Homemade Chicken Nuggets

4.86 from 35 votes

Homemade Chicken Nuggets

Succulent bite-sized chicken pieces with a cheesy, golden, crispy coating. So much flavour without the faff, these fast food-style homemade Chicken Nuggets are a winner for a family meal or as part of a buffet-style party platter.

Prep Time10

Cook Time25

Total Time35

Course: Kids Cooking, Lunch, Main Course

Cuisine: Family Food

Servings:

Author: Sarah Rossi

Ingredients

4 Chicken breasts Skinless and boneless
50 g Greek yoghurt See notes
50 g Panko breadcrumbs See notes
30 g Grated parmesan
2 tsp Paprika See notes
2 tsp Garlic powder
Salt and pepper
Olive oil See notes

For the Honey and Mustard dip:

75 g Greek yoghurt
3 tsp Runny honey
1 tsp Wholegrain mustard

For the Sweet Chilli Mayo:

100 g Mayonnaise
5 tsp Sweet chilli sauce

Metric - Imperial

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 220℃ fan/240℃/Gas Mark 9/425F.
Cut the chicken breasts into even, bitesized chunks (I use scissors).
Put into a large bowl with the greek yoghurt and coat well.
In another bowl, mix the breadcrumbs, parmesan, paprika, garlic powder and salt and pepper.
Roll each piece of yoghurt coated chicken into the breadcrumbs mixture and coat well.

To Cook in the Oven:

Place each piece onto a baking sheet covered with baking paper (don't overcrowd them. You may need two baking trays).
Give each nugget a little drizzle of oil. (You can also use an oil spray, which would work brilliantly).
Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until crispy and golden all over (they may take a little longer depending on your oven).
While they are baking, make each of the sauces by mixing the ingredients for each one together in a small bowl.

To Cook in the Air Fryer:

Carefully place the nuggets into the air fryer basket, be careful not to overfill the air fryer basket, depending on the size of your air fryer this may mean you need to cook in more than one batch.
Air Fry for 15 minutes at 220℃/400F.
If you want them to be really crispy you may want to cook them for a little longer but check at 15 minutes. Use a thermapen thermometer to be sure they are cooked properly.
While they are cooking, make each of the sauces by mixing the ingredients for each one together in a small bowl.

To Serve:

Serve with the dips.

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Notes

Greek yoghurt: If you can get it, I do think thick Greek yoghurt works best for this as it acts like glue for the breadcrumbs. If you only have natural yoghurt, you can try it but they won't stick quite as well and you may need to reduce the amount you use a little.

Panko breadcrumbs: I use Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) as they are SO crunchy and lush. Regular breadcrumbs or homemade breadcrumbs will work fine too.

Paprika: You can substitute this for smoked paprika, chilli flakes, a reduced amount of cayenne pepper, or anything similar to give these chicken nugget pieces a little kick and colour.

Oil: Vegetable, sunflower or olive oil is fine. This step is important as it makes the nuggets crispy. If you had a spray bottle of oil this would be AMAZING for doing this (I didn't have one).

Servings: We’re using 4 chicken breasts for this recipe, which generally serves 4 people, but this may be different if you’re cooking for little ones. Use your judgement on quantities.

To cook in air fryer: These do cook really well in an air fryer or Tefal Actifry if you have one. If your machine has a paddle to move the food around, just remove it and cook without as it will knock the coating off. The nuggets will take less time when cooking this way, so check on them after 15 minutes.

To fry: I like these golden chicken nuggets oven baked as it saves a lot of mess and oil, but they would also be good shallow fried too if that’s your preference.

To batch cook: Once they’ve cooled down, freeze them flat and separate on a baking sheet for an 1-2 hour, then pop them in a labelled freezer bag. Then you can defrost however many you need at a later date. Such a great batch cook win!

Nutrition