Copycat Chick-fil-A Nuggets
Just like Chick-fil-A, but it tastes 10000x better! And the homemade honey mustard is out of this world!
I have always been somewhat of a late adopter in almost all aspects of life. I was one of the last people on earth to start wearing converse “chucks”. Or make the switch to skinny jeans. I was also very late on the iPhone adoption. And now I’m one of the last people to finally try Chick-fil-A.
The funny thing is, we didn’t even mean to go there. I was craving pancakes so we made our way to a popular waffle house just to find out that there was a 30-min wait on a Tuesday afternoon. So we drove back to our house and on the way home, we passed a Chick-Fil-A when Jason looked at me and said, “It’s time. We have to try this place at some point.”
So we pull up to the drive-thru and ordered 2 chicken sandwiches, chicken nuggets and all of their dipping sauces. And boy, was I in for a treat. It was ah-mazing. All of it. The sandwich. The nuggets. Oh, the nuggets. We almost went back because there wasn’t enough nuggets to go around!
But as amazing as that was, I couldn’t help but recreate this at home. I was a bit skeptical because I was unsure if the homemade version could actually top the original but surely enough, it tasted a million times better. Not to mention the epic homemade honey mustard sauce. I’m not even a mustard fan but this – this I could slurp, drink, and gulp down in my sleep. And once you dip those crisp nuggets, you’ll never want to go to Chick-fil-A again!
Copycat Chick-fil-A Nuggets
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch chunks
- 1 cup dill pickle juice
- 1 ½ cups milk, divided
- 1 cup peanut oil
- 1 large egg
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
For the honey mustard
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon mustard
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Instructions
- To make the honey mustard, whisk together mayonnaise, honey, mustards and lemon juice in a small bowl; set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine chicken, pickle juice and 1/2 cup milk; marinate for at least 30 minutes. Drain well.
- Heat peanut oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.
- In a large bowl, whisk together remaining 1 cup milk and egg. Stir in chicken and gently toss to combine; drain excess milk mixture.
- In a gallon size Ziploc bag or large bowl, combine chicken, flour and confectioners' sugar; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Working in batches, add chicken to the skillet and cook until evenly golden and crispy, about 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
- Serve immediately with honey mustard.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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Marinating should be longer than 30 minutes but the max should be overnight. You don’t want pickled favored chicken nuggets. 4 or 5 hours is long enough.
This is a great starter copy cat recipe but are a little bland if follow the recipe. For more flavor add poultry seasoning and season-salt to both the marinade and flour. Omit the salt if using season-salt! Overall this is a VERY good recipe!!!
Your responses to people’s questions/comments…
From 1/31/16: Grace, how long did you marinate the chicken? It should not have been longer than 30 minutes.
From 2/19/16: Nope, overnight should be fine.
So should I marinate them overnight, or for 30 minutes? I love CFA nuggets, but have really been trying to cut out eating out lately. Looking forward to making these soon! Thanks!
It should not be longer than 30 minutes. Thanks for checking!
These came out bland and tasting of nothing but pickle taste nothing like chick fil a
I hope this isn’t a repeat question and I tried to read all the responses… but can you tell me if that nutritional info is just the chicken or does the dipping sauce count as well? Trying to log for WW. They are amazing btw! Thanks for sharing!
The nutritional information is for both! 🙂
Does it have to be all purpose flour
Yes.
I made these nuggets and they are delicious with the honey mustard sauce my 2 year old just wanted the all sauce, thanks
Do you think this recipe and method would work with bone-in chicken (legs)? We LOVED the flavor in this recipe, but now I have some legs I need to cook and was hoping this might work for those too. thanks
Yes, absolutely.
First off.. This is one of the few blogs i trust with recipes 🙂 My only question though is.. Do i have to fry with peanut oil, can i just use canola oil ? I’m hoping it won’t be much of a different outcome. seeing as i am in a country which peanut oil isn’t available
Yes, canola oil will work just fine.
I could eat at Chick-Fil-A for every meal. Seriously. After reading pretty much all of the comments here I did see one mention, “Chick-Fil-A Sauce”. If y’all think that Honey Mustard is good, try the “sauce”. You’ll never want mustard again. 🙂 If y’all want a copycat recipe for the “sauce”, go to “houseofyumm.com”, she has an awesome recipe. Keep up the great work Chungah!
Made a double batch Saturday and we loved them! My husband kept saying the best he had and love the sauce. Thank you! Tonight I am making your Korean beef bowl as we enjoyed it a lot!
So good. I will be making this again!
thank you for bringing this marvel of gourmet fast food home!
I would add… when they are DONE frying, dry the nuggets in a paper towel, and then TOSS them in a bowl with a couple extra pinches of powdered sugar, and a sprinkle of salt. THIS really puts them over the top and into the realm of unmistakable replicas.
How long can I marinate the chicken? Would overnight be too much?
It should not be longer than 30 minutes.
I made these several times recently but substituted the dill pickle juice with sweet pickle juice. From what I understand the purpose of the marinade is to tenderize the chicken. I also found it to be important not to have the oil too high or they cook too fast and the chicken does not get done and they get too brown, so I had to turn the heat down to avoid that but once I got the perfect temperature they were awesome and taste just like the chain but way cheaper and you can have them on Sundays!
I made these tonight and was unimpressed, but i think i may have done something wrong. they had a super strong pickle taste, and it wasn’t bad, but I probably won’t make it the same way again. Any idea what I may have done wrong to make it taste a lot like pickle?
Grace, how long did you marinate the chicken? It should not have been longer than 30 minutes.
We made these once, and we love most of your recipes, but the pickle juice really ruined it for me. It was GROSS. I hate pickles, and the maybe once a year we go to Chick-fil-a, and I don’t taste the pickle juice at all. This one was not a winner in my book. I would never try this recipe again. Most of the other recipes, however we really like.
I’m sorry that this recipe did not turn out the way you had imagined. I only post recipes that have been successfully tested in my own kitchen, and as you can see from the comments here, many of these readers have had great outcomes in the final dish as well. But I really appreciate your honesty and feedback.
Cass, try soaking the breasts, before you cut them, in a brine…1 tablespoon of salt in 1 cup of water per breast using. Let sit for at least 30 minutes up to 4 hours. Then cut them up into nugget sized pieces. I would season them with salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder and even some paprika. These are my go to for chicken seasoning. The brine makes the chicken so moist. It’s amazing what soaking in a good salt solution will do for chicken breast. And what is pickle juice is not a salt solution?
I think you’ve done it!! You guys can argue all day about whether or not the Restaurant soaks their chicken in dill pickle juice. But at some point, the marinade that their chicken spends time in has had dill pickle juice added to it, whether it was at the facility or before it arrived at the facility. I can taste it. I have always tasted it; I just couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I would come SO CLOSE! And then,…. nothing! Until I read Chungah’s recipe. Then it all made perfect sense. Of course! I have been tasting dill pickle juice. It’s perfect!! I love it. I have been trying to make Rex chicken, and old local favorite that closed it’s doors in 1999. But I am spoiled now and have to make this instead. How yummy it truly is. I will not make any one else’s guesswork recipe. I can do that myself. Thank you Chungah for your pallet.
What do you think if I subbed the whole milk with 2% buttermilk?
That sounds like a great idea!
I am in India on vacation, and my little cousin has a slight eating disorder. I made these once, adding some onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, and chile flakes, and he LOVED these! Now every day, when we ask him what he wants for lunch, it’s “Kiran auntie’s chicken nuggets” XD!! Thanks so much for this recipe!
I have a peanut allergy, and can’t eat at chick-fil-a…is there another type of oil that I could use to cook these? I’d love to try them!
Best,
Anne
Anne, you can use vegetable oil instead.
Yay! Was just going to ask the same thing! Would canola oil also work?
Yes!