When we first went gluten free, I tried and discarded many chicken nugget recipes. They all called for chunks of chicken, coated in something, then fried. That just didn’t cut it for my texturally sensitive little guy that disliked most meats! Somewhere along the way, I believe in a library book, I saw the concept of grinding up the chicken first. Voila! Now, we have a chicken nugget that more closely mirrors the real thing when you bite into it!
Please note that this recipe is extremely adaptable. At one point in our allergy saga, I eliminated almost all of the ingredients and was just making little nuggets of mostly ground chicken with some salt and pepper. You can also sub out the potato chips for a gluten free flour mix, but the chips give it that extra yummy taste.
First you’ll need to gather your ingredients:
- 3/4 to 1 bag of plain potato chips
- 5 to 6 chicken breast tenders (3/4 to 1 lb)
- 1/2 of a small apple or pear
- 1 slice of gluten free bread, plain muffin or pancake (optional)
- 1/16 to 1/8 tsp garlic or onion powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp pepper
Preheat a thin layer of oil in a frying pan until around 325 to 350 degrees.
Crush the potato chips in your food processor, set aside. Cut the chicken and apple into chunks, tear your bread into pieces, adding them to food processor bowl along with salt, pepper, and any spices. Process until you have a smooth puree.
Here, you can cut the nuggets into shapes with cookie cutters (somewhat time consuming) or you can do like I usually do and make balls of the puree, flatten into a nugget shape, then roll in potato chip crumbs to coat.
Drop these in your preheated oil and cook 3 to 5 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels and serve!
These freeze and reheat wonderfully, the only problem is that my kids and husband eat them as fast as I make them!