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 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.
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.
Looking for more Copycat recipes? I have a TON of them on the blog! Here is a whole Index of Copycat Recipes.
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.
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
Just a quick question, we don’t own a food processor but can a mini chopper do the bread Crumbs okay?
Absolutely! Let us know how your nuggets turned out Michael!
Sabrina, do you have grill chick fil a nuggets recipe by chance? My next adventure
It’s on the list!
Any idea when you will have grilled version? Thanks
Hi Lexi, it’s on the list! And the list is long 🙂
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.
Awesome recipe! Family loves it! Have made several times and never disappoints! Thank you
Super kid friendly and adults love it too!
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!
Glad you asked! Try my Chick-Fil-A inspired Crispy chicken Sandwich and don’t forget the lemonade!!
https://dinnerthendessert.com/chick-fil-a-inspired-crispy-chicken-sandwich-and-lemonade/?swcfpc=1
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.
What a great review! Thanks Jasmine!
I love your recipes. They are easy and delish. Thank you sooo much.
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
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.
Thank you Sabrina. I truly enjoy your site. This, like all your recipes are so good !
Good recipe. I would suggest making a double batch of the flour mixture as it gets goopy soon
OMG! This recipe is spot on. Thank you so much Sabrina. Keep the great recipes comin’.
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!
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 :).
I’m wondering, can you use corn starch in place of the powdered sugar?
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!
Powdered sugar and corn starch taste different. If you do this then the recipe will taste different.