Chicken Nuggets – Chick-Fil-A-ish

About four years after my move, Chick-Fil-A finally made it to Cali, albeit nowhere near my house. It's still a 20-30 minute trek from home so anytime we are near one, we HAVE to stop. Now my kids are Chick-Fil-A lovers as well--it's about the ONLY cuisine we can agree on I might add---and they always ask for it and its always too far to drive OR it's a Sunday and believe you me, I've made the drive on many a Sunday and am crushed every time when I get there to find them closed. Chick-Fil-A doesn't do Sundays like I don't do my husband's garage toilet.

So, I did a little online research to see if I could find the actual recipe. A bunch of folks seem to think they've got it down, but when I looked at the ingredients and prep times of their nuggets, I knew I was going to have to make my own version...and in a HURRY! Once I told my kids I was making them, they were all over me!

Now I'm not going to tell you that these were so perfect that I'll never drive to Chick-Fil-A again, but they are pretty darn close and this will certainly be the only nugget recipe I make from scratch anymore.

Ingredients:

1 lb chicken breasts, cut into bite sized nuggets or strips
3/4 cup bread crumbs made from dry, toasted bread
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon seasoning salt {I use Lawry's}
1/2 teaspoon black pepper {use more if you like pepper and aren't making these to feed little mouths}
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs, whisked

vegetable oil, for frying

Directions:

In a large bowl, add chicken pieces and buttermilk. Allow chicken to sit in the buttermilk as long as you can ---overnight if you've planned ahead, and at least one hour if you haven't.

Place dried bread into a food processor and process until fine. Pulse in the flour, garlic powder, onion powder, sugar, seasoning salt, pepper and paprika.

In a large dutch oven {or deep fryer if you have one}, heat 2 inches of vegetable [or peanut] oil to 350 degrees over medium-high heat.

Transfer flour mixture to a bowl and begin setting up your dipping station. Whisk eggs in a separate bowl. Piece by piece, remove chicken from buttermilk and dredge in bread crumb/flour mixture, then egg wash, then back into bread crumb/flour mixture. Once all pieces have been coated, you can start putting them into the hot oil. Be careful not to add too many chicken pieces to the oil, so that all pieces will cook evenly. Cook for about 1 1/2 minutes, then flip chicken pieces over, if necessary, and cook for another 1 1/2- 2 minutes. Chicken is ready when the coating is medium golden brown. Transfer chicken pieces to a paper towel lined plate to absorb any excess oil. Repeat with remaining chicken. I served my nuggets with Alexa's waffle fries I found at the market, so I really hit the Chick-Fil-A meal home! The kids loved it...more importantly, I loved it and even hubby liked it {served over a bed of lettuce with tomatoes, cucumbers, cheddar cheese and ranch dressin'}.

See those little tiny bits of breading there? THAT is my favorite part!!!! And suddenly available any time I want them....even on Sundays.

Recipe adapted from: Frieda Loves Bread

One thought on “Chicken Nuggets – Chick-Fil-A-ish”

Oooo i’m trying this tonight! I’m in NYC and our nearest chickfila is on the NYU campus so it’s not accessible to the public. Thanks for sharing!

Reply ↓