There was a time when my wife decided to try living a gluten free/minimal diet to see if it helped her health. So I accommodated it. Gluten free pasta, mixing up a gluten free flour replacement using a recipe from America’s Test Kitchen, buying gluten free bread, etc. It took some experimentation, but we were able to mostly be gluten free for a while.
At that time, we also had 3 school-age kids. So figuring out dinner options was an issue. Until one day, I had the thought to make gluten free chicken nuggets.
I could use some of the gluten free bread and whiz it up in the food processor to make breadcrumbs. The flour mix would obviously replace the flour. and everything else was safe. I cut up some chicken breasts into nugget-sized chunks, breaded them, pan fried them on both sides in about 1/4″ of oil, and we had chicken nuggets. And almost everyone liked them–my son, who has adult picky eater syndrome doesn’t like the texture of natural chicken, so he’d have regular nuggets. But they’ve become a favorite since.
We have long since stopped maintaining a gluten free diet, so at some point years ago, I was able to transition the recipe to use the butt ends and leftover single slices of whatever breads were in the bread drawer to make the bread crumbs. Then I moved to prepared breadcrumbs, and then panko.
So this is now.
Recipe
4 Chicken breasts
1/2 cup all purpose flour
3 cups panko breadcrumbs
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk (or any alternative milk, or probably even water. I use oat milk because there are also dairy sensitivities here)
2 tbsp kosher salt
1 tsp pepper
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp paprika (optional)
Start slicing the chicken breast crosswise at the tip. You need to cut the breast into about 1-2″ square or rectantular nuggets, about 3/8″ – 1/2″ thick. I start at the tip, get a triangular shaped piece of about the right size, then cut across moving toward the thicker end. Once the strips get long enough to be halved, I cut them in half. Put them in a bowl. I typically get about 18-22 nuggets from each breast.
Take 1 tbsp of the salt and sprinkle about 1/4 of it over the nuggets in the bowl and mix it up to incorporate. Repeat with the remaining breasts.
Once they’re all cut up, prepare the breading ingredients and area. Mine is as shown below.
From left to right are the cut up chicken nuggets, then the flour, seasoned and mixed with 1/2 tsp of salt. Crack the eggs into the next bowl and beat well. Add the milk or liquid and beat until combined. In the last bowl, pour in the panko and add the remaining salt, and the rest of the seasonings. Mix it well. It should be noted that panko does not do a great job of holding on to those seasonings, and most will fall to the bottom layers of the bowl if you let them. So toss the bowl or use a spatula to fold the contents of the bowl occasionally to distribute the seasoning.
Have a couple of trays or plates ready at the right side to receive the raw breaded nuggets.
The process to bread meat (or anything, really) is simple. Dredge in the flour until coated. Shake off the excess flour and then dip into the egg liquid until coated, and then drop into the panko mixture and make sure the nugget gets entirely covered. Press the panko into the nugget to make sure it sticks. This also makes the nuggets a little thinner and larger, so keep that in mind when cutting them up.
You’ll end up with somewhere around 70-90 nuggets. Obviously, you can cut this down if needed.
Once they’re all made and on the trays or plates, prepare a frying pan over high heat and add 1/4-1/2″ vegetable or peanut oil. I usually do 2 pans at the same time, just to make the frying go faster. Get a square or rectangular cake pan and line the bottom with a couple of sheets of paper towel. Set it somewhere near your frying pan.
When the oil reaches 325-350 degrees, put the first dozen or so nuggets (from the first plate you breaded–it just makes sure the breading sticks by giving it all time to soak in the liquid) into the oil, making sure not to crowd them in the pan. The oil should come 1/2-3/4 of the way up the side of the nuggets. After roughly 4 minutes, you should be able to see that the bottom edges are starting to turn golden brown. Using tongs, lift up one nugget and make sure it’s nice and golden brown, and flip the nuggets over if they are. Continue frying for another 2-3 minutes until the bottom is again golden brown. They should be about 145-150 degrees at medium when you take them out and put them in the paper towel lined pan. And it’s okay if they get hotter than that. I’ve gotten some up to 180 accidentally, and there didn’t seem to be a problem with them.
Drop in the next batch and continue as above. The first batch will not get cold as you fry up the next 4-6 batches–trust me.
Let the last batch cool for 2-3 minutes before serving. They will be hot.
I serve them with a barbecue sauce or dijon mustard or a homemade honey mustard sauce. That recipe is below:
1/4 cup mayo
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup spicy brown coarse ground mustard
Stir to combine and serve.
