Copycat Chick-fil-a Chicken Nuggets

This copycat chick-fil-a chicken nuggets recipe is one of my kids favorites! The chicken is moist, crispy breading with a slightly sweet and tangy undertone. My kids love eating at chick-fil-a and so do I! They do chicken right and there is no disputing that it’s delicious. If you are here at my site reading this recipe then I am assuming you agree with me. My only draw back is that I don’t love spending $40 to feed my family of 6 a single meal. I just can’t justify it into my budget as frequently as my kids would like, they would love it every other day if they could. (That would be ~$600 on chick-fil-a alone in a month if I did that! Yikes!)

So I created this copycat chick-fil-a chicken nuggets recipe that my kids devour and it costs me a fraction, let me pause and say that again, a FRACTION of the cost, I am talking around $3-$5 (depending on the price I get chicken for) to feed my family of 6 and we even have a few leftovers when I serve these with a few other side dishes. (like steamed broccoli, oven baked fries, or my ranch red potatoes RECIPE HERE)

“Copycat” disclaimer.

These chicken nuggets taste really similar to chick-fil-a’s and some of my kids say they like them even better. My biggest concern about doing copycat recipes is that they need to be exactly like the restaurants’ product to be a perfect “copycat”. That includes the oil you are frying in, temperatures, seasoning varieties and amounts, etc. So with that in mind, I aimed to get the seasonings right or as close as I could but since most of us don’t have an industrial kitchen and frying equipment at our disposal there will be slight differences but I can guarantee that if you and/or your kids like chick-fil-a’s nuggets then you will love these.

How to cook these.

I use olive oil or vegetable oil to shallow pan fry these nuggets, I use less oil that way and it still gets them nice and crispy while keeping the insides tender and juicy. You can use a deep fry method for these as well or even spritz them with a little oil then pop them in the air fryer for ~8-9 minutes at 400 F. for an oil free version.

You can find chicken dipping sauce at Walmart in the condiment isle, it tastes just like chick-fil-a sauce. You can also make your own sauce by mixing mayonnaise, a little bit of barbecue sauce, a little less mustard and a touch of honey.

What you need to make copycat Chick-fil-a chicken nuggets:

Serves 4-6 people (my family of 2 adults and 4 kids ends up with leftovers)

• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons dill pickle juice
• 1-2 dashes hot sauce
• 1 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons seasoned salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 2 eggs – whisked
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 large chicken breasts – diced into bite size pieces
• olive oil or vegetable oil for shallow pan frying

Instructions

1. Grab three bowls and mix the following in each bowl.
2. First bowl, milk, pickle juice and hot sauce.
3. Second bowl, flour, seasoned salt, black pepper and onion powder.
4. Third bowl, eggs and water.
5. Take diced chicken breast and place into milk mixture first.
6. Take out of milk and add to flour mixture.
7. Take out of flour mixture and place into egg mixture.
8. Take out of egg mixture and add back into flour mixture and toss around in bowl until chicken pieces are well coated.
9. Set coated pieces aside until all are coated.
10. In a large skillet, add enough olive oil or vegetable oil as you feel you need to do a shallow fry on the chicken nuggets, I add about 1/2 inch of oil to my pan.
11. Heat to medium- high heat, hot enough to fry but not too hot or the breading will burn before the chicken is cooked through.
12. Add chicken and cook until pieces are cooked through.
13. Place on a paper towel to drain excess oil and serve immediately with your favorite dipping sauce.