My name is Monica and I am a recovering Chicken Nugget Fiend. Yes, as a youngster, I happily bounced through the golden arches for the delicious morsels. Now that I've peered behind the scenes of that culinary process….EEEEEEKS!!! Let's make our own delicious and nutritious homemade chicken nuggets instead.
These are fantastically fun snacks for the kids and serving these with yummy dipping sauces really takes me back! Check out this homemade BBQ sauce – I think you'll love it.
Homemade chicken nuggets ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken breast*
- 2-3 eggs**
- 1 cup blanched almond flour – get almond flour here
- 2 tablespoons arrowroot – get arrowroot here
- 2 tablespoons Pecorino Romano
- 2 tablespoons chopped dehydrated onions – get dehydrated onion flakes here
- 1 ½ teaspoon unrefined sea salt – get sea salt here
- 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne
Homemade chicken nuggets method
- Chop chicken into 2 inch nuggets.
- Using a whisk or fork to mix blanched almond flour and all spices in one bowl.
- Beat eggs in another bowl.
- Submerge a each chicken nugget in egg wash and then dredge in almond flour spice mixture.
- Carefully lay each nugget on a parchment lined baking sheet. Do not crowd.
- Bake in oven preheated to 400° for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
Chef's Notes:
*You may also use dark meat but I find breast meat gives you the classic chicken nuggets to perfection.
**If you have extra egg whites around, this is a great place to use them.
This post was generously contributed by Monica Ford of Real Food Devotee. If you're lucky enough to live in Los Angeles, Real Food Devotee can make your life easier by delivering nutrient dense goodies directly to your door.
photo credit: An Eye Full Studio
About how many nuggets does this recipe make?
Hi @Joel
This recipe makes roughly 16-20 chicken nuggets:) Enjoy!
I think the worst thing is I can remember thinking the chicken nuggets were healthy because they were made with chicken! Oops … I do sort of blame my parents for not knowing to teach better eating habits to all of us kids … they were obese (my mother was classified as morbidly obese) and food was meant to taste good regardless of how it was made …
Your chicken nuggets look delicious! We are gluten-free, so I always appreciate discovering new gfree recipes.
Thank you for your submission on Nourishing Treasures’ Make Your Own! Monday link-up.
Check back tomorrow when the new link-up is running to see if you were one of the top 3 featured posts! 🙂
Hi, I don’t have a dehydrator, is there an improvising way for the onions? Thanks
@Lu
Buy those onions, Hon! They are just so darn convenient to have around and you can easilly get them in organic! xo
http://www.starwest-botanicals.com/organic-onion-white-chopped.html
These sound great. However, my son is allergic to all nuts. What can I substitute for the almond flour?
@ Sarah
How is he with coconut flour? They are great dredged in coconut flour. When you use coconut flour they are conducive to baking for fry! Enjoy!
What does the Arrowroot do? Could you sub Tapioca Starch or non GMO Corn starch? Thanks!
Hi @Heather
The arrowroot acts as a binder so yes if you would like you sub Tapioca Starch or non GMO Corn starch. The great thing about arrowroot is that it is a powdered root that is grown near the ocean and is chock full of wonderful minerals. This is a bonus for us since much of our modern soil has been depleted of mineral content and thus our foods so, it’s wonderful thing to get a little more where we can:)
I also do this by dipping the chicken in a healthy mayo instead of egg – either work, but sometimes I can’t have eggs on hand so mayo works great.
I just made these last night, and they are the BEST chicken nuggets I have ever had! I used to make a grain filled version and these are even better than those were, or any you can get in a fast food restaurant! I added an extra T of Romano because it smelled so good, LOL, and I also added 1 teaspoon of white pepper, but otherwise stayed true to the recipe. The breading stuck to the nugget very well, it browned and crisped up a bit, but the best part is that the breading tasted fantastic. Well done & thank you so much for this recipe, chicken nuggets are one of my husbands favorites! 🙂 Just wanted everyone to know – definitely try these!! I’m going to make the BBQ sauce to go with it next time!
Thanks for sharing your alterations Jess, sounds delicious! 🙂