Chicken Tenders & de Basic Sauce

This is a recipe I got off of Allrecipes.com. I read many of the reviews and combined some of their edits. Here is the original recipe: Breaded Chicken Fingers. And here is my recipe. I've also included our new BBQ sauce recipe that we've worked on for a while. We call it "de Basic Sauce" because of my initials and because it is a great beginner BBQ sauce.

Chicken Tenders

2-4 bonless/skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch strips
1 egg, beaten
1 cup buttermilk (see note)
1/2 tsp paprika

3/4 cup flour
1 1/4 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder

2 eggs, beaten

Vegetable oil for frying

1) Trim fat off of chicken; rinse and pat dry with paper towels. Cut into 1/2 inch strips and place in a gallon ziploc.

2) In a small bowl, mix egg, buttermilk, and paprika. Pour into bag with chicken. Seal and refrigerate 2 to 4 hours.

3) In another gallon ziploc, mix together flour, bread crumbs, salt, and baking powder. Remove chicken from refrigerator, drain, and discard buttermilk mixture. Place chicken in breading bag; seal and shake to coat.

4) In a shallow dish, beat 2 eggs. Remove chicken from breading bag and dip each strip in egg. Place chicken in breading bag once more; seal and shake to coat.

5) Heat about 2" of oil over medium heat. Carefully place chicken strips in oil; fry until golden brown and juices run clear (3-4 minutes total for regular strips; slightly longer for thicker sections). Drain on paper towels.

Notes:

~If you don't have buttermilk, use 1 Tbs lemon juice or vinegar plus enough milk to equal 1 cup. Let stand for 5 minutes before using.
~The double coating method was highly recommended in the reviews. It really is not much work, so do it! I removed all the chicken after the first coating and placed it on a cookie sheet. That way I could dip the strips in egg and put them right back in the breading bag. I then placed them all back on the cookie sheet to easily retrieve them with tongs for frying.
~The great thing about making chicken tenders at home is that you can trim ALL the fat off. Often, I don't thoroughly enjoy restaurant chicken tenders because I'm always worried about hitting fat or grissle. These babies are SO tender from the buttermilk soak and completely fat/grissle free (to chew anyway). ;-) Also, both Matt and I remarked at how non-greasy these chicken tenders are. So nice on the hands and tastebuds!
~For lunch today, I put a couple cold tenders in a tortilla with some lettuce, shredded cheddar and a touch of ranch dressing. Mmm!

de Basic Sauce

1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup honey
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 Tbs cider vinegar
2 Tbs Worchestershire sauce
1 1/2 tsp prepared mustard
2 Tbs chili powder

1) In a small saucepan, combine all ingredients.
2) Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer at least 10 minutes.