Chick-fil-A Chicken Nuggets

I hardly ever fry foods. No matter how good a recipe looks, if I see anything about frying, ninety percent of the time I will just keep on moving. But this one stopped me, mostly because some people compared it to Chick-fil-A. Ah, Chick-fil-A. I could move into your restaurant in a moment's notice. It's probably best that the closest one is just under 3,000 miles away. I don't know what they do to their chicken, but yum. So when I found recipes for their nuggets and their sandwiches, I had to try them out. I actually don't think I've ever had their chicken nuggets (I love their chicken sandwich too much to stray), but I imagine this is a close rendition. I love them plain, but my husband made some fry sauce to dip them in, and that was pretty dang good too. Honey, ketchup, barbecue sauce, however you want to do it, just as long as you make up a batch soon so you know what you've been missing.

As a sidenote, I know they say peanut oil is best when frying foods. I bought peanut oil for this recipe, I even poured it in the pan, but I immediately poured it back in the bottle when I realized I would have to use the whole expensive bottle for one recipe. I couldn't do it. I almost always use canola oil, and we like how everything turns out. My only suggestion it to use a good thermometer. It's very important to keep your oil right around 375 degrees. If it's too high, your food will burn instead of cook evenly. And if it's too low, it will soak up the oil and become greasy and fatty. (Thank you Alton Brown and Good Eats!)

Printable Recipe

 Chick-fil-A Chicken Nuggets

from My Name is Snickerdoodle

3 skinless and boneless chicken breasts

1 cup milk

1 egg

1 1/4 cups flour

2 TBSP powdered sugar

2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

Peanut oil (is best) or canola oil

In a medium bowl whisk the egg and stir in the milk.

Trim any fat away from chicken. Cube chicken into bite size pieces.

Place chicken in milk mixture and cover. Let it marinate for 2-4 hours in the fridge. This will make the chicken very nice and tender.

In a gallon size resealable baggie (or I prefer using a large Tupperware container that I can shake everything around in), combine flour, powdered sugar, salt and pepper. Seal and shake to combine.

Place about 2 inches of oil in a wok or a medium deep pot. Over medium high heat (more towards the high side) heat oil until hot. If using a thermometer let the temperature reach 375°. (If you don't have a thermometer, you can test the oil by dropping a few drops of water into it. You want it to sizzle and not pop too much.) Adjust your heat if necessary throughout cooking.

Using a fork or tongs remove cut chicken from milk mixture and place in the flour mixture. (Don't pat the chicken dry. I tried this last time, and the flour mixture didn't stick very well to the chicken, so I lost a lot of flavor.) Seal and shake until nuggets are completely coated.

Place about a 6-8 nuggets into hot oil and let them cook until golden brown, turning half way through once the edge of your chicken starts to turn white. It should take about 1 minute each side. Always double check to see if any chicken you make is cooked through.

Remove and drain on a paper towel. Repeat until all nuggets are cooked. (I keep a cookie sheet in the oven and turn it on warm. Once the nuggets have drained, I keep the done ones in there while the rest are cooking.)

Makes 6 servings.


Serve with: Favorite Sauce, Macaroni and Cheese, Mixed Vegetables