Paleo Chicken Nuggets
A gluten free and paleo version of Chick-fil-A's chicken nuggets, made without nuts! These tasty treats are best served with ranch or my healthier Chick-fil-A sauce.
Prep Time15 minutes mins
Cook Time8 minutes mins
Brine1 hour hr
Total Time1 hour hr 23 minutes mins
Course: Appetizer, Dinner
Cuisine: American
Servings: 4 people
Calories: 402kcal
- 1.5 pounds chicken tenderloins or chicken breast pounded to ½ inch thickness, cut into bite size pieces
- ½ cup pickle juice
- ⅔ cup pumpkin seed flour
- ⅓ cup tapioca starch
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons milk of choice
- ½-3/4 cup sunflower, avocado, or canola oil
Combine the raw chicken pieces with pickle juice (or brine) and toss to coat. Place in the fridge for an hour to sit. Meanwhile, grind your pumpkin seeds in a food processor till finely crumbled. Combine with tapioca flour, garlic, paprika, salt and pepper in a large bowl or plate. Meanwhile whisk the egg and milk together till light and frothy.
Prepare a deep cast iron pan with the oil and heat over medium high heat until it sizzles with a splash of water flicked in. Prepare a sheet pan with paper towels and a metal rack over it to drain the chicken nuggets
Remove the chicken pieces from the fridge, leaving behind the pickle juice, place them in the egg/milk mixture, then transfer to the spiced pumpkin seed/tapioca flour mix.
Add the coated chicken nuggets to the oil, and for the love of cheese do not splatter yourself. You may need to work in 2 batches so the pieces have enough room to fry and do not touch each other. A splatter screen works great for dishes like this! Turn the heat down to medium and cook for 2-3 minutes until lightly browned on the first side. Flip and cook another 2-3 minutes until cooked through, being careful to not burn. Place on the metal rack and allow them to drain and cool. I like to pat the tops carefully with a paper towel to just soak up some extra oil. Serve warm with this honey mustard dipping sauce.
- Use pickle juice from this recipe, a quality store brand, or use a simple salt water brine.
- Pumpkin seeds can burn fairly easily so just keep an eye on how dark they're getting. If it's getting too dark too quickly, you need to turn down your heat.
- Tapioca flour can get a little less crunchy the longer it sits, so try to serve these fairly quickly.
- If your coating is not sticking well, you can coat these lightly in a little extra tapioca flour before placing into the egg mixture (I have not had this issue).
- This can probably be made with regular flour, I just have yet to try it that way.
- See the post for dipping sauce ideas.
Serving: 6pieces | Calories: 402kcal | Carbohydrates: 11g | Protein: 41g | Fat: 26g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 151mg | Sodium: 799mg | Potassium: 761mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 357IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 28mg | Iron: 2mg