Oppression-free Chicken Nuggets
These chicken nuggets are similar to everyone’s favorite right-wing fast food chicken restaurant. They put sugar in them, but I don’t recommend it. Eat them right out of the oil or freeze when cooled.
Oil for frying,
4 c. all-purpose flour
6 tbsp garlic salt
1 tsp paprika
1–3 tbsp black pepper as desired
4 eggs, beaten
8 chicken breasts, cubed
Don’t preheat your oil. We’ll do this later while our breaded chicken nuggets rest. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl. You can substitute 6 tbsp garlic salt for 5 tbsp 1 tsp of salt and 2 tsp garlic powder if you need to.
Now we are going to bread the chicken using the flour-egg-flour method. Coat chicken cubes in flour, a cup at a time. Shake off flour and mix them into the egg bath, coating thoroughly. Remove from egg bath and allow excess egg to drip off. You want them to be wet, but you don’t want egg dripping into your flour bowl. Coat in flour again, and remove from flour, shaking off excess flour. Set aside in a bowl or on a plate. Repeat until all chicken has been processed through the flour-egg-flour coating.
Begin preheating 4 inches of oil to 350° F in a deep fryer or cast iron Dutch oven. Allow the chicken to rest while the oil is heating. Flour batter will slowly transform into a wet, sticky coating. This is fine.
When the oil reaches 350° F, begin dropping chicken nuggets gently into the oil until about 10–12 nuggets are frying. The nuggets will be very sticky and will stick to each other. Make sure they aren’t stuck together before you start frying each one.
Fry each group of nuggets about 5 minutes. If the flour begins to brown, you’ve left them in too long. They should be golden, not browned. Remove them to a paper towel to drain for a moment.
Serve immediately, or cool and freeze.
To reheat from frozen, bake at 400° F in a single layer on a baking sheet for 7 minutes. then flip and bake 7 minutes more.
