Often times on my Autoimmune Paleo journey I find that I can’t share meals with my toddler. Hence the AIP Chicken Nuggets! In a perfect world my kiddo would eat all my protein and veggie-packed meals, but that just isn’t the case. Recipes like these make my day. Fun, creative, satisfying, and healthy for both of us! Real talk, my kid has never eaten fast food, and that won’t change any time soon, but I sure did. And my favorite: Chicken McNuggets. Oh man I loved them. These are way better and oh so good!
Table of Contents
AIP with a Toddler
We had just come back from a hike and I wanted little man to get his protein in, but eggs and beef were out since he’s had plenty the last few meals. I think the thought of something quick and easy was so tempting. I almost stopped at Whole Foods for some frozen chicken tenders, then I conceded that we have plenty of food at home and anything I make will be better for him. It worked out because now we could share these AIP chicken nuggets, as opposed to any store-bought variation that would just be for him.
What You’ll Need
- Use boneless skinless chicken thighs, you want that juicy goodness!
- You’re doing to blend the meat with garlic and herbs to make a flavorful and juicy filling.
- Tapioca starch or arrowroot starch for breading creates a really nice mouthfeel with a light crispy that’s delicious.
- For a dipping sauce mix up coconut cream, coconut aminos, lemon, and ginger!
Whip Out The Food Processor
I used whole, boneless skinless chicken thighs and ground them up in the food processor (not my meat grinder). Now, I will say, this step is imperative… if you use ground-up chicken (which is usually mostly white meat) the tenders will be dry and the consistency will be off. The process of “pureeing” the meat in the food processor with herbs & garlic, gives it a paste-like consistency that makes it ideal for nuggets. The breading is just a mix of coconut flour, tapioca flour & herbs, so it’s light.
The nuggets get crispy without having the thick layer of breading. So, they’re good. Real good! Grab a spoonful of your chicken paste and put it in the flour mix. Then coat it until you have a nice little breaded ball. Shape it into a nugget and set it aside. Repeat with all of the meat.
Pan fry in a hot cast iron until golden brown and cooked through. Only flipping once. Mix up your sauce and enjoy!
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AIP Chicken Nuggets (paleo, nut free, gluten free)
- Prep Time: 8
- Cook Time: 15
- Total Time: 23
- Yield: 6 nuggets 1x
- Category: entree
- Method: fry
- Cuisine: kid friendly
Description
Chicken Nuggets made healthy! Forget the drive thru, there’s food at home.
Ingredients
Nuggets
- 4 pastured skinless boneless chicken thighs
- 1 garlic clove
- 2 springs fresh dill (optional)
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 cup tapioca flour or arrowroot flour
- 2 tbsp coconut flour or tiger nut flour
- 1 tbsp Italian Herb blend, dried (herbs only! check labels)
- 1/4 cup beef tallow, or other cooking fat
Sauce
- 1/4 cup fatty party of full-fat coconut milk
- 3 tbsp coconut aminos
- pinch salt
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 1/4 inch chunk of fresh ginger, minced
- 1 tsp lemon juice.
Instructions
- In a large food processor, pulse chicken thighs, herbs, garlic & salt until it makes a paste.
- Heat cooking fat in a skillet on medium-high in the meantime, mix flours & herb blend on a flat surface.
- Scoop out a spoonful of chicken paste at a time- shape it in to nugget shape and lightly bread in flour mix.
- Gently toss between hands to shake off extra flour. Set aside on dry surface. You should have 5-7 nuggets. When cooking fat is hot, carefully arrange nuggets in skillet.
- Use a tong to handle them. After 4 minutes, when the bottom is golden brown, turn over and cook for another 3-4 minutes. When golden all over, set on a cooling rack over a plate to cool down.
- In the meantime, make the sauce!
- Now tomato-less ketchup or honey mustard (if you can eat it) would be awesome too… but this sauce was on point and AIP!
- Mix up all the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and mix with a fork. Dip. Eat. Enjoy.
Recipe Notes:
- The nutrition information calculated below is without the dipping sauce, just for the nuggets.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 3 nuggets
- Calories: 381
- Fat: 9.5g
- Carbohydrates: 30.8g
- Fiber: 2.5g
- Protein: 39.8g
Tayla says
These look delish! Can they be made in the air fryer?
Vicki says
I found this recipe in the first week of my AIP journey and it is so amazing!! I made up a whole batch and froze the remaining into groups that I can pull out for a quick snack or lunch at work and they reheat amazingly in the microwave. Give the perfect amount of crunch that you are craving but are just SO delicious. Amazed and thank you!!
Shylah Quast says
This recipe is the BEST! These chicken nuggets are better than anything you can buy… in store or restaurant. My daughter has been adjusting to a pretty restrictive diet. This recipe is the first recipe I made that genuinely made her smile when she bit into it. Don’t get me wrong, she likes other recipes (especially Cristina’s!), but to see your kid finally smile when eating is priceless! I make a quadruple batch and freeze them. They reheat (in an airfyer) to perfection!
Chrissy says
Soooo yummy! I made them a little different with the herbs I had growing in my garden and I just used ground chicken. So yummy
Cristina says
yeayyy!!! Sounds amazing! Love that you grow your herbs!
Vanessa says
Can these be baked? I’m super sensitive right now to fried foods cuz of my IBS but these look so delicious!! I love all your recipes!!
Cristina says
I’ve never tried! I have another crispy chicken recipe on the blog, oven baked fried chicken… but it’s not AIP.
Larissa says
brilliant recipe – it was super quick and simple to put together – from start to finish, it took me around 15 minutes. Happy twinnies – happy mama! Great lunchbox addition too! 🙂
Cristina says
Yeah!! I love when the kiddos are happy too!