Chicken strips, also known as chicken tenders, are a popular chicken dish made by slicing chicken breasts into long, thin strips, breading them, and frying them. But are chicken strips made from the breast meat or some other part of the chicken?
The Origin of Chicken Strips
Chicken strips were first created in the late 1960s as a way to use up scrap cuts of chicken. Restaurants and food companies realized they could take irregularly shaped or small pieces of chicken breast, coat them in batter, fry them, and serve them as an appetizer or kids meal. The uniform strips made the chicken easy to eat with your fingers, appealing especially to children.
As chicken strips grew in popularity over the years, restaurants and food manufacturers started specifically cutting chicken breasts into tenders to meet the demand rather than relying solely on scrap meat. Today, most chicken tenders are made by slicing chicken breasts lengthwise into long strips.
Anatomy of a Chicken Breast
To understand if chicken strips are white or dark meat, it helps to first look at the anatomy of a chicken breast:
- The chicken breast contains the pectoralis major muscle on either side of the breastbone. This muscle supports the wings and is used extensively for flight in birds. It is made up of fast-twitch muscle fibers, giving the meat a lighter color.
- The tenderloins are two small, tender strips of muscle nestled underneath the chicken breast on either side of the breastbone. They connect the pectoralis major muscle to the breastbone.
Both the pectoralis major and the tenderloins are considered white meat due to their light color and mild flavor compared to the legs and thighs.
Chicken Tenders Are White Meat
Since chicken strips and tenders are sliced from the chicken breast, including both the pectoralis major muscle and tenderloins, they are considered white meat:
- They come from the same muscles that make up a whole chicken breast
- They have the same mild flavor and lighter color as a boneless, skinless chicken breast
- Nutritionally, they contain slightly more protein and less fat compared to dark chicken meat from the legs and thighs
Some additional signs that chicken tenders contain white breast meat:
- Chicken tenders have a very mild flavor compared to the more pronounced flavor of dark meat.
- They are slightly firmer in texture than fattier dark meat.
- Raw chicken tenders are pale in color compared to the darker reddish-pink of raw chicken thighs.
- Chicken tenderloins, located under the breast, are sometimes sold on their own as premium white meat cuts.
exceptions
While most chicken strips and tenders do come from the breast meat, there are a couple exceptions:
- Scrap meat: As mentioned earlier, some manufacturers may use irregularly shaped pieces of meat from all over the chicken, including darker pieces from the legs or thighs. This is less common today since demand is high enough to use white breast meat.
- Mechanically separated chicken: Highly processed chicken strips may contain mechanically separated chicken meat, which can come from any part of the chicken. If the ingredients list contains this term, the strips may not be 100% breast meat.
Nutrition Comparison
Comparing the nutrition information of chicken tenders and chicken thighs also shows that tenders align more closely with the nutritional profile of breast meat:
| Nutrient | 4 oz chicken tenderloin | 4 oz chicken thigh |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 120 | 140 |
| Fat | 2g | 5g |
| Saturated Fat | 0.5g | 1.5g |
| Protein | 24g | 19g |
Chicken tenders have fewer calories and less fat than chicken thighs, which are considered dark meat. Tendons are also higher in protein, similar to chicken breasts.
Conclusion
In summary, the vast majority of chicken strips and chicken tenders are made from slicing the pectoralis major muscle and tenderloins directly from chicken breasts. This means they contain white breast meat with its characteristic mild flavor, lighter color, and lean nutrition profile. While it’s possible scrap pieces of meat or mechanically separated chicken could end up in some highly processed tenders, most are predominantly sliced white breast meat. So you can confidently enjoy chicken tenders as a leaner alternative to fried dark chicken meat.