Paleo Chicken Nuggets
I was the type of kid that used to eat chicken nuggets and fries at every single restaurant I went to. I’ve seriously never eaten a fast food burger because I always preferred chicken nuggets. While I’ve expanded my palate and now order more sophisticated food at restaurants, I haven’t lost my love for nuggets.
So you can imagine, I’m the biggest critic of chicken nuggets. But I can admit that I have found a real winner of a recipe here. I made these for my family the other day for dinner and they were all gone within 24 hours.
The key to making these chicken nuggets absolutely delicious is the breading, I blend up Simple Mills crackers into a fine flour texture and mix it with Paleo Powder AIP blend. However, I have tried many substitutions for this recipe and they work just as well! If you don’t have Simple Mills crackers you can use plain old almond flour, just be sure to go heavier on the seasoning. If you don’t have Paleo Powder AIP blend just use a mixture of garlic powder, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper.
If you are egg free you can use almond milk instead of an egg to get the breading to stick to the chicken. I’ve done it multiple times and it works extremely well just try to touch the chicken less so that the breading doesn’t fall off before the nuggets are done.
For the cooking method of the nuggets, I prefer to fry them in oil but an air fryer would work just as well, you just have to figure what temperature and time works to get them to crispy perfection! But when oil frying the key is to use avocado oil, it has a smoke point of 500 degrees so the oil maintains its quality much longer than oils with a lower smoke point. Other oils degrade in quality and get rancid at much lower temperatures than avocado oil. Make sure you use enough avocado oil to cover the whole nugget, that way you won’t have to turn them as many times and the breading will stay on.
Whatever variation of this recipe you use I’m sure it’ll be great! I don’t use exact measurements when I make nuggets so use these rough estimates and add/remove ingredients as you please! Let’s get started J
What you’ll need:
Chicken breasts or tenderloins
Simple Mills crackers (can use just almond flour as a substitute, but have to be more generous with the seasoning)
Egg
Spices (I use Paleo Powder AIP blend but it can be replaced by garlic powder and Italian seasoning)
Salt and Pepper
Avocado oil to fry (or can use an air fryer)
Ingredients:
1 pound chicken breasts/tenderloins
1-2 cups simple mills crackers
2 eggs
2-4 tablespoons Paleo Powder AIP Blend
Salt and pepper to taste
Enough avocado oil to cover your chicken nuggets
Instructions:
1. Cut chicken breasts or tenderloins into smaller pieces to be nugget shaped.
2. Put simple mills crackers in a blender or NutriBullet, blend until it becomes a fine flour like texture.
3. Mix Crackers, spices, and salt and pepper together on a plate-this creates your breading.
4. Crack an egg into a bowl and whisk it.
5. Dip chicken pieces into the egg, then breading- make sure chicken is thoroughly coated in breading.
6. Put coated chicken pieces into a pan filled with avocado oil or air fryer. If using oil make sure the nuggets are mostly covered by the oil.
7. Cook on medium heat until chicken nuggets are golden brown and…