Home made Chicken nuggets are incredibly delicious! When your kids start requesting your home made chicken nuggets instead of fast food nuggets, you know that you’ve done good.
When we first started making chicken nuggets at home, there was a bit of a learning curve. We had to figure out what we liked, and what we didn’t. How to get the crispiest, crunchiest breading on the outside of the nugget.
While we tried pan frying them in oil, it still felt greasy like fast food (which was what we were trying to avoid). Next was testing out oven baked variations. While this was less greasy, I couldn’t get the crunch right.
Then I remembered how using Panko can get crunchy in the oven IF (and this is important) you brown it first. If you don’t brown the panko before putting it in the oven, you won’t get the nice golden brown on the outside and will stay pale in color.
Kitchen Tools Needed:
- Large Sauté Pan: We use a 5-quart sauté pan to brown the panko
- Chef’s Knife: a multi-purpose knife that you use to slice, dice, and chop. Usually medium to long in length.
- Bowls: These will be used for the egg and flour when breading the chicken.
- Quarter Baking Sheet
- Half baking Sheet
- Parchment Paper
Ingredients:
- Chicken Thighs: Should be boneless and skinless.
- Panko: Usually found near the breadcrumbs or near the Asian food section.
- Olive Oil
- Eggs
- All-Purpose Flour
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- Garlic Powder
- Onion Powder
How to make the Chicken Nuggets:
- About an hour before you plan to make the nuggets, you will need to brown the panko. If you brown the panko immediately before breading the chicken with it a few things will happen: The panko will be very hot to handle and could possibly warm the chicken up before it goes into the oven to bake.
- Grab the large sauté pan, pour the olive oil in and put the heat on medium. You don’t want this too high, so you don’t accidentally burn them.
- When the oil looks glossy, pour the panko into the pan. As the pan heats up, you’ll want to constantly stir the panko. Make sure to get everywhere in the pan and not one place sits for too long, otherwise there is the potential it will burn.
- After a few minutes, the panko will start turning brown and you’ll want to continue cooking until it becomes a nice golden brown. Then pour into a quarter baking sheet to let cool.
- Once the panko has cooled, begin the breading process.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place a piece of parchment in the baking sheets (no need to grease the pan with the parchment.
- Pour the flour in a small bowl and scramble the eggs in a separate bowl.
- Bread the nuggets in this order: Flour, egg, panko. Dip the chicken in the flour so it is evenly coated. Shake it off and dunk into the scrambled egg. Once the egg has fully coated the chicken, dip the chicken in the panko (be careful of egg drippings). Coat the chicken in browned panko then transfer to a half baking sheet.
- Place the pan in the oven and set a timer for 12 min. Flip the chicken over and place back in the oven for another 12 more minutes.
- Once the second timer goes off, pull it out and it should have a minimum internal temperature of at least 165 degrees.
Oven Baked Crunchy Chicken Nuggets
Home made Chicken nuggets are incredibly delicious! When your kids start requesting your home made chicken nuggets instead of fast food nuggets, you know that you’ve done good.
Ingredients
- 5 whole Boneless Skinless Chicken thighs
- 3 cups Panko
- 3 tbsp Vegetable Oil
- 1 pinch Black Pepper
- 2 tsp Salt plus a pinch
- 1 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 4 large Eggs
- 2 tsp Garlic Powder
- 2 tsp Onion Powder
- 2 tsp White Pepper
Instructions
Prepare the Panko:
- In a large sautee pan, add oil and set burner to mediium low (you don't want to burn the Panko)
- Add in Panko, along with salt and pepper to taste. You will want to constantly stir the panko until golden brown. Be careful not to let the panko sit for too long as it could burn.
- Once the panko has browned, set it to the side to cool for about an hour. (you don't want the panko to be hot when coating your chicken)
Making the Nuggets:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees
- Put your eggs and flour in seperate, medium sized bowls and stir the eggs until they are scrambled.
- Cut up chicken thighs into medium small portions (personal preference on nugget size or about 2-3 inch in length)
- Make sure the chicken is dry and not wet before starting this next part
- Dip the chicken pieces in flour, then egg, and then the panko and place them on a foil lined baking sheet.
- When finished covering the chicken with panko, place them in the oven for 12 min.
- After 12 minutes, turn the chicken over and place back in the oven for another 12 minutes.
- Chicken should be in for a total of 24 min. Once done, take them out and enjoy with your favorite dipping sauce or eat them plain with some rice and a vegetable on the side
Notes
If you don’t brown the panko before hand it will not become golden brown in the oven.
Please note that we are constantly reviewing and updating our recipes. If you find you have any questions regarding the recipes, please leave a comment or contact us here.
