Parmesan Chicken Nuggets
Cheesy chicken nuggets baked to perfection. Do you have your dipping sauces ready?
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Do you have what it takes to be a chicken nugget maker? Well, let’s find out! Learn how to make your own chicken nuggets from scratch in less than five steps with me. Making chicken nuggets is as simple as making a meatball or a meat filling. Start by mixing your ingredients in a bowl, form your nuggets, dredge them in flour, freeze, then bake! You can fry these if you like and as you become a chicken nugget expert, you can start using a mix of white and dark meat chicken for added juiciness and flavor.
A few ingredients is all it takes to make your filling. Simple recipes call for high quality ingredients, so start with ground chicken and then work your way up to grinding your own.
Once your filling is mixed and well combined, it’s time to scoop them into even chicken nuggets. I like to this set of ice cream scoops I bought from Amazon at least 6 or 7 years ago. It’s a great way to work efficiently and keep cleaner than just doing it by hand.
Next step is to form the chicken patty into that signature chicken nugget shape. I tend to let my chicken that I just scooped into the flour pick its own shape just by gently flattening the chicken ball. It’s a choose-your-own-adventure thing. Freeze these once your done to help the nuggets setup.
Last step before baking is to brush these chicken nuggets with some sort of fat. This fat will help turn these nuggets golden without them drying out in the oven cooking process. I used olive oil here, but you can use butter, schmaltz, ghee, vegetable oil, you name it. Get creative! If you want to fry these, skip this part.
Voila! Your beautiful chicken nuggets are done and ready to eat once they are golden. Be careful on your first bake to keep the temperature of these. Ground chicken is usually white meat which means it has tendency to dry out faster. Register these chicken nuggets at 165º F before removing them from the oven. Once these have cooled, you can freeze and store them in the freezer for up to month. I hope you start your own collection of homemade chicken nuggets and skip the store-bought ones.
Parmesan Chicken Nuggets
Watch How It's Made
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Ingredients
- 1 lb. ground chicken
- 2/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 cups flour
- Olive oil, for brushing
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 350º F and prepare one parchment-lined sheet tray. Set up your flour on a plate to dredge your chicken nuggets into.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine ground chicken with everything except flour and olive oil. Mix until incorporated.
- Scoop chicken nuggets with a small ice cream scoop and place onto the prepared flour plate. After you're done scooping, form them into rough chicken nugget and dredge them well into flour. Place onto prepared sheet tray. Repeat.
- Freeze floured nuggets for 20 minutes to help the nuggets set up, then brush with olive oil. You can use butter or vegetable oil here as well.
- Bake until golden brown, for at least 18 or until an internal thermometer reads 165 ºF. Serve with your favorite condiments.