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You can skip the drive-thru with this recipe for copycat Chick-fil-A Nuggets. Enjoy everyone’s favorite fast-food chicken nuggets at home!
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Chick-fil-A Nuggets
The other day, my family and I were having a very “spirited” debate about the best fast-food chicken nuggets. I guess these things are important to us?! Who knew?
While some folks were saying they preferred Popeyes or KFC, and I won’t name any names! I went to bat for Chick-Fil-A. There’s something about their nuggets that are just incredible, y’all.
With this copycat Chick-Fil-A Nugget recipe, I knew I had to prove my point!! My family didn’t budge on their opinions, but they admitted that Chick-Fil-A nuggets were definitely in their top 3. I rest my case!
By the way, with this recipe, I also included the Chick-Fil-A sauce because it’s just not right to eat their nuggets without it. I hope you love it!
Chick-fil-A Nuggets: Ingredients & Substitutions
For this Chick-fil-A Nuggets recipe. you will need …
Ingredients
For the nuggets
- boneless chicken breast – cut into bite-sized pieces. You can’t have nuggets without it! You can also use tenderloin.
- milk, pickle juice – you’ll dredge your nuggets in these before adding the breading and frying them. Make sure you use dill pickle juice specifically if you want to get as close as possible to the real thing.
- Ritz crackers, breadcrumbs, flour, paprika, pepper, salt, sugar – your Chick-fil-A nugget breading. I know the sugar, in particular, sounds weird, but don’t skip it!!
- peanut oil – for frying your nuggets.
For the sauce
mayo, honey, BBQ sauce, and yellow mustard – these four ingredients, when whisked together, make that oh-so-delectable Chick-fil-A sauce.
How to make Chick-fil-A Nuggets
To make the nuggets
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First, get your chicken covered in your milk mixture. Grab a large bowl and combine the milk and pickle juice. Add your cut-up chicken pieces and make sure they get nice and covered with the milk mixture!
Second, let the chicken marinate. Throw it in the fridge for about 1-3 hours.
Third, make your breading. Use a food processor to crush the crackers finely, then mix them with breadcrumbs, flour, paprika, pepper, salt, and powdered sugar.
Four, fry your nuggets. Add peanut oil to your frying pan/dutch oven/deep fryer. Heat the oil to about 350-360°F. Dredge the nuggets in the breading mixture, then drop the nuggets into the oil and let them fry for about 2-3. You want golden brown nuggets!
Finally, drain and serve them. Drain the nuggets on paper towels and serve them up with Chick-Fil-A sauce!
To make the sauce
Simply combine all the ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk the mixture until it’s smooth. Then it’s good to go!!
Chick-fil-A Nuggets: FAQs
The prep time is about 20 minutes, and the cooking time is about 25 minutes. However, you’ll want the nuggets to marinade for about 1-3 hours in between that.
Absolutely!! In an airtight container, they’ll stay fresh for about 3 days. Reheat them by refrying them.
Yes! It’ll remain “good” for about 5 days.
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Chick-fil-A Nuggets
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Equipment
Ingredients
For the nuggets
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
- 1 ½ cups milk
- ½ cup dill pickle juice
- 1 sleeve Ritz Townhouse crackers
- 1 ½ cups plain breadcrumbs
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 ½ teaspoon paprika
- 1 ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- peanut oil for frying
For the sauce
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons barbecue sauce
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 teaspoons yellow mustard
Instructions
For the Nuggets
- In a large bowl, combine the milk and pickle juice. Add the chicken pieces and ensure they are completely covered with the milk mixture. Place the bowl in the fridge to allow the chicken to marinate for 1-3 hours.
- When ready to cook the chicken, place the crackers into the bowl of a food processor and crush them into fine pieces.
- In a large bowl, mix the cracker crumbs with the breadcrumbs, powdered sugar, flour, salt, paprika, and pepper.
- Add peanut oil to a deep frying pan, dutch oven, or deep fryer. Be sure to add enough oil to cover the nuggets. Heat the oil to 350°F-360°F.
- Dredge the chicken pieces in the breading mixture one by one.
- When the oil is hot enough, drop in the nuggets into the oil in batches and fry until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes. Do not overcrowd the pan.
- Remove the nuggets to a paper towel-lined platter or baking sheet to drain. Repeat the process until all of the chicken is cooked.
- Serve with sauce.
Chick Fil A Sauce Directions
- In a medium bowl, combine all the sauce ingredients and whisk until smooth.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
- Make it easier to coat your chicken pieces by adding the breading to a large zip-top bag and then adding the chicken pieces. Seal the top and give the bag a shake to coat the pieces.
- Any buttery cracker will work in the breading.
- No food processor? No problem! You can also crush them up in a zip-top bag – you just want to make sure they are fine crumbs.
- For a true Chick-fil-A taste, you need to use dill pickle juice – not bread and butter pickles or hot pickles, just regular dill pickles.
- I know it sounds a little odd to add powdered sugar – but do not skip it! It is what gives these nuggets their signature taste.
- You can also use chicken tenderloins in this recipe. Either cut them into nuggets or use them as chicken strips.
- You can refrigerate the leftover chicken for up to 3 days and reheat them. I like to use the air fryer.
- You can keep the sauce in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
- For a true copycat dinner, serve this with waffle fries!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
These chicken pieces look so delicious. I will try this asap. Thanks for your article.