Let me start out by saying that I don’t eat fast food like, ever.
Ok, there was that one incident involving McDonalds and a particularly happy happy hour a few weeks ago, but as a general rule of thumb no, never.
Greasy burgers and deep fat fried onion rings and fries are totally unhealthy, and I end up feeling like crap for about 2 days afterward indulging. It’s just not even close to worth it.
However.
There are exceptions, naturally. 
Three of them, in fact – In-N-Out Burger (monkey style, please,) Five Guys (gimme them Cajun fries,) and Chick-fil-A. Each are so delicious that it’s worth a little regret and a grumbly stomach for a few satisfying bites.
Among the three, Chick-fil-A stands out for specializing in succulent, crispy breaded chicken that is always tender, all-white meat, and so dang juicy – plus the seasonings they use are just right.
Imagine how tickled I was after coming across a copycat recipe I could make at home and customize to use a fraction of the oil the real restaurant uses, but still have it taste exactly like the real thing?!
Chick-fil-A Bites with Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce
These babies are insane!
Start the Chick-fil-A Bites by cutting a couple large chicken breasts into bite sized pieces, seasoning the pieces with salt & pepper, and placing them in a marinade of milk, 1 egg, and pickle juice.
Yes, pickle juice! I don’t know if it’s true or not, but I once heard that the key to Chick-fil-A’s signature flavor that it’s injected with pickle juice. Ok?!
Let the chicken hang out and marinate in the mixture for 2-4 hours in the fridge. I was home today over lunch making an epic Green Monster Spinach Smoothie (I added frozen blueberries, a kiwi and Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Coconut Milk – have you tried that?! It tastes like pure suntan lotion on its own, but is so insanely yummy over cereal and in Green Monsters. 
) so I started the marinade then.
When you’re ready to cook the chicken, combine flour, powdered sugar, salt & pepper in another ziplock back, and transfer the chicken pieces over using tongs. Shake the bag to coat the chicken pieces completely with the mix.
Next, heat 1/4 cup peanut oil over medium-high heat in a Dutch oven or large skillet. If you don’t have peanut oil, vegetable or canola oil will totally do.
Test the oil to see if it’s hot enough by dropping a bit of the flour mixture into the pot. If it sizzles, the oil is ready. It it pops and spatters, the oil’s too hot. If it does nothing at all, it’s too cold.
Working in two batches in order to avoid crowding the pan, place the coated chicken pieces into the oil using tongs. Cook until one side is golden brown, then flip and cook ’til the other side is golden brown. It depends on how big you cut your chicken, but my 1″ chicken pieces took about 3 minutes on each side.
Remove the chicken to a paper-towel lined plate, and continue with the other half.
Serve ‘em hot and fresh with a simple homemade honey mustard sauce that I kind of wanted to spoon drink – it was da bomb!
Chick-fil-A Bites with Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce
Serves 2
Adapted from My Name is Snickerdoodle
Directions:
2 large chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces and seasoned with salt & pepper
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup dill pickle juice
1 egg
1-1/4 cups flour
2 Tablespoons powdered sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup peanut oil, divided (or canola or vegetable oil)
Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce:
1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
1 1/2 Tablespoons yellow mustard
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 Tablespoons honey
Directions:
- Whisk together egg, milk and pickle juice, and pour into a large ziplock bag or bowl. Add chicken pieces and marinate in the refrigerator for 2-4 hours.
- Combine flour, powdered sugar, salt and pepper in a large ziplock bag. Shake to combine. Remove chicken from the marinade and add into the bag. Shake to coat the chicken completely.
- Heat half the oil in a large skillet or dutch oven over medium-high heat (6 or 7 out of 10.) Test the oil by dropping in a bit of the flour mixture. If it sizzles, the oil is ready, if it pops, lower the temperature a bit.
- Gently place chicken pieces into the oil with tongs. Do this in 2 batches, as you don’t want to overcrowd the pan. Cook the chicken for 3-4 minutes, or until golden brown on one side. Turn the chicken over and allow to cook for 3-4 more minutes. Remove to a paper-towel lined plate. Heat the remaining oil and continue with the other half of the chicken pieces.
- Stir together the honey mustard dipping sauce ingredients, and serve with the hot chicken bites.
I want to make Chick-fil-A Bites for dinner everysinglenight – they were such a hit! The honey mustard dipping sauce gave the bites a pretty good run for their money though. Sweet, just slightly tangy, and so creamy.
Dunked…
and devoured!
I hope you’ll give these a try! 
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Made these tonight, and the whole family loved them. They taste exactly like Chick-Fil-A and can fill our cravings in between trips! (The closest one is 45 minutes away!)
I made these for dinner tonight and my husband ( who loves fast food and detests anything healthy) loved them. I baked them in the oven at 425 for 10 minutes and flipped them half way through. Thank you for sharing.
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I love you for this recipe. I made these using Pamela’s Gluten Free Baking Mix (my oldest child has celiac disease). They were so delicious, and my daughter was thrilled to eat gluten free chicken bites that actually taste good.
Hello! I made these tonight and had to comment on your post. They are OUT OF THIS WORLD. I LOVED them and my BF was obsessed. I will be swimming in the homemade honey mustard too—ridiculous! Thanks!
I am currently making these as I type this. Hoping they will be delicious as they look!
[...] Chick-fil-A Bites with Honey Mustard Sauce (Substitute potato starch for the flour for frying.) As for the potato starch… I know, I know.. But hey, it is a nice treat every now and then And only eat if for lunch. [...]
I am an Iowa girl as well, but my family & I currently live in England (no Chick-fil-As in the UK). CFA is one of our family’s favorite fast food places and we’ve all been craving CFA. I will surprise my kids with this tomorrow evening!
Thank you!
I have to tell you, this is pretty spot on. And its the first meal I have fixed in a LONG time that everyone has loved. Thank you!
Can these be frozen & reheated in the oven? Has anyone tried this?
I made these tonight… I thought they were good but they weren’t very chick-fil-a tasting… I don’t know what I did wrong… but they were good enough that I’ll try them again. Hopefully I’ll have better luck next time.
the sauce was great! thanks for sharing!
I made these tonight, they were a hit with my husband. The only thing we found different was the amount of powdered sugar was bit much for us. Other than that they are great!
These sound great! Making them tonight for dinner. Any suggestions on what to serve along side them?
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could you bake these instead of fry them? if so, what temp and how long would you recommend? we are trying to cut calories but still have tasty food
Hi Heather! I’ve never tried baking them, but you could try spraying them with nonstick spray then baking at 400 for 7-10 minutes? Let me know if it works out!
These are fantastic!
I want to try these but I can’t find where you state weather the pickle juice is sweet or dill pickle juice.
Dill!
I just finished making these for dinner. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the success of some others. Supposedly the secret is pickle juice and powdered sugar, but after frying and trying the nuggets, that’s all they tasted like: pickles and sugar. Which, in my humble opinion, was not a great combination. Maybe it’s because I didn’t use peanut oil, maybe it’s because I didn’t use a pressure cooker like a chickfila employee advised, but they tasted almost nothing like the original.
However, I really liked the texture of the nuggets, so it wasn’t a completely wasted experiment. I might try the same method with different seasonings, because they were nice and crunchy, just like I like them.
These look so yum! I am so making these for the Super Bowl this Sunday!!
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I made these today Superbowl Sunday. Oh my they were AWESOME!!!! I found you on Pinterest and all my food today was from Pinterest…. was a great day! Thank you so much. I will be checking out your blog very often now!! Thank you!
Has anyone tried to bake or broil these? Can I use bread & butter pickle juice or does it have to be dill pickles.
Has anyone tried to bake or broil these? Can I use bread & butter pickle juice or does it have to be dill?
This recipe is amazing! Made them for dinner and loved them. The Honey Mustard Dipping sauce it the best. I used fresh raw local honey, Fage Greek yogurt and grey poupon dijon mustard! These would also be great on a big salad with fresh dressing! Thank you!
[...] Adapted from Iowa Girl Eats. [...]
[...] can get the recipe from Iowa Girl Eats. She also includes a recipe for Honey Mustard dipping sauce. I’m not a fan of honey mustard, [...]
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Do you use sweet or dill pickle juice?
They look really good!
Dill!
As someone who hates pickles with a passion, will I like these? Do they taste pickely?
I don’t think they taste pickly at all, but if you hate pickles with a passion, you might be able to pick out the flavor, so I’d just leave it out. They’ll still be delicious!
Trying these tonight! They look great! Cant wait to eat! xD
I prepare 95% of our food at home, so have no guilt with the occasional McD’s happy meal, Wendy’s single or all things CFA; however, it seems I always crave CFA on Sundays – when they are closed for church! Can’t wait to try these tonight…I can tell just by reading that they will be divine..thx!!!
I made these last night. SOOOO good!!!! My whole family loved them!! I put them in my salad.
I found your recipe on Pinterest. Thanks for sharing! These nuggets were soo good!! Tastes just like Chick-fil-a! I’ll be sure to try to sauce too as soon as I can get to the grocery store
OK, this explains a lot! I LOVED Chick-fil-a as a kid, and ever since I have always had a mysterious love of chicken and pickles. Now I know why! Thanks for sharing this. I can’t wait to try it!!