SERVES: 2-4
PREP TIME: 1 hour, 15 minutes (includes marinade time, which can be done overnight)
COOK TIME: 20-30 minutes
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast
- 1/4 cup dill pickle juice
- 1 egg, beaten
- 2 tbsp coconut milk (buttermilk or cream is okay if you do dairy)
- 1/4 cup arrowroot powder (tapioca or potato starch is okay too)
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 1 tsp each salt and pepper
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 dash ground cayenne pepper
- 1/2 cup coconut oil
Instructions:
1. Cut chicken breast into one inch chunks. Place in a resealable plastic bag, add pickle juice and marinate in the fridge for at least one hour.
Prepping dinner before work? No worries! You can let this marinate longer until you are ready to cook.
2. Remove chicken from fridge and drain pickle juice from bag.
3. Add in the beaten egg and coconut milk, mix together and let sit for five minutes.
4. Drain all liquid from the bag, ensuring the chicken is wet but not sopping or swimming in liquid.
This will impact the texture of your nuggets. I like to place the chicken into a new bowl after draining the bag, just to make sure the chicken isn’t too soggy before I add my spices.
5. Begin to preheat the oven to 175 degrees. This is where you will keep each batch of nuggets warm until you’re finished. It also helps keep a crisp coating on them.
6. Stir all your dry ingredients together and combine with chicken by shaking and rubbing for an even coating. It may take a minute or two, so allow your skillet with coconut oil to begin heating up at this time (medium heat).
7. Fry your chicken pieces approximately 6-8 minutes per batch, flipping halfway through. You want a nice golden brown crisp on them. It takes about 4 batches to cook 2 lbs. if you are not overcrowding the skillet.
8. Pat dry gently on a paper towel and then place in the oven to remain warm until all 4 batches are completed.
I very rarely find a recipe that I don’t tweak and make changes to or swap out ingredients. This recipe, however, is so perfectly delicious that I must give credit to The Domestic Man, a Paleo-friendly recipe site. I kept it pretty much identical to his.
These nuggets honestly taste just like Chick fil-A nuggets. The key, surprisingly, is the pickle juice. I have had some die-hard Chick fil-A fans try these and love them. This batch could serve up to 4, but honestly, my husband and I usually wipe out the 2 lbs. in one sitting because they are that good!
No Comments