Chick-fil-A Nuggets (Copycat)

4 servings
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes

Chick-fil-A Nuggets are a perfect copycat with no pickle juice, made with all white meat and a crispy, seasoned breading fried in peanut oil.

Chick-fil-A Nuggets made with chicken breast meat and no pickle juice are an spot on copycat of the original nuggets without the hefty price tag!
Chick-fil-A Nuggets with Sauce

Chick-fil-A Nuggets are a sore subject in our house because we are evenly divided between these nuggets and KFC popcorn chicken. As a mom, when we’re out and about to stop in a fast food option I tend to go with Chick-fil-A or In-n-Out just for small wins that make me feel like at least they seem freshest.

Chick-fil-A has become our non-burger favorite spot. It also helps that they make the best lemonade of all time (recipe coming soon). One of my only frustrations with them is the lines and the cost. Anytime we go there is a giant line in the drive-thru and with little kids in the car my patience is usually shorter than the wait.

We LOVE these Chick-fil-A nuggets and they're so easy to make!So when we buy these chicken nuggets I also drive through to get popcorn chicken to avoid hearing about the “I don’t like sweet nuggets” from the peanut gallery. Yes, Chick-fil-A nuggets have a hint of sweetness in them (recreated here with powdered sugar), I personally like them but given my options I would probably choose a less sweetened version of chicken nuggets.

Chick-fil-A chicken nuggets with dipping sauce.

Looking for more Copycat recipes? I have a TON of them on the blog! Here is a whole Index of Copycat Recipes.

The best and easiest copycat for Chick-fil-A Nuggets.

Tools Used in the making of these Chick-fil-A Nuggets:
Lodge Cast Dutch Oven: – I use this dutch oven for a lot of frying and braising.
Pig Tail Flipper: – I use this *almost* more than I use tongs in the kitchen. Flipping is so quick and doesn’t smash foods.
Spider Strainer: Love these strainers for quickly draining oil away and scooping out fried food.
Breadcrumbs: Great plain breadcrumbs, I normally use panko, but for this recipe I recommend these.
Breading Station: I use this because the pans are wide with a flat bottom. If you have small rectangular plates use those, I wouldn’t use curved bowls for breading stations as it could knock some breading off.

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Chick-fil-A Nuggets (Copycat)

Chick-fil-A Nuggets made with chicken breast meat and no pickle juice are an spot on copycat of the original nuggets without the hefty price tag!
Yield 4 servings
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 pound chicken breasts cut into 1" chunks
  • 3/4 cup flour
  • 3/4 cup breadcrumbs
  • 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
  • 2 teaspoons Kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
  • 3 inches of peanut oil

Instructions

  • In a food processor, add the breadcrumbs and process until very fine.
  • In a large ziplock bag or a bowl add the chicken pieces, the milk and the eggs and combine. (I usually just close the bag and squish it together)
  • Put the chicken in the fridge for 15-20 minutes.
  • In a large dutch oven fill it 3 inches deep with peanut oil and heat to 365-375 degrees (medium high heat until a piece dropped in immediately bubbles up but doesn’t burn quickly).
  • Put the breadcrumbs, flour, powdered sugar, Kosher salt, white pepper, chili powder in a bowl and whisk together.
  • Dredge the chicken pieces in the flour mixture and let dry for a few minutes.
  • Fry in batches (avoid crowding them) until golden brown (2-3 minutes) and remove to a sheet pan.
  • Don’t drain on paper towels, it’ll create steam and soften the nuggets.

Nutrition

Calories: 379kcal | Carbohydrates: 39g | Protein: 33g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 160mg | Sodium: 1502mg | Potassium: 595mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 290IU | Vitamin C: 1.3mg | Calcium: 128mg | Iron: 2.9mg
Keyword: Chick Fil A Nuggets (Copycat)
Chick-fil-A Nuggets made with chicken breast meat and no pickle juice are an spot on copycat of the original nuggets without the hefty price tag!
Chick-fil-A Nuggets made with chicken breast meat and no pickle juice are an spot on copycat of the original nuggets without the hefty price tag!
Chick-fil-A Nuggets made with chicken breast meat and no pickle juice are an spot on copycat of the original nuggets without the hefty price tag!
Chick-fil-A Nuggets made with chicken breast meat and no pickle juice are an spot on copycat of the original nuggets without the hefty price tag!

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. Sabrina, these were amazing. I did have my marinated in pickle juice 1hr before I saw your recipe than took it out and washed them off, def had some light pickle flavor. We told our kids it was from chick fil-a itself needless to say they ate a whole lb and asked for it first thing in the AM. (Just have to make them when they are not home to keep up with this lie :)) Basically this recipe is great. Will make another batch today. We did deep fry them and also air fry them 400F 11min. Air fryer didn’t produce that golden look but still to me same taste.

  2. I have made this recipe several times and the family loves it. Now they want me to make Chick fil a sandwiches. Can I follow this recipe for the sandwich patties or do I need to adjust? Thank you!

  3. Very good recipe. It has good reviews, so I wasn’t apprehensive at all. I seasoned the wet mixture, similar to the dry mixture. That’s the only thing I did different. If you are a home cook and like knowing the ingredients in your food, you’ll like this recipe. I think it’s better than Chik Fila, cause it isn’t as salty.

  4. Hi Sabrina first of all I want to let you know that every of your recipes I try are delicious thank you so much! I m was wondering I can freeze them for later use? And if I can how is the best way to do it? Thank you for your time

    1. I would get to the step of breading, then freeze in a single layer baking sheet. Once frozen you can fry from frozen at 350 degrees until cooked through.

  5. Omg! Thank you so much for posting this! We’ve been on a quest to find a good dupe for Chik Fil A nuggets and had a hard time. We went thru 3 different ones. They were mostly tasty but definitely no where near Chik Fill A style. But this! Perfect! My 12 yr old is ecstatic! He LOVES the real ones and they hold a special place for us because at 8 yrs old he was diagnosed with leukemia. After 2 and a half years of intense chemo he is doing amazing. But at one point, he was so sick from the chemo, he wouldn’t eat. We tried everything. He got down to 39 lbs at 9 yrs old but then he tried Chik fil a nugget because there was a store inside the Wolfson’s Children’s Hospital. He loved them so much and it was thee only thing he would eat. He ate them every single day. I let him have as much as he wanted. But we had help from charities and such so I could get them like that but now, we can’t afford them. He hasn’t had them just since before the pandemic. But thanks to you, I can make them! We had them last night and they were fantastic! Thank you, again! Great job figuring it out!

  6. This is fantastic! My new go to for any fried chicken. A home tweak is that we cut the chicken into tenders and instead of using 2 tablespoons of salt, we use 1of salt and 1 of MSG. Doesn’t taste like Chick-fil-A, tastes better :).

    1. Powdered sugar makes the recipe/breading sweeter. I would replace part of the flour with cornstarch, but if you want to eliminate the ‘sweet’ taste you can get rid of it!