I didn’t grow up eating fast food, so I’ve never really been a chicken nugget person, but the other day, out of the blue, I got a massive craving for them. So I thought, “Challenge accepted! I’m going to make some homemade chicken nuggets.” Well, let me just say, I might be a chicken nugget person now because these Homemade Baked Chicken Nuggets are so flavorful and so juicy, that I just couldn’t stop. And the best part is, they’re actually quite easy to make! I made three batches this week and I’m not sick of them yet.
How Many Chicken Nuggets Does This Recipe Make?
I used one (yes, one) boneless skinless chicken breast for this recipe, which made around 24 nuggets. My chicken breast weighed approximately 2/3 lb., so your yield may vary depending on the size of the breast. I’ve set the serving size at six nuggets per serving, assuming you’ll be eating something on the side (like the fresh vegetables in my photos).
Why is There YOGURT in Your Chicken Nuggets??
Weird, right? But it works. Buttermilk is a common ingredient used in baked and fried chicken, but I didn’t have any buttermilk, nor did I want to buy any just for this recipe (even though you can freeze extra buttermilk for use later). Instead, I chose to use an ingredient that is already in my refrigerator: plain Greek yogurt. Like buttermilk it is a cultured milk product that gives the nuggets extra flavor and helps keep them tender and moist. Trust me!
If you have plain regular-style yogurt (not Greek style), that can be used too. You’ll just need to add less water when thinning it out.
Can I Make Them Gluten Free?
If you can get gluten-free breadcrumbs, those should work fine in this recipe. That being said, I haven’t tested this with gluten-free breadcrumbs, but I don’t think the lack of gluten should affect the texture in this application.
How do Leftovers Hold Up?
I ate my leftover nuggets the day after I made them and enjoyed them quite a bit, but I will say that they are no longer crispy. They are every bit as tender, juicy, and flavorful though!
What is a “Neutral Oil”
A neutral oil is any cooking oil that does not carry a heavy flavor. You have the flexibility here to use the oil that best fits your diet or budget. I used Grapeseed oil today, but you could use canola, light olive oil, safflower, sesame, or any other light oil.
Pictured with my homemade Honey Mustard Sauce.
Homemade Baked Chicken Nuggets
Servings 4 6 nuggets eachIngredients
Breading
- 1 cup plain breadcrumbs ($0.25)
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder ($0.05)
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
- freshly cracked pepper ($0.02)
- 2 Tbsp neutral oil ($0.08)
Yogurt Slurry
- 1/3 cup Greek Yogurt ($0.29)
- 1/8 tsp salt ($0.01)
- 3 Tbsp water ($0.00)
Chicken
- 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast (about 2/3 lb.) ($2.79)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Place a wire cooling rack, or two, over a baking sheet to hold the nuggets as they bake.
- In a wide shallow bowl, combine the breadcrumbs, garlic powder, smoked paprika, salt, and some freshly cracked pepper (about 5 cranks of a pepper mill). Stir these ingredients together until evenly combined. Drizzle the oil over the breadcrumb mixture, then stir until the breadcrumbs are coated in oil. The breadcrumbs should look like damp sand.
- In a separate small bowl, stir together the Greek yogurt, salt, and water until smooth. You want the yogurt to be a similar consistency to buttermilk or heavy cream. It should be thick enough to coat the chicken.
- Trim any excess fat from the chicken breast, then cut it into small, 3/4 to one-inch pieces. For a 2/3 lb. chicken breast you should get about 22-24 pieces.
- Dip each piece of chicken into the yogurt slurry, then roll it in the seasoned breadcrumb mixture until the chicken piece is fully coated. Place each coated nugget onto the wire cooling rack on the baking sheet.
- Once all of the chicken pieces are fully coated, transfer the baking sheet to the oven and bake for 23-25 minutes, or until the breading is browned on the edges.
- Remove the chicken nuggets from the oven and let cool for 3-5 minutes, then serve with your favorite dip.
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Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Baked Chicken Nuggets – Step by Step Photos
Preheat the oven to 425ºF. To make the breading for the chicken nuggets, combine 1 cup plain breadcrumbs, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp smoked paprika, 1/4 tsp salt, and some freshly cracked pepper (about 5 cranks of a pepper mill) in a bowl. Stir these together well.
Then drizzle 2 Tbsp of any neutral oil over the breadcrumb mixture and stir until all the breadcrumbs are coated. It should look like damp sand.
In a separate bowl, combine 1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt with 3 Tbsp water and 1/8 tsp salt. Stir until smooth. It should be about the consistency of buttermilk or heavy cream. You can use plain “regular” yogurt here, you’ll just add less water to thin it out just a tad.
Trim any excess fat from one boneless, skinless chicken breast (about 2/3 lb.). Cut the chicken breast into small 3/4 to one-inch pieces. You should get about 22-24 pieces.
Dip each piece of chicken into the yogurt slurry until it’s coated…
Then right after you dip it in the yogurt, roll it in the breading mixture until it’s completely coated. Once each piece is coated, place it onto a wire cooling rack that is sitting on top of a baking sheet.
Once they’re all coated and on the wire rack, they’re ready to bake! Throw away any leftover breading and yogurt because they are contaminated with raw chicken.
Bake the chicken nuggets in the preheated 425ºF oven for 23-25 minutes, or until the edges have turned golden brown. Let them cool for 3-5 minutes before serving.
Here’s a close-up of the baked nuggets so you can see their color. They don’t change a LOT, they just get slightly darker and a little more brown on the edges.
Serve the Homemade Baked Chicken Nuggets with your favorite dips! Ranch is always great, but I also made a homemade honey mustard sauce, which I’ll be sharing on the blog either tomorrow or the next day, so stay tuned! Fresh vegetables were also an awesome side because they were just as good dipped into the ranch and honey mustard sauce.
I seriously can’t get enough of these Homemade Nuggets!!
What happened to your Tandoori Chicken Bites recipe? I loved that one. My saved link brought me to this recipe. While I love this recipe too, can you please bring the Tandoori recipe back please? : D
Hi Jane, I just emailed you a copy! :)
I was looking for the same!
Just sent it to you. :)
Me three please!!!
I’d love the tandoori chicken bites recipe too! Also, can you make a batch of these and freeze them?
As Beth mentions in the blog post, the leftovers were good but no longer crispy. Since we haven’t tried them from frozen, I don’t really know how they will end up! I guess it’s worth a shot, but I would suggest only freezing a small batch to see how you like them once reheated before committing a large amount to the freezer and ending up disappointed with the results. ~ Marion :)
Could you please also sens me the tandoori bites recipe?
Sent!
Another winner, winner chicken dinner from Beth at Budget Bytes, thank you! My husband really enjoyed this. I haven’t ever used plain greek yogurt to help bind bread crumbs to chicken, but it worked perfectly, nary a bread crumb fell off the chicken while it was baking or being removed from the the wire cooling rack. The only thing we did different was rather than using a chicken breast(s) and cutting it into pieces, we used a pack of chicken tenderloins — they were on sale at the store and made the prep even quicker. We just cooked the chicken for an extra 5 – 8 minutes.
Delicious! I often cheat and buy the frozen chicken tenders but find that they are more breading than chicken. These are so good! Thank you for a great recipe.
Oh. My. God. This was SO good! Crispy, light, simple, yet flavorful and crazy addictive!!
Your recipes never disappoint! These were so yummy and my kids LOVED them. They are so picky about food, but let me tell you, they have never turned their nose up at any of your recipes. I will absolutely be making this on a weekly basis for our dinner routine.
Turned out fabulous, I was very surprised how they hit the spot and you won’t even miss the deep fried versions. Deceptively healthy for how tasty they are! We used buttermilk because we had it but I can’t imagine they’d be different with yogurt and I will definitely try that version next. It’s a great pantry/staple meal I will make again.
Just wanted to leave a comment to say how much I love these nuggets. Great source of protein and store very well in the freezer. At 350° for about 20 minutes, these chicken nuggets reheat great. I make myself foil packets of 10-piece nuggets and usually meal prep about 70 nuggets at a time very easily. Thanks so much for the recipe!
We made this into two large servings and served with peas and roasted carrots. My only tip would be to add the water to the yogurt slurry slowly, I probably only needed 1 tbsp.
I didn’t have enough regular breadcrumbs so I used a mix of panko and regular and it worked out. I didn’t cook them on a wire rack and wished I had. They were a little too toasty on the side that was on the sheet pan. I served them with fries I made in the air fryer and the Budget Bytes coleslaw. My family said it was like a healthier version of KFC.
Curious about how long you would recommend cooking these if I wanted to use an air fryer? Recipe sounds great.
Unfortunately I’ve never used an air fryer, so I can’t offer any recommendations. :(
I used an air fryer- I set it at 400 and cooked the chicken for about 30 minutes. I cut the chicken into tenderloins, though, instead of nuggets, so if you do nuggets you might want to make the cook time shorter. I have a power air fryer, not the basket kind, so I switched out the bottom and top trays in the middle of cooking. It worked great!
Could I use sour cream here if I’m out of yogurt?
I haven’t tried that, but they are quite similar so it might work. Just make to thin it out enough so that it coats the chicken pieces correctly. :)
I have a similar recipe that uses mayonnaise, so that could be another option.
I’ve only used sour cream, they turn out great!
The texture was great–crunchy outside and tender inside. I’ve never been able to make home made chicken nuggets like this before. But for some reason for me, the flavor was lacking, even though I put a lot of pepper in. I will keep the method and try some different ingredients–maybe add some parmesan cheese to the coating or some butter to the yogurt. Giving 5 starts anyway because spices are personal preference but the method of making them is awesome.
I don’t eat dairy, but I know buttermilk and such is pretty fundamental for fried chicken. Is there something else I can use that isn’t dairy based?
Unfortunately the buttermilk really is key!
Could there be a non-dairy yogurt/sour cream alternative?
I have had luck with plain almond milk- I mix with a little vinegar and let sit at room temp for about 30 mins. It acts similar to buttermilk.
This recipe is great, I’ll keep it. One pet peeve: the breading is a lil’ crumbly after cooking. How about using aquafaba (canned chickpea broth) instead of water? Still, for all it’s worth, the recipe is fantastic. Beth really is a great cook.
My girlfriend approved and she’s a bit of a chicken nugget connoisseur. I learned in the second batch to not drench the nuggets in yogurt sauce so I didn’t run out of the sauce. I would definitely make this in a pinch and it’s surprising that you can feed two people with a single chicken breast.