Copycat Chick Fil A Chicken Nuggets are super flavorful and tasty chicken nuggets just like Chick-fil-A! A recipe the whole family loves!
COPYCAT CHICK-FIL-A CHICKEN NUGGETS
I have a firm rule on here that I never say anything tastes exactly like a particular food from my favorite restaurants. But I do love to try to re-create some of my restaurant/fast food favorites at home. It’s a fun pastime for me that started many years ago. After a lot of trial and error, I can usually get flavors very close to my favorite meals, but never exactly the same taste.
VIDEO INCLUDED BELOW:
TIPS FOR MAKING THESE SWEET CHICKEN NUGGETS:
- Definitely try to use buttermilk here. It really tenderizes the chicken. If you have time, marinate the chicken in the buttermilk, egg and pickle juice mixture for as long as possible. But you can use regular milk if that is all you have.
- You’ll want to use dill pickle juice with this. The bread and butter pickle juice is just a bit too sweet.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED:2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup buttermilk (2% or higher)
1/4 cup pickle juice
1 large egg
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3 tbsp. powdered sugar
1/2 tbsp. corn starch
2 1/2 tsp. table salt
1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
vegetable or peanut oil
HOW TO MAKE THESE CHICK-FIL-A CHICKEN NUGGETS:
My chicken breasts were on the large side so I only used 2 this time. Cube chicken breasts into bite size pieces (trimming away any excess skin that might be hanging on).
In a medium bowl, whisk together buttermilk, egg and pickle juice.
Place cubed chicken into bowl.
If you have time, cover it and let it hang out in the refrigerator for a few hours. This helps to make the chicken a bit more moist and tender. When ready to cook, start preheating oil in your fryer or deep pot to 375F degrees. In a gallon size Ziploc bag, combine flour, sugar, corn starch, salt & pepper. Give it a good shake to combine ingredients.
Add in cubed chicken, small batches at a time, to the flour mixture. Seal and shake until chicken is coated. In small batches, place chicken into fryer.
And cook until golden brown.
About 4-6 minutes.
Remove and drain on paper towels.
Continue with above steps until all your chicken is cooked. Serve with your favorite sauce.
Enjoy!
Served here with my favorite Honey Mustard Sauce
Ingredients
- 2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup pickle juice
- 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 3 tbsp powdered sugar
- 1/2 tbsp corn starch
- 2 1/2 tsp table salt
- 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
- vegetable or peanut oil
Instructions
- Cube chicken breasts into bite size pieces, trimming away any excess skin that might be hanging on.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, pickle juice and egg.
- Place cubed chicken into milk/egg mixture. Cover it and let it hang out in the refrigerator for about an hour (if time allows.)
- When ready to cook, start preheating oil in your fryer or deep pot to 375F degrees.
- In a gallon size Ziploc bag, combine flour, powdered sugar, cornstarch, salt & pepper.
- Give it a good shake to combine ingredients.
- Add in cubed chicken, small batches at a time, to the flour mixture.
- Seal and shake until chicken is coated.
- In small batches, place chicken into fryer.
- Cook until golden brown.
- About 4-6 minutes.
- Remove and drain on paper towels.
- Continue with above steps until all your chicken is cooked.
Notes
Serve with your favorite sauce.
Nutrition
Calories: 347kcal | Carbohydrates: 26g | Protein: 38g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 126mg | Sodium: 1071mg | Potassium: 657mg | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 105IU | Calcium: 62mg | Iron: 2.2mg
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These were awesome! And I have to agree – we decided to try a batch with pickle juice and without and no one could tell the difference. Delicious!
I have made these and actually soaked the chicken in pickle juice, Claussen Brand, for 30 minuets to up to over night, and it made a huge difference! Actually tasted like Chick Fil A!
Hi Bethany. How did you do it ? Did you soak it in pickle juice then later that day soaked it in buttermilk?
Oh yes! my girls favorite meal – bookmarked!!
Mary x
Thank you so much. This would be much better for my son than the store bought popcorn chicken he loves. Can you freeze these? I would like to make a bunch so I can pull out some as he wants it. That would be awesome.
The nuggets looks really crispy and irresistible my boy will finish them in no time:-)
thanks for the simple recipe.
Yin
My granddaughter loves nuggets and these would be so much better for her.
Thanks for the lovely comments everyone!! I really hope you like this one if you give it a try!
Shana, I haven't actually tried freezing these to be honest but I think you could. The breading on these are similar to Chick-fil-A in that it is not a crispy batter so freezing them should be alright.
Joan, yes, that is an electric fryer that I have. But you could certainly use your large cast iron skillet for frying these! 🙂
These look great Brandie! Have to give them a whirl!
Holy cow these were good! Thank you for this recipe!
MMMM!
I definitely give these two thumbs up! Made it exactly to your recipe!
Yours are better b/c there is no MSG! Sad but true, Chick-Fil-A adds MSG to there breaded chicken 🙁
And I'm so excited b/c your frying set up is sweet!
No doubt in my mind that these are far better than anything you can get at a fast food place. Good job!
I've never had the Chick-fil-A nuggets, but I can tell that these nuggets are delicious! And your honey mustard sauce looks like a perfect dipping sauce for them! Great Job!
Oh My Word! These Look JUST like the chick fil a nuggets!! I can't wait to try these!!!
I love recreating recipes at home too. It's always such a challenge and so gratifying when you come so close! And the powdered sugar! Who would have thought! You're so smart! Thanks for sharing at Church Supper. Have a blessed week and come back soon.
Thank you for posting this, I'm making these tonight and I can't wait! I love your recipes and have never had anything I didn't enjoy from your site.
Delicious!! I will try it!!!
I just found your blog and enjoy it very much! I am a former south Virginia girl also and I gotta love someone who uses the term, "daggone"!
Angie
These are amazing! Thank you for all of the wonderfull recipes you share!!
I just made these and they are AMAZING! Thank you for all of the wonderful recipes you share!!
Made these tonight, everyone loved them! Another winner from your blog, thanks!
Thank you SO very much!! I am so happy this recipe turned out good for you. I really appreciate y'all taking the time to let me know how a recipe turned out. I hope you find many more recipes on here that you love!! ~Brandie
I have made these a couple differnt times for my family. My daughter (5) just eats them up as quick as i can pull them out of the oil! HUGE HIT!!!!! 🙂
To hear when the kiddos like something is always one of the biggest compliments. Because we all know, they don't hesitate to tell us the cold, hard truth. Ha!! Love reading that – thank you!
I just made this for my VERY picky husband. He liked it and said I can make it again. That's saying something lol! He only eats about 10 things.
Now that is what we like to hear! 🙂 Thank you so much for letting me know how they turned out for ya!!
This is my second raving review today! We made these for dinner and they were delicious and looked just as pictured. The only change was I used a cast iron skillet with oil on med high heat. Yum!! Big thanks!
Woo hoo! So glad they turned out yummy! I sure do appreciate you taking the time to come back and leave a comment!!
I encourage everyone to make these. Don’t be scared of frying – it adds so much flavor!
I am very excited to try this recipe!! I worked at Chick-fil-a so I've breaded and pressure cooked my fair share of chicken. The only difference I see is that they soak the nuggets in a marinade before they freeze them for storage. When they thaw out the nuggets, directly before putting them in the pressure cooker they toss them in the milk wash and then the flour coat.
I used to work at Chic-fil-a and made the nuggets when I worked there. The only thing different in your process is that they use Butter Milk instead of regular milk to soak the chicken in before battering. So your note about buttermilk was spot-on. Well done!
I can't wait to try these! I don't have an electric fryer and I don't have a cast iron skillet–any other suggestions? Nonstick skillet or bake in the oven? Thanks!
My girls love chick-fil-a and the little bites they sell in the morning are addictive so to be able to do them at home is an extra bonus. Thank you.
How creative!. It is so delicious. Thank for sharing. I love chicken. I'm going to try it now
I love this chicken. These look crunchy and delicious!
would you freeze these before or after cooking?
Is it ok to bake the chicken?
So, so good! My grandkids new favorite!
Now that air frying is all the rage, how would I go about converting to an air fry recipe?
Awesome. My kids absolutely love these. Can’t tell the difference. I prefer them with less sugar so usually make twi batches at a time. Never last more than 2 or 3 days.
Love hearing that! Thank you Seth!
so amazing my family loved them!
Can these be made in an air fryer? If so, at what temperature and how long?
We’ve never even tried a Chick Fil A anything, but these were very good. I decided on spur of the moment to try it so I didn’t have buttermilk so I used some half n’ half, milk and vinegar to make a pseudo buttermilk — they were delicious but next time I will buy buttermilk because I’m sure they will just be better. I also made the honey mustard and a sweet n sour sauce, very yummy! Thanks