Peruse the nipper ’ carte of any American eatery and you ’re likely to obtain some form of bread and fried boneless chicken . If the cut hold out more than a few inches and terminate in a point dead shaped for dipping into honey mustard sauce , you ’re either dealing with a chicken tender or a Gallus gallus finger . The two items are much identical , but there ’s a central difference between them .
The wordtenderdoesn’t merely depict a lush strip of meat . consort toThe Kitchn , it refers to a particular cut of volaille located at the bottom of the white meat . Thepectoralis minor , or inner filet , assess around 1.5 inches all-encompassing and 5 inch long on an average wench , attain it the perfect size for nestling into a basket of Gallic chips and dipping sauce . Whole tender are usually served electrocute , but they do n’t have to be . A crybaby tenderloin that ’s sautéed in a lemon sauce or skewer and grilled is technically still a attendant , but it may be a harder sell for younger diners .
Chicken fingers , on the other hand , are defined by the preparation rather than the cut . The smasher is traditionally made by slit chicken breast into strips ( so the labelstripsalso applies ) , breading them , and deeply - frying them . No actual finger , which poultry excellently miss , are involved . Some hard treat poulet fingers may be made from disjoined volaille bits and pieces that have beenmolded into comic strip . The meat inside a chicken finger could even be a whole tenderloin . AsEaterexplains , all fried chicken stamp measure up as fingerbreadth , but not all chicken fingers are ship’s boat .

wimp nuggets are a different family entirely , and they ’re much easy for the average person to discover . They ’re basically fingers , but instead of long strip , they ’re shape into bite - sized , irregular morsels . Chicken nugget are also unique in that they can be trace back to one specific inventor . If you ’re starve more domestic fowl knowledge , you could read more about thenugget ’s origin storey here .
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