Homemade, Paleo Chicken Nuggets (Full Recipe)

I have been trying to watch my almost girlish figure.  It is quite manly at the moment.  But Im going to admit it, sometimes homegirl here needs her fix of fast food.  "What was that? These Taco Bell tacos are only 35% beef?..... Good enough for me!"  That is typically my motto.  Sometimes I gravitate to things like Taco Bell and McDees with no shame. (okay, maybe a little shame).

But since giving up in these vices, which still saddens me, I have started whipping up things to replace them... thus the home made nugget came along thanks to my friend Giselle!  Not only are these nuggets NOT made with preservatives, synthetic ingredients, flavor enhancers, a variety of plastics, and unused bone fragments from a plethora of random farm animals, its delicious too!

This recipe is a bit of work, but totally worth it (for your gut).  The awesome part about this is that there is really no way you can mess this up.  Use herbs and seasoning you like, and amount of chicken is totally up to you too!  Hopefully you will get inspired to get a really unique nuggie that is all your own!

If you make your own version of these, post your photos to the comments!

Step 1: Ingredients

• 2 boneless skinless Chicken Breasts (that’s 4 breast fillets)  You could use turkey I suppose or pork.  A pork nugget?  Hrmmm, I should try that.
• 1 teaspoon of Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of Parsley flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon of Oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon of Onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon of Pepper
• 2 Eggs, beaten
• 1 Cup of Coconut Flour
• about 1.5 Cups of sunflower seed oil

You kinda need a meat grinder attachment for your stand up mixer to really get this to work.  I probably should have prefaced with that.  I haven't tried a food processor, but I bet it would create a similar effect.

Step 2: Grind Meat

Preheat your oven to 375F.

There is nothing about this process that "feels right" to me, but its a necessary evil.  Shove perfectly good pieces of chicken into the grinder.  Try cubing them into about 1" chunks for easy chicken mushing.


Once everything is all ground up, add salt, parsley, oregano, onion powder, and pepper, and combine well.

Step 3: Form Meat Into Nuggets

To get uniform nuggets (to help ensure they all cook evenly, and to give them that "nugget look") I used a candy scooper and scooped out balls of chicken onto a sheet of wax paper.

Using the back of a spoon, I gently pressed down on the ball of chicken until it formed a mini patty

Step 4: Dredge Baby, DREDGE!

Get three dishes set up. 

1) Coconut flour (you can probably season this with some salt and pepper to give more taste.
2) Beaten Eggs (You can also season this as well with S&P)
3) a platter to place dredged nuggies on

I double battered to give them a nice hearty covering.  Place the nugget directly into the coconut flour.  Once covered, place in beaten egg. Cover with egg, and then back into the coconut flour.  Place on platter to be ready for frying!

Step 5: Fry and Bake

Using a cast iron skillet (you can use whatever you wish), fry the nuggets in the oil until browned over med-high heat.  This is approx 2 min on each side.

Drain on a paper towel.

Once all are fried up, place the nuggest evenly in one layer on a baking tray or stone.  Cook for additional 20 min.

Step 6: Enjoy, Better Known As Nom Nom Nom

Once the chicken is done, you are free to enjoy!  Use your favorite condiment and go crazy.  I made a mock "sweet and sour" sauce by mixing some organic, paleo friendly apricot preserves, a dash of soy sauce, a tiny dash of dijon. garlic powder, salt, and water.

Mix until you have a flavor profile you like!