Gluten-Free Chick-fil-A Chicken Nuggets with Crisp Seasoned Coating
By Emma Collins
Prep
30 min
Cook
15 min
Total
90 min
Servings
12
Level
Easy
These recipes are suitable for use as appetizers or main courses at home. Boneless chicken strips marinated in buttermilk and pickle juice and coated with seasoned gluten-free flour are fried to provide a crispy exterior and juicy interior like restaurant-served chicken.
The chicken is coated with gluten-free flour, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper and marinated in buttermilk and pickle juice. Marinating adds flavor to the chicken breasts and other benefits before breading. Ingredients for breading include gluten-free flour, powdered sugar, seasoned salt, salt, and pepper. These ingredients are used for breading and to give the finished product a browned appearance when fried in oil.
When frying nuggets, watch the nuggets' color and take them out when they are evenly golden brown. Fry nuggets in small batches to keep the breading on nuggets from clumping. Common problems with frying nuggets include overcrowding either when breading or frying nuggets, it can affect browning.
Serve nuggets with your favorite gluten-free sauce or try the blue cheese dressing recipe from the article. Store leftover nuggets in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Once cooled completely, they can be reheated using methods suggested in the article for best results, either oven or air fryer reheating is recommended when reheating refrigerated or frozen nuggets.
Why this recipe works
- Families can feed all members of their household with two pounds of chicken tenders, which are smaller pieces of chicken that appeal to children and adults.
- The buttermilk and pickle juice marinade seasons the chicken and helps keep it moist during frying while it's breaded with flour.
- Home chefs can fry dessert foods using a pan or deep fryer or Dutch oven to adapt this recipe for home cooks with typical frying equipment.
- Small batches of dredged and fried nuggets cook more evenly than larger batches because the nuggets aren't crowded in the hot oil and don't touch each other.
- Leftover nuggets can be refrigerated for a few days and reheated in an oven or air fryer to maintain quality.
- Gluten-free flour is used in the marinade and breading mixtures, so the breading ingredients are gluten free and the battered product will be gluten free, as noted in the recipe.
Ingredients
- •2 lbs chicken tenders
- •½ cup buttermilk
- •¼ cup pickle juice
- •1 tbsp gluten-free all-purpose flour
- •1 ½ tsp onion powder
- •1 ½ tsp garlic powder
- •1 tsp pepper
- •1 tsp salt
- •1 cup high-temperature oil (1 to 1½ cups, depending on frying method)
- •1 cup gluten-free all-purpose flour (for dredge)
- •1 tbsp powdered sugar (for dredge)
- •1 tsp season salt or all-purpose seasoning (for dredge)
- •½ tsp salt (for dredge)
- •½ tsp pepper (for dredge)
Instructions
- 1
Cut the chicken tenders into 2–3 pieces each, depending on your preferred nugget size.
- 2
Add the tablespoon of gluten-free flour, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper to the chicken. Mix well.
- 3
Pour the buttermilk and pickle juice over the chicken and mix until fully incorporated.
- 4
Let the chicken marinate for at least 45–60 minutes, or up to overnight.
- 5
Heat the oil over medium-high heat.
- 6
Whisk all of the dredge ingredients together.
- 7
Drop a few nugget pieces at a time into the flour mixture and coat well, then transfer them to the oil.
- 8
Cook until golden brown.
FAQ
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories
275
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