Homemade Chicken Nuggets / Tenders Recipe

A simple recipe to make chicken nuggets / tenders at home, with few ingredients and no chemicals. It’s a meat preparation that everyone loves.

Recipe for 4 servings

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Total recipe time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

2 to 3 eggs
600 g of chicken breasts (or chicken tenders if you prefer)
1 onion (which you can incorporate if you choose to mince the chicken in the blender)
Flour
Breadcrumbs for breading (wheat, corn, be creative)
Frying oil (avoid olive oil)
Spices if you wish (red pepper powder or paprika)
Salt

Tips:

Chicken nuggets / tenders are essential recipes in American cuisine, so much so that this preparation made from chicken meat, egg, salt, and pepper coated with breadcrumbs is known to every French family.

Homemade Minced Meat Nuggets

You might have in mind the image of frozen chicken nuggets made from a fluorescent pink paste, with very poor nutritional information? With today’s homemade version, we’ll only use completely healthy ingredients and fry them.

Some readers have made these nuggets in the oven on a tray, which is entirely possible, but the egg will set less than with frying, so they will be less crispy. The middle ground solution for a nice but not too greasy end product, you can also cook them in a pan. Of course, the oven is more convenient for this type of recipe/dish.

If you want to give your chicken more flavor, a little salt and pepper will suffice, as the rest of the ingredients are already flavorful. You can also add spices to the flour or breadcrumb mixture if you’re a fan of spiciness. I’m sure, I like my nugget spicy, I don’t like bland recipes.

Financially, chicken nuggets are also a good opportunity to “recycle” chicken scraps that you would otherwise throw away. Think about it, since on one hand you save money, and on the other hand, everyone you serve them to will be delighted (especially the children, don’t give them any additional information about where the fillets come from).

For the sauce if you want one on the side, I recommend a white sauce, a BBQ sauce, or even ranch. Of course, if you want to put ketchup, I won’t stop you, but I don’t like it on my chicken nugget.

The other possibility, which is very popular in the USA and North America in general, is honey. It can be pure honey or mixed with mustard or hot sauce, but I must admit that I like this sweet and salty aspect in cooking.

What breadcrumbs to use for nuggets?

There are several types of breadcrumbs, so which one to use? For a healthier version, opt for whole wheat breadcrumbs. You can find them in the organic section of your grocery store, or make them yourself by processing old whole wheat bread in a food processor until it forms crumbs.

Panko breadcrumbs are a light and airy Japanese breadcrumb made from crustless bread, perfect for achieving a crispy coating on your nuggets. You can find them in the international section of most grocery stores.

Finally, if you avoid gluten, you can use almond flour, rice cereal, or ground flaxseeds instead of breadcrumbs.

My little extra is to use cornflakes, very crispy and they give a great texture.

What to replace chicken with in nuggets?

If you’re looking for a vegetarian version of chicken nuggets, there are several options. Tofu, tempeh, and seitan are all good substitutes for chicken in nuggets. You can also use mushrooms, cauliflower, or even chickpeas.

You can also use pork, which will give a tonkatsu.

For poultry, turkey will also make very good nuggets.

Recipe

Put the flour in a bowl
Cut the chicken breasts into thin strips
Two possibilities: Make a ball of chicken pieces for a slightly coarser nugget Blend the chicken pieces to get very fine pieces and make a ball
Roll the resulting ball (large pieces or small pieces) in flour
Dip the ball in the egg
Dip the chicken pieces in breadcrumbs, like this:
Let rest for a few minutes to let the breadcrumbs set
Heat oil in a pan or fryer
Once hot, dip the nuggets in the oil
Cook until golden brown (up to 20 minutes)
Once cooked, you can serve the nuggets with a small yogurt sauce, for a light version, like this: