Homemade Chicken Nuggets

As I was preparing the meal for our weekly get-together with our friends, I realized I had two choices. I could serve something frozen out of a bag with ingredients in the list that I can't pronounce. Or I could serve this:

I couldn't help myself. It took more time, of course, but it was worth it when even the adults were sneaking chicken nuggets off of the kids' buffet.

The recipe is a simple one and a good staple if you've got kids around your dinner table. Even if you don't, I like to put these in a chicken salad, or add parmesan and Italian seasonings to make chicken parmesan nuggets served with pasta and sauce.

Start with a medium-sized bowl of flour with seasonings added and mixed well. I usually add salt and pepper and seasoned salt when I'm cooking for the kiddos. If you're cooking for an older crew, you might spice it up with garlic and a little cayenne.


If you're looking for the healthiest option, you could bake the nuggets, but I chose to pan-fry them this time. I used extra virgin olive oil about 1/2 inch deep and three small pads of butter. When you mix the oil and butter together, it keeps the butter from burning and the food from tasting like oil. bleh. Go ahead and get your pan good and hot - use medium heat or your butter will burn even though you've got oil in there as a buffer.

Toss your chicken, cut into cubes, in the seasoned flour. I made the mistake of using chicken thighs for this one time. I'll never do it again. It added probably half an hour to my cooking routine because there was so much fat and bone to remove! So, just use white meat. You'll be glad you did.

Cook the coated chicken in your heated oil/butter filled pan. I took a picture of this, but in retrospect, hot raw chicken just doesn't look appetizing. But you know what does?...

Golden, fresh chicken nuggets that you made yourself. And if you make way too much (like I did here!) this recipe freezes well. So maybe "frozen" chicken nuggets are a good choice after all...