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, Five Guys, 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 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.
When you’re ready to cook the chicken, combine gluten-free or all-purpose 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 is 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 until 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!
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Chick-fil-A Bites with Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce
Description
Chick-fil-A Bites with Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce taste even better than the real thing, and are much healthier!
Ingredients
- 2 large chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces then seasoned with salt & pepper
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1/4 cup dill pickle juice
- 1 egg
- 1-1/4 cups gluten-free or all-purpose flour (dish will not be GF if using all-purpose 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.
Notes
Adapted from My Name is Snickerdoodle
This recipe is courtesy of Iowa Girl Eats, http://iowagirleats.com.
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.
Dipped, dunked, and devoured!
This looks like a great recipe, but you should note that Chick-fil-A gives money to anti-gay organizations. I’m not sure of your personal beliefs, but if you’re a fan of equality, it’s an important fact to know.
Keep making these!
We stopped eating at Chick-fil-a because we don’t support their bigotry but I’m glad to be able to make taste-alikes at home since their chicken is pretty delicious! Thanks for posting.
can’t wait to try these! Actually, I LOVE Chick-Fil-A and support them all I can because of standing up for their Bible based beliefs. We need more people like them.
<–christian lesbian who adores their waffles fries…i might not have a chick-fil-a reception at my wedding, but, you know, who would? God bless and keep on trucking <3 <3
Good. All the more reason to eat there.
How is that even relivent? This recipe doesn’t give them business at all, if anything it helps someone avoid eating there while still enjoying a higher quality nugget.
These look great! Any idea how much the calories are for these???
AHHHH made these twice already so good! Now i’m worried about what happens when i’m done with the pickle juice & not with the pickles!
I made these last week – and they do taste exactly like those famous nuggets! Good job!
[…] huge fans of Chick-fil-A nuggets, I was super excited when my friend Sari sent me the link to this copycat recipe. I immediately pinned it and couldn’t wait to prep it. […]
I made this last week and they were INSANE! I couldn’t believe how close the flavor was. They were so good we’re making them again tonight – thanks so much for sharing!
[…] pickle juice is the secret to chick-fil-a?! who knew? can’t wait to try these! […]
I made these for my kids last night and I just told them I was making chicken nuggets. I didn’t mention anything about the Chic Fil A part. Well about 3 bites in my oldest yells “Mom these taste just like CFA nuggets!” These are definitely a keeper! Thanks for the great recipe! :o)
Finally, a use/recipe for PICKLE JUICE! I just admitted to my boyfriend the other day that as a kid I used to secretly sip pickle juice the way other kids would sneak mouthfuls of chocolate syrup or whipped cream. I love, love, love the taste of delicious dill pickles, and I always feel like it is such a waste to throw out that awesome juice after the pickles are gone.. Never again! :)
Cait, here’s another use for pickle juice… Macaroni salad!! :) a bit of mayo, bit of pickle juice and a bit of dijon mustard makes the perfect mac salad dressing! :)
Pickle juice with chicken?! Sounds intriguing!
[…] adapted from iowa girl eats […]
I would like to make the sandwhich for my husband. Do you think this will work with half a chicken breast (instead of bite sized pieces) and cook longer on the pan?
I’m sure it would! Just make sure to pound your chicken breast out a bit so the crust doesn’t burn when having to cook for a longer time.
You’re awesome!
I just made these tonight and both I and the fiance both loved them! Thanks for yet another delicious dinner!
I have not seen coconut almond breeze!!! Where did you find it at? Hy-vee? TJ’s? My green monsters have been needing a little change lately.
Yep – at HyVee in the dairy aisle! :)
I’m definitely going to try this recipe, and everything looks about right to mimic the Chick-Fil-A recipe. I used to work there years ago, and while I can say they do use pickle juice in the marinade, I have to tell you- they don’t marinate the chicken for the nuggets or fried breasts- just the grilled breasts and strips are marinated. If you’ve ever tried the strips, you will notice a taste difference, and here’s why:
The chicken strips are marinated in pickle juice, and then tossed in the seasoned flour, shaken in a basket, and deep fried in peanut oil. The strips do not receive the milk wash. But the nuggets, they are not marinated, but they are tossed into the milk wash, then tossed into the seasoned flour, shaken in a basket, and then deep fried in peanut oil. So, not sure if you care or not, since this recipe seems to be a crowd favorite. But I thought you should know, just for authenticity’s sake. The pickle juice nuggets are becoming an urban legend. :)
Actually they changed their recipe in the last year and a half and the strips are a thousand times better (they used to make me want to puke). I too worked there for about 6 years. I’m so excited for this recipe!!
I will have to give these a try sometime. The look great! We made some I found on Pinterest that were tasty, but nothing like Chick-fil-A’s! Too disappointing.
I made these the other night for my (almost) 2 year old after reading your post and she LOVED them! The only thing I wasn’t crazy about was the pan-frying process. It just takes more time than I would like (what can I say, I’m always in a hurry!). Do you think these could be placed on a sheet pan and baked in the oven? I wonder if I’d have to add any extra oil to them on the outside to crisp them up a bit? Thanks for any guidance you can give me! By the way, love your blog — it is one of the few that I actually get really excited about when I see a new posting! Keep up the great work!
So glad you enjoyed! I’m not sure they’d work in the oven, but if you are willing to try, I’d spray them well with non-stick spray before baking!
I just made this today, they were AWESOME!! I used the pickle juice, I saw comments about not using it, trust me USE IT! I let them sit for 2 hours in the fridge. I used about 4 pounds of chicken meat, oooooh they were SOOOO good! Thanks for the recipe!!
Literally just finished eating this… My husband and I thought it was absolutely delicious! Thanks!
I made this tonight for myself and hubby as we were having a lazy Saturday! They were amazing! Not greasy at all! Will definetly be making them again soon (which will be causing less trips to chi-fil-A!)