Chicky Nuggets with Honey Pie Sauce

   I usually do not like chicken nuggets. Most of the time they are made with chicken that's been minced and then formed into identical little chicken pucks. I am anti-chicken-puck. 
  Over the years I've had good chicken fingers or nuggets in just a few places. One of those places is Chick-Fil-A. Unfortunately, I don't live anywhere near a Chick-Fil-A restaurant. I'm not addicted to their nuggets like some people I've read about on the internet, but when I thought about making chicken nuggets for my grandkids who were coming to stay for the weekend, I decided to see if I could find a copy cat recipe for Chick-Fil-A's nuggets. Truthfully, I've only had theirs a few times and its been a while, so I can't promise they taste just like theirs, but I will say these tasted really good. I made a really big batch so we could munch on them throughout the weekend.
   I also made some homemade honey mustard sauce. Since the littlest taste testers don't like mustard I decided to call it "Honey Pie Sauce" If you take nothing else from this post, you should try the Honey Pie Sauce! If I had known I could make my own sauce this good I'd have avoided all the bottled sauces I've been disappointed with over the years.

Let me show you how I made the Chicky Nuggets.

 I got the ingredients together for the marinade. I quadrupled this recipe, but for one recipe you use one egg, one cup milk, and 2 chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces.

 For my quadruple recipe it looked like this ~ a large bowl filled with egg, milk, and raw chicken chunks. I covered this with saran wrap and put it in the refrigerator for about 6 hours. You could probably let this marinate for as little as 4 hours or as long as overnight. You don't want to miss this step because it helps the meat stay moist.

 After they had marinated I got ready to fry them...yes, I FRIED them...oh, the horror! So they are not low-cal friendly. But they taste good, and there's something to be said for that. I put flour, salt, pepper, and the magic ingredient...powdered sugar in a large zip lock bag.

I put about 2 inches of peanut oil in a deep fry pan and heated it to 375 degrees. I highly recommend peanut oil because it imparts a unique flavor, but if you can't use peanut oil, canola oil is the next best choice. The oil needs to have a high smoke point, so olive oil is not a good choice. I used a thermometer because it is important the temperature be hot enough to brown the coating, but not too hot so the coating gets brown but the center of the meat doesn't cook through. If you don't own a thermometer test the oil by putting a drop of water in. If it is hot enough it will sizzle, if it sputters and pops a lot it is too hot.

 I shook the chicken in the bag of coating mix and then put them in the hot oil. I had to do it in batches because I had so much to do. As they browned I took one out and cut into it to make sure they were cooked through. I had my oven warm so I put the finished ones on a baking sheet lined with paper towel to soak up any excess oil

These nuggets were sooooo good! They were really great even the next day. We warmed them in the oven to keep them crisp, but on the third day we decided not to wait for the oven and they were wonderful even warmed in the microwave. I am considering making a large batch of these and freezing them to use for lunches and snacks when the grandkids come over.




Part of the enjoyment of these chicken nuggets was the awesome Honey Pie Sauce. Since making this tasty sauce we've decided we need to try it on chicken breast sandwiches, turkey sandwiches, dipping pretzels, ...you get the idea.


This is how I made the Honey Pie sauce:

I used mayo,

 honey,

 mustard,

garlic powder,

 and cider vinegar.

When I was finished I had this lovely, smooth, delicious Honey Pie Sauce.

I know you'll want the recipes...so here you go ~

Chicky Nuggets
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup milk
1 egg, beaten
1 cup flour
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp ground pepper
peanut oil for frying

Cut chicken into bite size pieces. 
In a bowl or large zip lock bag, mix milk and egg. Add chicken pieces and put in the refrigerator to marinate for 4 or more hours.
In a large zip lock bag, mix flour, powdered sugar, salt, and pepper. 
Place drained chicken pieces in the bag and shake to coat.
Heat about 2 inches of oil to 375 degrees.
Put coated chicken pieces in the oil and fry until browned and cooked through, approximately 5 minutes. 
Drain on paper towel.
    (barely adapted from My Name is Snickerdoodle Blog)

Honey Pie Sauce

1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup prepared yellow mustard (like French's)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon honey 

Mix all ingredients together. Refrigerate until use.
      (barely adapted from Table for Two Blog)

What was the taste tester's bottom line?
AWESOME! Everyone liked them. This is an A+ recipe.

The bottom line: Buy the ingredients, schedule time to make a large batch, and freeze for snacks and lunches.