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
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I tried these and they turned out delicious! What do you do with the dill pickles after you use the juice from them?
We save the pickles for burger night!
I LOVED THIS RECIPE!!! It was soooo delicious! I made it for my family and they LOVED it too! We dipped it in Fry Sauce BTW! I substituted the pickle juice for vinegar and I love it! Thanks for the awesome recipe! Yummy! I love the creative side here!
<3 Brie
I tried chick fil a a year ago and LOVED it! You should do copy cat waffle fries, and the sauces! YOu are soooo creative! Is there anyway I could take pickle juice out and use lemon or lime?
Sincerely,
Brie
Brie, ou can certainly try substituting lemon or lime juice but without further recipe testing, I cannot speak for how much this will change the overall taste/texture of the dish. Using a substitution may also result in a mediocre outcome.
What sides did u guys make with this?
Corn nuggets? Mac not cheese? I don’t really wanna do french fries
Sounds good! Have a favorite recipe for fries?
Not really – I love them all!
These are so good! What would go good with them?!
We loved them with french fries!
Ok do u have a recipe?
I have a few recipes that you can check out here: https://damndelicious.net/recipe-index/side-dish/.
My family loves Chick-Fil-A chicken breast sandwiches and the nuggets. I saw this recipe and decided to try it for supper last night. The kids thought it would be fun to do a side by side testing with some actual Chick-Fil-A nuggets so they picked some up on the way home from school. While the ones we made using your recipe were good they didn’t taste like the nuggets from Chick-Fil-A. The pickle juice/milk marination seemed spot on but your recipe is missing out on some seasoning. The Chick-Fil-A nuggets clearly had some additional spices, etc. happening. So the kids did some googling and found a site that listed the the seasonings (from Chick-Fil-A). It seems that the missing ingredients in the breading mixture are: MSG, cayenne, and paprika. Our family will have to give it a try again and add some of the missing ingredients (luckily, no one in our family is sensitive to MSG). Thanks!
I just made this recipe last week, went to look for the recipe today and noticed no milk/pickle juice brine. That was my favorite part of the recipe. I thought I was going crazy rereading this recipe over and over, couldn’t find the brine part. Wish I could remember the ratio
Martha, the ratio is 1 cup dill pickle juice and 1/2 cup milk.
Okay, I think I’m going crazy…but didn’t your recipe used to have a pickle juice/milk marinade?? I made this once before with your old recipe and it was amazing – tasted just like Chick-fil-a! But the nuggets tasted different this time when I made them last night. Is there any way I could get the prior recipe you had posted before? Thanks so much!
I love your blog – so many great recipes!
Lyn, yes, after further recipe testing, I have updated the recipe. The only difference is the milk + pickle marinade overnight.
Okay, thanks! And can you please tell me what the measurements were for the milk & pickle juice? I can’t remember, and didn’t print off the old recipe. Thank you!
Lyn, I am a little fuzzy on the measurements but I believe it was 1/2 cup milk and 1 cup dill pickle juice.
I just made these this weekend and they were so delicious! I don’t have Chick Fil A in Canada so this was such a treat! And the honey mustard sauce was amazing! Thanks for the recipe!
As a prior long term employee of CFA I can say they do not marinate their nuggets (the fried ones). The strips were marinated though and that included pickle juice. The nuggets are chicken, milk/egg wash, coating and fried in peanut oil (CFA uses a pressure fryer for their chicken…). But I imagine the pickle juice mimics flavors added to the coating.
The chicken mini rolls are yeast rolls with a little yeast rolls with honey butter/oil spread brushed on top.
CFA is still one of my fave places to eat… Even after working there for 8+ years.
I can not wait to give this recipe a shot!!! The picture looks spot on! I hope they taste as delicious as they look.
This looks like an excellent recipe for my picky grandson. He has a peanut allergy and I was wondering if you could suggest a substitute for the peanut oil.
Vegetable oil would be a great substitute.
Question, the chicken is raw starting out right? And cooking them for only 2-3 min in the oil will cook the chicken all the way?
Yes, that’s exactly right! But it’s important that your oil is properly heated or the chicken will not be completely cooked through in this time frame.
About how long do you let the oil heat up before cooking the chicken. I know it’s over med/high heat, but how long do you let it heat up?
I’d say anywhere from 2-5 minutes – it just really depends on your heat source.
Just finished dinner, and it turned out AWESOME!!!! Thanks for answering my question so fast, and the super yummy recipe. It was a big hit at my house, both my 7 and 5 year old girls loved them. And my 1 year old boy wanted to drink the sauce lol
What kind of mayo did you use for the mustard sauce? I find the different brands make for a different taste. Hellmans? Miracle whip? Kraft mayo? Thanks!
I prefer to use Hellmans.
I found this recipe via Pinterest looking for a quick way to make something for my son with chicken since I’m making korma for the hubs and me… Waaah,I don’t have pickle juice and won’t be able to get any tonight… so far I’ve only made the cheater beef bowl from your site (which I found via facebook), but I can already tell this is going to be a blog I’m visiting again and again.
Thanks Chungah! This recipe is awesome! I did noticed, however, that you changed the sauce recipe awhile back. It used to be exactly like the Honey Roasted BBQ/Chick Fil A sauce at chick fil a. Now it is more like a honey mustard. Could you please give us the original Honey Roasted BBQ/Chick fil a sauce recipe again? Thank you soooo much!
Gerald, I actually have not modified the sauce recipe since this post has been published. Perhaps you have me confused with another recipe?
So… you marinate the chicken in pickle juice AND milk???
That’s exactly right!
Thanks for the fast response! Wanted to double check. Used 1.5 c. Milk and 1.5 c. Pickle juice to marinate. Marinating as I type 😉 then for egg mix, use 1.5 c. Milk as well?
(Apparently I need to work on my reading comprehension)
Jacqueline, it is best to read through the recipe at least twice as to not miss anything. By looking at the recipe again, you’ll see that the recipe indicates using 1/2 cup milk for the marinade and 1 cup milk for the egg mixture.
Tried these last night and they turned out amazing. Loved it. Will check our the other recipes on this site.
Thanks 🙂
Ok. You are a genius! Literally, I am like a goddess to my two little boys right now. Not to mention that my husband’s jaw is still on the floor. We all can not believe how great these taste!! I want everyone to know that I found this recipe at 6:25pm and didn’t have the time to marinate the chicken but 15 mins had them prepared along with my sides by 7pm and it still is amazing. I, like some other responders, added onion powder and a little Tony’s seasoning. It was perfect. You go girl!!! You are the shizzznit!
Tried these tonight!! Made them into chicken tenders and soaked them in pickle juice over night. The chicken had a strong taste of pickles and the flour mixture came off the chicken when I was frying it. Do you need to pat the chicken dry from the pickle juice or is it suppose to have a pickle taste?
The pickle taste should be very subtle. What kind of pickle juice did you use? As for the flour mixture coming off, I worry that your chicken pieces were not coated thoroughly enough.