Who wants gluten-free coconut flour chicken nuggets?! ๐๐ฝโโ๏ธ
These coconut flour chicken nuggets are made with… you guessed it, coconut flour! I wanted to create a nut-free version of my baked chicken nuggets and so I came up with this paleo-friendly recipe.
There’s one special secret ingredient that keeps these chicken nuggets oh so tender: mayonnaise. You can use egg wash instead if you want, I just think mayo makes them extra tasty and tender. Want to know something funny? I actually came up with this recipe after screwing up a batch of homemade mayo – I didn’t want to waste the failed mayo so I used it as an egg wash and made chicken nuggets. I loved how they came out so much that now I use mayo all the time when making nuggets! Give it a try and let me know what you think ๐
My favorite part about this recipe is the spiced breading mixture. It’s made with a little smoked paprika, oregano, basil as well as a few other spices, including turmeric. I like to sneak turmeric into just about everything because it makes me feel like whatever I’m eating is a little bit healthier.
You’ll love these pretty little golden nuggets. I’m sure they’ll quickly become a family favorite.
Ingredients
- 1 pound skinless chicken thighs cut into bite-sized pieces
- 3/4 cup mayo or 2 eggs, whisked
- โ cup arrowroot flour
- ยผ cup coconut flour
- ยฝ teaspoon onion powder
- ยฝ teaspoon garlic powder
- ยผ teaspoon turmeric
- ยฝ teaspoon dried basil
- ยฝ teaspoon oregano
- ยผ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ยผ teaspoon cayenne
- ยผ teaspoon salt
- โ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450ยฐF.
- Place parchment paper on a large baking sheet.
- In a bowl, combine the arrowroot flour, coconut flour and spices.
- Dip each piece of chicken into the mayo (or egg wash), then dip into the coconut flour mixture. Place the chicken onto the baking sheet and repeat for remaining chicken pieces.
- Bake at 450ยฐF for 20 minutes or until the juices from the chicken run clear.
Gillian Goodwin says
These were the best chicken nuggets ever! We used cut up chicken tenders and the egg wash, and sprinkled a little extra dried coating on the nuggets just before we put them in the oven. We flipped them at the 15 minute mark. I did not read the recipe carefully, so we used 1/2 tsp of turmeric and 1/2 tsp of salt. They came out a gorgeous color and very juicy and tender. My family loved the subtle, but unique new flavor. Thank you so much for the recipe!
My Heart Beets says
Gillian, that’s awesome to hear! Thanks for leaving this review! I’m really glad your family loved the nuggets ๐
jo says
thank you!
very refreshing to eat something that is โbreadedโ again !! to offset the sweetness of the coconut flour i added some cayenne pepper and sprinkled with parm cheese, reminds me of that old hellmanโs parmesan chicken recipe
also easy to calculate your own yield of net carbs! thatโs a huge plus!
great work !!!
My Heart Beets says
Thanks Jo! Love the idea of adding parmesan and cayenne – yum!!
BVP says
Definitely a keeper! I read the comments for tips before hand and I stink at dredging too! I increased most of the spices by a small pinch. Also, Because of the comments about dry spots I watched during cooking a saw what they were talking about and spritzed the dry spots with olive oil, this did the trick. I love this lower carb option. I was forced to use egg as we were out of mayonnaise so I will try the mayo next time.
My Heart Beets says
Glad you liked them!!
Lynda says
How many carbs?
thanks
Linda says
The flavor was outstanding but my nuggets cam out very powdery….i used the mayo but it seemed like the flour did not stick everywhere and it did not brown. any suggestions would be appreciated ๐ thanks for a great recipe.
Jessica says
The flavor of this is so good! I’m rather new to cooking. I cooked for an extra ten minutes but my nuggets turned out powdery. What do you recommend to fix this? More egg wash, less breading mix?
M says
I just wanted to come on here and leave a comment that I tried this recipe and it was good! I used the mayo and it came out well. I did part of it in the oven to be true to the original recipe, but pan fried some of them with coconut oil on the stove. It was great! I preferred the fried ones but if you’re trying to be super healthy the oven worked too!
My Heart Beets says
Glad you liked it! And I’ll have to try pan-frying it – that’s good to know!
Julie says
I just made these and got done eating way too many! Here’s my 2 cents….I used the whisked egg version and I love and appreciate that you gave another option. I also used cornstarch instead of arrowroot. I’ve never used either ingredient. I’ve also never dredged/battered anything. This being said, I learned a lot but in the end they tasted delicious and I will make again, soon. There must be a skill to dredging…My flour mix stuck just fine using egg. In fact some of the flour still looked floury on the chicken in random places when they came out. That is probably due to my technical inexperience. Towards the end, I had a thicker goopy bowl with flour and egg that got mixed and goopy thick fingers. I decided to squish/blend it all together and squish my remaining nuggets into it as well (see, I’m super technical) I then put them in a different section on the sheet pan to compare. Those ones were more flavorful/tastier! Next time I am going to mix the egg and flour all together and squish it all into my chicken pieces and bake! No chance of any bare pieces like another reviewer with proper technique or newbie technique… I think they had a perfect amount of kick but I think I will increase the herbs and salt a bit next time too. I like stronger herby, smoky flavors. Personal preference. I THANK YOU FOR THIS! I feel like I finally ate naughty battered food but in reality it is not!
My Heart Beets says
Glad you liked it, Julie!
Ron says
I love your feedback and technique!
Jen says
Hm. My nuggets didn’t turn out nice like yours. I think it’s the egg wash because I didn’t have any mayo on hand. I don’t recommend the egg wash! It was only breaded in some spots and came out looking bare and sad. Also I’d upp it on the spice factor too – I think it needed more salt and pepper!
Nevertheless, thanks for sharing your recipe!
Barbara says
What is a good dipping sauce for this chicken?
My Heart Beets says
Barbara, you can use whatever you’d like: ketchup, mustard, honey mustard (mix honey + dijon), mayo… or siracha mayo. It’s completely up to you.