADING
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/4 cup raw sesame seeds
1 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste

DIPPING SAUCE
1/2 cup sweet orange marmalade
1 Tbsp soy sauce
2 teaspoons sriracha hot sauce
2 teaspoons seasoned rice vinegar
orange juice, to desired consistency

Directions
Mix marinade ingredients (buttermilk, marmalade, soy sauce) in a medium bowl. Add the chicken tenders to the marinade and stir to coat completely with the marinade. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

For the breading, toast panko and sesame seeds until golden brown (400F a few minutes in my toaster oven – you can find reviews of options here). Toss with olive oil and salt and pepper, so crumbs are lightly coated. Spread the breading on a shallow bowl.

Pre-heat oven to 400°F. Line a roasting with aluminum foil and place a baking rack on top.  Dredge the chicken tenders in the bread crumb mixture and place them on the prepared rack on the roasting pan (you can place directly on the pan but the bottom won’t be as crispy). Bake chicken tenders at 400°F for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

While the chicken tenders are baking, stir together the orange marmalade, soy sauce, sriracha hot sauce, and seasoned rice vinegar in a bowl to make the sauce. Serve sesame chicken fingers with the spicy orange dipping sauce.