This Chick-Fil-A Clone Recipe comes pretty close to the “real thing” and is good any day of the week.
Chick-Fil-A indisputably makes one heckuva chicken nugget. There isn’t anything like it. Anywhere. Unless you make a Chick-Fil-A Clone at home.
The following is a list of ingredients in the nuggets that you get at Chick-Fil-A (according to Chick-Fil-A’s own website):
nuggets (whole chicken breast, seasoning [salt, monosodium glutamate, sugar, spices, paprika], seasoned coater [enriched bleached wheat flour {with malted barley flour, niacin, iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid}, sugar, salt, monosodium glutamate, nonfat milk, leavening {baking soda, sodium aluminum phosphate, monocalcium phosphate}, spice, soybean oil, color {paprika}], milk wash [water, nonfat milk, egg], peanut oil [fully refined peanut oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness and dimethylpolysiloxane as an anti-foaming agent]).
This Chick-Fil-A Clone does not include some of those ingredients, such as nonfat milk or monosodium glutamate (MSG). One thing you will find in my recipe that is not in the original is powdered sugar. (Notice that Chick-Fil-A does list “sugar” as an ingredient.)
The first couple of times that I tried to make a clone, I brined my chicken solely in pickle juice. I really like the way that it came out. However, one of my family members has an aversion to pickles, so I tried it with a combination of pickle juice and carbonated water. That combination worked fine, but there is more flavor when the chicken is brined in pickle juice.
Brine solution of 1/4 cup pickle juice + 1 cup of carbonated (seltzer) water.
I also followed another recipe that I found somewhere out in cyber land and used flour and cornstarch for the base. It worked okay, but when I coupled it with an egg/milk wash to dip in prior to breading, the chicken would come out beautifully but the batter did not stay on the chicken after removing it from the oil.
I have been battering crappie (fish) with a mixture of dry pancake mix, salt and pepper for quite some time. Every time I cook it I can’t help but notice how much the breading looks like that on Chick-Fil-A chicken. I have never had a problem with that breading, so I decided to try it as the base of the breading.
It worked beautifully. I like to double the batch of breading. That way if I end up making a mess and need to use I don’t have to stop to make more.
Large batch of breading mixture for the Chick-Fil-A Clone.
In my research, I learned a couple of little tricks:
- To get those extra crunch pieces of goodness that are found on some of the nuggets, take a little bit of milk and splatter it into the dry mix before breading your nuggets. [Serious Eats]
- If you don’t have a thermometer and want to check if you have your oil at the right temperature of 350 degrees, you can test it by placing a couple of popcorn kernels in your hot oil. The popcorn will pop right around that temperature. [Cooking Comically]
Chick-Fil-A Clone
Ingredients
- 2-3 chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
- peanut oil
Breading
- 2 cups dry pancake mix
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp basil
Brine
- Pickle Juice
Instructions
- Combine all dry ingredients in a large container and set aside.
- Soak chicken in pickle juice and place in refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
- When it is time to fry:
- Place peanut or vegetable oil in large skillet and heat to 350 degrees.
- Drain chicken and coat each piece with dry batter.
- Fry for approximately 4-6 minutes until golden brown and cooked thoroughly.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving:Calories: 483 Total Fat: 9g Saturated Fat: 2g Trans Fat: 0g Unsaturated Fat: 6g Cholesterol: 78mg Sodium: 1937mg Carbohydrates: 63g Fiber: 3g Sugar: 20g Protein: 35g
This look delish! I’m interested in what type of dry pancake mix you use.
Hi Cynthia,
I think any dry pancake mix will do, but I often find myself using Hungry Jack.
(I know – my diet is all over the place. One day I will be good.)
Lynda
My kids are gonna love you when I make this for them one day 🙂
I LOVE Chick-Fil-A … will have to try this recipe!
Oh yum! I love Chick-fil-A chicken.
I love Chick-fil-A but the nearest one to our home is an hour drive. I need to try this recipe.
I will have to try this recipe.
I’ll definitely have to try this!
oh yum – we just got our first taste of Chik-fil-A here in TX – I’m not big on frying food in my home (I just don’t like the whole oil splattering thing), but these sound good enough to tempt me to try!
Would love to try this!
I’ve never tried their nuggets, but heck, now I can just make yours and I’ll have done it! 🙂
Oh I love trying mock recipes and this one looks amazing!
Those look awesome. We’ll have to try these!
Sounds and looks delish! I stopped eating there because all the unwanted stuff in their mix.
I was surprised at what all is in there when I looked at the ingredient list.
These totally look like the real deal!
We don’t have a Chick-Fil-A in our area, so I’ve never tried it before.
This is awesome! We don’t have Chick-fil-A here so I may have to give these a go.
We do not have Chick Fil A here and I miss it. Thanks for the clone!
I would never have thought to Brine in pickle juice!
Those wee lil’ nuggets look mighty tasty.
There isn’t a Chick Fil A in my city, and since I am not fond of their personal view points, I won’t be eating there anytime soon. That being said, I have heard nothing but great things about their food so this recipe rocks! Now I can have my chicken and eat it too 🙂
Nom nom! Can you clone their Polynesian sauce next?
I’ve never had chik fil a but this looks really good!
Those look just like Chick-fil-A nuggets! I am so trying this recipe.
I’ve never been to Chick-Fil-A nor have I brined chicken before. I would have to come up with a substitute since I don’t eat wheat but I bet I could come up with something! Thanks for sharing your recipe.
I’ve never been to Chick-fil-A, but this looks really good!
This is similar to how my sister makes her CopyCat Chick Fil A nuggets…. great minds! 🙂
Um, I think I like your ingredients MUCH better, lol…thanks!
I love Chick-Fil-A! I am going to try your recipe.
I like the sandwich! I’ll have to try this.
Now this is a cool recipe for us because we don’t have any Chick-Fil-A anywhere nearby. I’ve never tried it before so this will probably be my chance.
My son would love this. 🙂
I love the Chick-fil-A sandwich and waffle fries :0. I have to give this a try my children LOVE their nuggets.
I am so making this! I will use it on our “Chinese” night with rice!
Looks like Chick-fil-A! I’ll have to give it a try!
Yum! I love Chick-fil-A but it’s so far away from me.