Hemp-Crusted Baked Chicken Tenders — The Meal Prep That Kept Me Standing

The pandemic is the backdrop now — ever-present, shaping every decision, but not the center of my life. The center of my life is the custody schedule that Brianna and I are building week by week: I get the kids every other weekend and Wednesday evenings. It is not enough. Nothing will be enough. But it is what we have, and I fill the time with food and basketball and bedtime stories and the concentrated, desperate love of a father who knows his minutes are counted. I went to the plant every day. Essential worker. The phrase has an irony that would be funny if it were not so painful: I am essential to a factory and non-essential to a household. The Grand Cherokee needs me. My apartment does not. But I show up to both — to the line at six AM and to the apartment at four PM — because showing up is the thing I know how to do, and when everything else falls away, showing up is all that remains. I cooked for the week: meal prep, the way Brianna used to suggest and I used to resist. Sunday afternoon, four hours of cooking: a pot of chili, a pan of baked chicken, a container of rice, and a batch of my cornbread. Five days of food, portioned into containers, stacked in the fridge. Eating alone is less lonely when the food is good. Good food is company. Good food is a conversation with yourself about who you are and what you can do and what survives when everything else is lost. Mama FaceTimed me on Wednesday. She does this every day now — the phone call has been upgraded to video since the pandemic started, because Mama wants to see my face when she asks if I am eating. "Show me the fridge," she said. I showed her. The containers were there, labeled, organized. She said, "Good. You're feeding yourself." I said, "Yes, Mama." She said, "Now feed your soul." I said, "I'm working on it." She said, "Work harder." Feed your soul. Mama said to feed my soul. The food feeds my body. The cooking feeds my pride. The children feed my heart. But my soul — the part of me that broke on the gym floor at seventeen and broke again when Brianna walked out the door — my soul needs something I have not found yet. Or maybe I have found it and I am standing on it: the grill, the kitchen, the court, the table at Mama's house. Maybe the soul is fed in pieces, not all at once. Maybe feeding the soul looks exactly like feeding the body: one meal at a time, with patience, with attention, with love.

The baked chicken was always the anchor of my Sunday prep—the thing I built the week around. I needed something that would hold up in a container for five days, reheat without going sad and rubbery, and still taste like I meant it. These hemp-crusted tenders became that recipe for me: a little different, a little intentional, the kind of thing that made Mama say “Good” when I showed her the fridge on FaceTime. Feeding yourself well when you’re the only one watching is an act of stubbornness I have come to respect.

Hemp-Crusted Baked Chicken Tenders

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 22 min | Total Time: 37 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs chicken tenderloins (or chicken breasts cut into strips)
• 1/2 cup hemp seeds (hemp hearts)
• 1/2 cup whole wheat breadcrumbs
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• Olive oil cooking spray

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven. Set your oven to 425°F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and place a wire rack on top. Lightly coat the rack with cooking spray.
2. Make the crust mixture. In a shallow bowl, combine the hemp seeds, breadcrumbs, garlic powder, smoked paprika, onion powder, dried thyme, salt, and black pepper. Stir until evenly mixed.
3. Prepare the egg wash. In a separate shallow bowl, whisk together the eggs and Dijon mustard until smooth and fully combined.
4. Coat the tenders. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Working one piece at a time, dip each tender into the egg wash, letting the excess drip off, then press firmly into the hemp seed mixture on both sides to coat well. Place on the prepared rack.
5. Bake. Lightly mist the coated tenders with cooking spray. Bake for 20–22 minutes, flipping once halfway through, until the crust is golden and the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165°F.
6. Rest and portion. Let the tenders rest for 5 minutes before serving. For meal prep, cool completely before dividing into airtight containers. Refrigerate for up to 5 days.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 310 | Protein: 42g | Fat: 11g | Carbs: 9g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 480mg