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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Chung-Ah, I just had chick-fil-a chicken nuggets earlier today and now I have got to try them at home! I love them dunked heavily in honey mustard. Yours look amazing!
You would love this, Sally!
Looks delicious! Would corn starch work instead of flour? Mostly for those who can’t have wheat. If not any good substitute suggestions?
Cornstarch will have a slightly different texture than flour but it should work just fine with your dietary restrictions.
You could use coconut flour for a gluten free recipe.
Coconut flour doesn’t work well with this recipe, in my experience. They get gummy.
You can use tapioca flour for GF.
I found tapioca flour to also make it gummy… I would use a blended gluten free flour… works wonders..
These look really good. So you mix the egg and milk together and toss in the chicken, then you put the chicken in the flour mixture? I’m a little confused.
Yes, that’s right. The chicken needs to have some binding (milk+egg) for the flour mixture to stick. Does that make sense?
Ooooh I believe you! Those badboys look out of this world! Especially with the dipping sauce, yum! x
No seasonings on the chicken at all ? Are you sure you didn’t forget something ? Let us know. I’d like to try this.
As indicated in the recipe, the chicken is seasoned with salt, pepper and little bit of powdered sugar.
How long and at what temp do you cook the chicken? Sorry if I missed it.
Chris, this is actually listed in the instructions.
i have made this and next time will defiantly add more seasoning to the flour mixture, found it a bit bland but other then that was ok & sauce was wonderful Will defiantly make again with a few changes
You go with your bad self laurel.LOL
There is deFINITEly and deFIANTly.
Very different meanings. You’re either going through a rebellious phase or your phone’s autocorrect isn’t doing you any favors.
It says salt and pepper to taste, so if it was bland, that’s on you, is it not? lol.
Chick fil A marinates their chicken in pickle juice!
No, they decidedly do not marinate their chicken in pickle juice
Yes they do!!!
I was going to comment that she forgot the pickle juice step too. You’ve got to marinate the chicken in the pickle brine at least 4 hours. I do mine overnight. The result is amazing.
They marinate the strips in pickle juice, the nuggets in milk.
i worked at chick fil a and they most definitely do not marinade their chicken in pickle juice. they do put two pickles on their chicken sandwiches, fyi.
I added garlic powder, paprika, and a bit of cayenne pepper along with the salt & pepper… They tasted great!
Nugget head you made me laugh out loud.
I used to love going to chic fil a but found out I was wheat intolerant and sadly had to say goodbye to my favorite fast food. So with this recipe I can have them again. So….thank you thank you thank you.
FYI–Chick-fil-a sells grilled nuggets now and has grilled sandwiches and chicken salads–they are very gf friendly, so you can still enjoy them!
My daughter has celiac & I make these for her at home with the fish fry breading. Very tasty!
I’m confused. The ingredients calls for flour Did you see something I didn’t? What do you use instead of flour? Thank you.
The flour is just for texture. Since it isn’t used for any chemical components of cooking in this recipe, you can substitute virtually any gluten free “flour”.
Ditto the response on any gf flour. If you are looking for a great alternative to regular flour, I LOVE Better Batter! And their seasoned flour blend is to die for and are perfect on these nuggets! Betterbatter.org
I have never tried Chick-Fil-A ever. I will try it there sometime and I will try this recipe. Thanks!
this is basically heaven in a meal.. i can only imagine how good these would have tasted – love the honey mustard sauce too. i am so hungry for chicken nuggest right now!
I don’t eat chicken but I would gladly smear and smother that honey mustard on everything I possibly could! These look SO authentic, seriously! I know people would love them!
I love these close up shots! They look amazing! I was actually just eating at chick-fil-a last week and really liked it – I rarely eat fast food (we’ll say in n out doesn’t count in that though :), but their nuggets are delish and I wanted to try making them at home. Now I can with this recipe, I’ve gotta try it!