
Homemade Chicken Nuggets
For food that kids can eat in their hands, that’s great for parties and dips and for simplicity you can’t beat homemade chicken nuggets.
These are a staple on our menu, I cook them about once a fortnight. Wonderfully crispy on the outside and melting on the inside, proper homemade chicken nuggets just don’t compare to the majority of shop bought versions.
By cutting a chicken breast into strips and soaking these in milk for about an hour before cooking, tenderises the meat. Milk is fantastic for tenderising and cleansing most meats actually.
Once you’re ready to cook, it’s just a case of setting yourself up with 3 dishes:
- Seasoned flour (unseasoned if cooking for kids)
- Egg
- Stale Breadcrumbs
You move the chicken strips through each dish in the order they’re listed above before pan frying in a little sunflower oil for colour. Note, this will not cook the meat through so once coloured, you put the nuggets into the oven at 180 degrees celcius for 15 minutes to ensure they are cooked.

13 Comments
Stella Barrington
Hi Caítríona – thanks for visiting my blog and I am so glad that I have now arrived at your blog because it is simply brilliant! And it can’t have just been a coincidence that I arrive when you have just done chicken nuggets, the food that my son would eat morning, noon and night if I allowed him to. I might just try these!
Excellent blog. I’ll be back soon!
Wholesome Ireland
Oh you are very good thank you so much.
Ciara
Did you ever try these? http://www.howto.co.uk/wellbeing/quick-healthy-recipes/make_dinner_not_excuses/#chicken-nuggets Even more veg and budget friendly. First visit and I am loving this site…
Wholesome Ireland
I haven’t actually Ciara. Would you believe I don’t have a processor big enough to make them!
Ciara
Oh me too, I have to do them in batches. They are yummy though and very popular with my kids and their friends!
Wholesome Ireland
Ah right. Certainly one to consider anyway. Thanks!
Aisling Sheehan O'Malley
Hi Catriona, is there a print friendly version of this recipe? I woul dlove to try and make these for my family, but need to print it to bring home…. (i am sitting in work now pretending to work – oops).
Thanks, Aisling
Wholesome Ireland
Hi Aisling. Sorry I don’t at the moment but it’s certainly something I’ll look into next week.
Lisa
Hi i have one child with a dairy intolerance(milk) would soya milk also tenderise the meat or can you make any other suggestion thanks
Wholesome Ireland
Hi Lisa. Soya milk wouldn’t but you could try marinating in a small amount of lemon or lime juice then patting dry before breadcrumbs. Alternatively this recipe will work fine without the marinade step. Best of luck!
Lisa
Thanks for that suggestion i will definitely be trying this one out in the next few days.
Elaine Murray
Hi, my kids are currently not enjoying chicken in it’s sweet potato and apple casserole. I want to try his but can I freeze? Thanks!
Caitriona Redmond
Hi Elaine, you can freeze once they are cooked and cooled to room temperature. Defrost in the fridge and then bake in the oven until they are heated through.