Once upon a time, we used to have the most amazing fast-food chicken restaurant in our mall. But then one day, it vanished…never to be seen again. Anytime we go out of town, I always make it my mission to find said restaurant. It is sooooo good. And they like to use cows to advertise, which I think is cute.
Anyway, I saw this recipe for chicken nuggets on Pinterest a couple weeks ago. I knew we had to try it out. My stomach was beckoning me…
And the recipe did not disappoint. These nuggets were delicious and so very reminiscent of my favorite nuggets of all time. They were certainly the best homemade chicken nuggets I’ve ever had!
We made one small change to the recipe, however. I saw in the comments that someone said they marinated the chicken in pickle juice. Yep, you read that right. Pickle juice. It sounds crazy, I know…but we decided to try it out. I just used half the juice in our jar of pickles and marinated it for 2 hours in the refrigerator.
Then we drained the pickle juice, cut up the chicken in tiny pieces, and marinated it in a milk mixture for another 2 hours as the recipe calls for.
And my sweet husband volunteered to do the “frying”. He used to be the “fry guy” at a restaurant he worked at in high school. I don’t particularly like having grease splattered on my shirt, so I was happy to forego this responsibility.
These nuggets were oh-so-yummy. And tasted very much like my favorite chicken nuggets of all time!!!
Go on over here and check out the recipe! And I HIGHLY recommend the pickle juice marinade!
PS: I apologize for the poor photo quality. The lighting in our house was wonky and I couldn’t bring myself to use the flash…
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Aztec Chicken
Thank you so much for posting this recipe! My 3 year old son told me the other day he wanted some chicken nuggets. So this recipe came just in time. Oh and the restaurant you’re talking about is my fav too! :) Thanks again!
Thank you SO much for turning me onto these, Jenae!! My sons both love nuggets but after seeing Jamie Oliver’s demonstration on what goes in the pre-packaged or restaurant ones from his show Food Revolution, I cringe a bit whenever they eat them. Making my own will solve that problem! I can’t wait to try these!
I can see the pickle juice, it’s basically a brine. I like to brine all my poultry. I may have to give this a try although my husband is usually the one who does chicken nuggets around here. He does them in 5 pound batches and we freeze them. Great for a quick lunch for The Boy after pre-school.
Kara
Thank you so much for linking up my recipe! I am super happy that you and your family liked them! And from all of the comments, I am going to even try the pickle juice trick!
WOW – my mouth is watering…this is going on next week’s menu for sure! Thanks for sharing!
I am looking forward to trying this! I have a homemade fish stick recipe my son loves. I just cut tilapia up in strips, dip in egg mixed with salt and pepper, and then bread it in italian bread crumbs. I put a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a pan and fry both sides. They take all of 10 minutes from start to finish and my son gobbles them up.