Homemade Nuggets Taste So Much Better Than Store-Bought

Do you get tired of serving your children grisly, greasy chicken nuggets from the freezer or a fast food restaurant? Cook’s Country Magazine has the solution. A recipe that results in tender, juicy, well-flavored chunks of chicken breast with a crispy coating.

I don’t fry foods often, even though I’m from the South, aka the Land of Fried Foods. Frying makes such a mess, and I hate kitchen clean-up!

But these Crispy Chicken Nuggets, let me tell you. They are well worth the trouble AND the clean-up.

Overhead of chicken nuggets on a plate with honey mustard..

Moist Interior and Crispy Exterior

To keep the chicken nuggets moist, they are first brined in a solution of water, salt, and Worcestershire Sauce. I’m a huge fan of Worcestershire sauce and am always amazed by how many things it can make taste better. If in doubt, use Worcestershire sauce is a perfectly good kitchen rule. Brining helps keep the meat juicy while frying and it also gives a wonderful seasoning to the meat.

To create an extra-crispy coating, the chicken nuggets are coated in a flour/panko crumb mixture, left to rest for 10 minutes, and then recoated. A touch of baking soda in the mixture helps the nuggets brown quickly in the oil.

The recipe calls for crushed Panko crumbs and after a few minutes of rather unsuccessfully trying to crush them with the bottom of a measuring cup, I put them through a quick whirl in my food processor.

I like to fry in peanut oil, but Yikes! that stuff seems to be getting more and more expensive. You could always use Vegetable oil as a lower cost alternative.

Dipping Sauce

I’m a big fan of chicken nuggets and honey mustard so I made a homemade honey mustard dipping sauce. Don’t like honey mustard? Dip these nuggets in BBQ sauce instead. Whether you cook these crispy chicken nuggets up for a weeknight meal or serve them on a platter for a football game, there are sure to be plenty of smiling faces.

Have any leftovers? Try chopping them up and adding them to a salad.