Homemade chicken nuggets: the recipe with a chopper
Want nuggets that are golden outside and tender inside, made with chicken you chose yourself? Here is the full recipe, plus how to work out which chopper suits you, even if you have never used one.
When someone asks for nuggets at dinner time, the box in the freezer is the obvious answer. Yet homemade chicken nuggets take very little equipment: chicken, a chopper, three plates for the breading and a hot oven.
The only real challenge is the chopping. Stop the chopper at the right moment and the meat stays tender; let it run and the meat turns rubbery. The rest of the recipe is well within reach of a beginner.
Allow about twenty minutes of preparation, 50 minutes of chilling and a quarter of an hour in the oven. If you still need the appliance, our range of meat grinders brings together the models that can handle chicken.
The essentials
- The chicken : 500 g of skinless breast and thigh, well chilled, for about twenty nuggets.
- The chopping : 5 to 8 short pulses, keeping a visible grain.
- The breading : flour, beaten egg, then breadcrumbs, in that order.
- The cooking : 15 to 18 minutes in the oven at 200 °C, turning them halfway through.
Why chop the chicken yourself?
Because you decide on the cut and the texture. Packs of minced chicken are hard to find, and they never have the right grain for nuggets. At home, you start with a fillet and stop when you like the texture.
These four pointers sum up the recipe. The first often comes as a surprise: very cold chicken cuts cleanly under the blades, whereas chicken at room temperature gets crushed and warms up.
The second explains almost every failed batch. If it runs too long, the chopper turns the meat into a sticky paste, and the finished nugget is rubbery.
So you do not need a powerful appliance. What matters most is a bowl you can see into, and a finger ready to let go of the button.
If you are preparing chicken for the first time, our guide can you mince chicken in a meat grinder explains how to trim the pieces and how to store the meat.
What do you need for 20 nuggets?
With the principle clear, on to the shopping. This homemade chicken nugget recipe makes about 20 pieces, enough for a meal for four, and everything is available at the supermarket.
- For the meat : 350 g of chicken breast, 150 g of boneless, skinless thigh, 2 tablespoons of thick cream, 1 teaspoon of paprika, ½ teaspoon of garlic powder, 1 teaspoon of salt, and pepper.
- For the breading : 60 g of flour, 2 beaten eggs, 120 g of breadcrumbs.
- For baking : 2 tablespoons of neutral oil.
The thigh is optional, but it makes a real difference: its slightly fattier meat stays tender as it cooks. With breast alone, do keep the cream, or the centre will be dry.
For the breadcrumbs, leftover dry bread is all you need. A few pulses in the chopper and they are ready: the method is in our article on homemade breadcrumbs in a chopper. Make them before the chicken, in a completely dry bowl.
How do you make homemade chicken nuggets?
To make homemade chicken nuggets, you firm up the chicken in the cold, chop it in pulses, shape small patties, bread them and cook them. Here is each step, with what to look out for as you go.
1. Chill the chicken
Cut the chicken into cubes of about 2 cm, remove any visible sinew, then leave the pieces in the freezer for 20 minutes. They should be firm at the edges without being frozen in the centre.
2. Chop in pulses
This is where the chopper makes all the difference, and it comes down to one action: press, release, look.
Put the chicken, cream and spices in the bowl. Give 5 to 8 pulses of one to two seconds each, shaking the bowl between pulses if pieces stay on top.
Stop when the meat holds together but still shows small grains. If it forms a smooth ball that sticks to the sides, it has gone too far.
3. Shape
Wet your hands with cold water so the meat does not stick. Take a heaped tablespoon, about 30 g, and flatten it into a patty 1.5 cm thick. Then leave them all in the fridge for 30 minutes, which makes breading much easier.
4. Bread
Once the patties are firm, set out three plates side by side: flour, beaten eggs, breadcrumbs. The flour holds the egg and the egg holds the breadcrumbs, hence the order.
Keep one hand for the flour and breadcrumbs, the other for the egg. Otherwise your fingers soon build up a crust of batter that pulls the coating off the next patties.
Tap each nugget lightly after the breadcrumbs: anything that does not stick would fall off during cooking anyway.
5. Cook
Place the nuggets on a tray lined with baking paper, without letting them touch, and drizzle with oil. The oven is the simplest method, but you have other options, depending on your time and equipment.
Oven, frying pan or air fryer: which should you use?
For nuggets with no deep frying and no need to watch them, choose the oven. The frying pan gives the most golden crust, but you have to cook in small batches. Whichever you pick, the centre must show no trace of pink.
| Method | Setting | Time | Good to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oven | 200 °C, fan setting if possible | 15 to 18 min | Turn halfway through |
| Frying pan | Medium heat, thin layer of oil | 3 to 4 min per side | A few pieces at a time |
| Air fryer | 180 °C | 10 to 12 min | A single layer, shake the basket halfway through |
| Deep frying | 170 to 180 °C | 3 to 4 min | Drain on kitchen paper |
For a nicely golden coating in the oven, first toast the breadcrumbs in a dry frying pan for 2 to 3 minutes. They reach the tray already coloured, so the chicken does not need extra time to brown.
As for sides, home-cut chips and a sauce are enough for a proper meal. For different dips, take your pick from our sauces for meatballs, which go just as well with chicken.
Which chopper should you choose for nuggets?
You now know what the chopper has to do: cut cleanly and stop in time. A model with a bowl and blades suits this best, because you can watch the grain form. After that, the right choice depends on how many people you are feeding.
If you cook for a family, the 3 L stainless steel electric chopper is the one we recommend: its double blade on 2 levels chops the top and bottom of the bowl at once, and its clear lid lets you see the grain.
It does take up room on the worktop, though. For a single pack of fillets now and then, a smaller bowl will be easier to get out and wash.
If you also make your own breadcrumbs, the electric chopper with 2 bowls saves you rewashing everything: bread in the 1.8 L glass bowl, raw chicken in the 2 L stainless steel bowl, each with its own blades.
If you cook for one or two, or if you are just starting out, the 750 ml mini chopper is plenty: 300 W, 4 blades and a clear bowl. Simply chop the recipe in two batches, below the maximum mark.
If you also mince beef or lamb every week, the 700 W electric meat grinder and its 3 mincing plates are worth having. Use the medium plate for chicken.
To be frank, for nuggets alone this last model is too bulky, and the meat comes out in strands that you then have to mix by hand with the cream and spices. Our article on mincing plates for a meat grinder will help you get the texture right.
And if you would rather not plug anything in, the manual meat grinder with suction base also handles chicken, with a hand crank. You will find other sizes in our ranges of electric choppers and mini choppers.
Mistakes to avoid
Even with the right appliance, a few details can spoil a batch. Here are the most common ones, and the simple way to avoid them.
- Chopping continuously: the meat turns into a rubbery paste. Stick to pulses and watch the grain.
- Using lukewarm chicken: it gets crushed under the blades instead of being cut.
- Making nuggets of different sizes: the small ones dry out while the large ones finish cooking.
- Crowding the nuggets on the tray: they steam and the coating stays soft.
- Breading without chilling first: the patty is too soft and loses its shape in your fingers.
- Leaving the bowl to wait: wash the blades and bowl in hot soapy water as soon as the raw chicken is out.
On a meat grinder with plates, cleaning takes a little more method: our guide to cleaning an electric meat grinder shows you how.
Your questions about homemade nuggets
Can you make nuggets without a chopper?
Yes, by cutting the chicken into very small dice with a knife, then pressing it together in your hands. It takes longer and the patty holds together less well, but for a first try the recipe works.
Can you freeze homemade nuggets?
Yes, and it is very convenient. Freeze them raw and breaded, flat on a tray, then transfer them to a well-sealed bag. Eat them within 2 to 3 months, cooking them from frozen and allowing 5 extra minutes in the oven.
How do you know when the nuggets are cooked?
Cut the largest one in half: the meat should be white right to the centre, with no trace of pink, and the juices should run clear. If you have a kitchen thermometer, aim for 74 °C in the centre.
Going further
Good homemade chicken nuggets come down to three simple things: well-chilled chicken, chopping in pulses and breading in the right order.
The rest is a matter of taste: more paprika, a little curry or some herbs, it is up to you. Find all our appliances for meat in our range of meat grinders.
- To go with your nuggets, read our guide to homemade chips: the cut, the size and the cooking.
- To use up leftover minced chicken, read homemade meatballs: which chopper to choose.
To discover all our other appliances, visit hachoir-cuisine.fr.
Pour préparer les morceaux, lisez peut-on hacher du poulet avec un hachoir à viande.