I especially love to make other super easy homemade sauces like fry sauce and BBQ sauce to dip them in too!
Chic Fil A Nuggets and Chic Fil A Sauce
My family’s favorite fast food restaurant is Chick-fil-A. I think mostly because it is the one place we can all agree on. We all know we will always get consistently high quality food we love when we go there! So, when I found this recipe I hesitated at the thought that there was no way I could get them to taste as good! But, let me tell you, my hubby took one bite of these and turned to me and said, “Honey, THESE ARE CHICK-FIL-A!!” He also told me that they are an A+. So, spoiler alert… the secret ingredient is…. pickle juice!? Whatever it was that made these taste identical, they were amazing. The whole family gobbled them up just like they do when we buy them! Then they begged me to make another batch! I do think having the Chick-fil-a sauce to dip them in really added to the whole experience too! If your family is always begging for Chic-fil-a you must stop and make these now!
Chic Fil A Nugget Ingredients:
Nugget Ingredients
Chicken breasts: Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces and season with salt & pepper. Milk: Combine milk, pickle juice and egg for the wet ingredients. Pickle juice: The pickle juice gives the great vinegary and salty flavor to coating. Egg: You only need one to use to dip the chicken in hold breading on the chicken. Flour: Dip chicken into egg, then the mixture of flour, sugar, salt and pepper. Powdered sugar: Using powdered sugar gives a hint of sweetness without adding a course texture. Salt: The salt brings out all the flavors in the chicken and its breading. Pepper: To taste. Peanut oil: You can also substitute canola or vegetable oil, but I think the peanut oil is part of what gives these nuggets their signature flavor.
How to Make Chicken Nuggets:
Ingredients for Chic-fil-A Sauce:
Mayo: Creates the oily base. Mustard: Gives the spice to the sauce. Lemon juice: The lemon juice keeps the flavor of this sauce fresh and light. Honey: The perfect smooth sticky sweetness. Smokey BBQ sauce: The smokiness of the BBQ sauce rounds out all the flavors.
How to Make Chic-fil-A Sauce:
Tips and Variations for Nuggets:
Pickle Juice? There is some debate over whether or not to add the pickle juice. Some people say that is the secret to the signature flavor and ultra-moist texture. Others, however say that it makes no difference. My family and I loved this recipe so much with it, so I will continue to add it. If you have made it without the pickle juice let me know what your opinion is. Season the flour mixture heavily. Don’t worry about there being too much salt or seasoning in the flour. Most of it gets shaken off anyway. Double dip the chicken. The first layer of flour should be very thin. Once wet, it acts as the glue that holds the second layer of flour to the chicken chunks. Let the chicken rest before frying. Chick-fil-A insiders say that allowing the chicken to sit between coating and frying helps the breading hold-tight to the chicken, not bubble and fall off. To do this, place the chicken on a drying rack before heating the oil in order to give the breading time to adhere to the chicken. Create the crumbs. One of my favorite parts of eating Chic-Fil-A chicken is the crumbs at the bottom of the box and the little crispies that stick off the nuggets themselves! Thankfully, creating these little crunchy pieces is not hard to do at home either! Just add a little bit of the eggwash to the flour mixture before the second dredge. By mixing the eggwash into the flour with your fingers, you create tiny crumbs that will hold onto the chicken in the second dunk. Fry in peanut oil. Peanut oil helps give Chick-fil-A nuggets their special flavor and texture. If you have a nut allergy, feel free to use canola oil. However, Chick-fil-A insists their peanut oil is specially refined to remove nut proteins and therefore is allergen-free.
More Copycat Recipes to try:
Cafe Rio Shredded Chicken Copycat Chick-Fil-A Lemonade Red Lobster Cheddar Biscuits Copycat Bang Bang Shrimp Chic-fil-A Chicken Sandwich
All nutritional information is based on third party calculations and is only an estimate. Each recipe and nutritional value will vary depending on the brands you use, measuring methods and portion sizes per household.