These delicious homemade chicken nuggets will give fast food restaurants a run for their money! No mystery meat, refined wheat flour, or inflammatory oils in these! These healthy chicken nuggets are the perfect swap when you feel like the last thing your family needs is another expensive drive-thru meal.

Basket of healthy chicken nuggets on wooden table.

Our family just picked up and moved from our home in the suburban Twin Cities back to the Motherland…ie, rural Wisconsin.

It is wonderful being back in the countryside, but there have also been many challenges. The ultimate goal is to eventually build a home on some land we have, but for the time being, we are living in the old farmhouse on the land. As far as recipe creation goes, photography has been a major issue in this old house!

The house is very small, lighting is not the best, and I just don’t have great options for “professional” shots right now. For the next 8-ish months, I hope we can all be forgiving of that. 😉 Enjoy my very real, non-aesthetic farmhouse!

I have been completely swamped with this move plus homeschooling my two younger children, and I’ve really had little to work on recipes. I’m hoping that can begin to change now that we are a little more settled and almost a month into our school year routine.

All that said, this chicken nugget recipe has been in development for about a couple of months now, and I’m finally getting the opportunity to post it. I *promise* the wait is worth it–this is a phenomenal recipe that rivals the nuggets at McDs…the perfect healthy comfort food alternative when your kids have been begging for the drive-thru!

What Makes the Nuggets Healthy?

Close up of basket of homemade chicken nuggets against gray background.

These are the BEST chicken nuggets! This recipe is not necessarily low fat, low carb, etc. What makes this recipe healthy is the use of REAL ingredients!

100% boneless skinless chicken breasts, whole wheat flour instead of refined bleached flour (I use freshly milled soft white wheat grains, but store bought whole wheat flour works just fine), and pan fried in a little avocado oil instead of deep fried in inflammatory oils.

Eventually, I plan to adapt this recipe to an oven-baked recipe with breadcrumbs instead of battered so they can be frozen and baked for a quick, low-fat recipe (let me know if you’d be interested in that, and I’ll work on it sooner rather than later!) For now, pan-fried was the route I wanted to go to be as close to fast food nuggets as I could be.

The whole family, adults and younger kids alike, are going to LOVE these tender nuggets! It also scales easily, so this is a great recipe to turn into a double batch and have more to reheat throughout the week.

Homemade Chicken Nugget Ingredients

Bowls of portioned ingredients to make chicken nuggets on a gray wooden background.

Here are the main ingredients in this recipe–for a complete list, please view the recipe card.

Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast – This recipe uses 100% white meat chicken that we blend ourselves for a smooth texture. Ground chicken can also work if you don’t have a blender, but it may be slightly less smooth.

Cornstarch – Choose organic cornstarch if avoiding GMOs is important to you. Personally, I just use whatever cornstarch I’m able to find. Cornstarch is the least nutrient-dense ingredient in this recipe, but it is important for making the batter the right texture.

Whole Wheat Flour – I use whole wheat flour milled in my Mockmill from soft white wheat kernels. Store bought whole wheat flour works, too. The closest to soft white wheat would be a whole wheat pastry flour, but regular whole wheat flour is fine. It just may be a bit denser.

Avocado Oil – Avocado oil is a healthful oil that is great for pan frying due to its stability at high temperatures and its neutral taste. This is my go-to choice for frying over highly refined vegetable oils or saturated fats. If you don’t have avocado oil, it is fine to use olive oil. Yes, even if it smokes a bit.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil has so many antioxidants that even when it reaches its smoke point, it does not degrade as fast as other oils. That said, maybe kick the heat down just a bit as the smokiness can be unpleasant when cooking.

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Step by Step Instructions

Bowl of cubed chicken breast with wooden background.

1. Cut Chicken Breasts into Cubes

Trim any unwanted pieces off your chicken breasts and cut them into cubes. We will be making the base of this recipe in a blender, but the cubes will help the blender work more efficiently.

Blender making the nugget mixture sitting on the stove top.

2. Blend

Place the cubed chicken breast in a blender. Add 3/4 teaspoon of salt (save the other 3/4 for the batter) and the black pepper. Blend until perfectly smooth.

Forming chicken nugget patties on a plate coated in cornstarch.

3. Form Nuggets

Add 1/3 cup of the corn starch to a plate. Using a cookie scoop or spoon, scoop out about 2 tablespoons worth of the chicken mixture. Place on top of the cornstarch and lightly press with your fingers to shape & flatten into a nugget. Gently turn over and coat both sides. Place the coated nugget on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.

Continue until all nuggets have been scooped & coated in cornstarch.

Sheet pan of healthy chicken nuggets coated in corn starch.

4. Briefly Freeze Nuggets

Place the baking sheet of formed nuggets in the freezer for 20-30 minutes. This will firm up the nuggets so they are easier to batter & fry.

Whisking the nugget batter in a white bowl.

5. Make the Batter

Meanwhile, add the remaining 1 cup cornstarch, the wheat flour, 3/4 teaspoon salt, egg, and water to a mixing bowl. Whisk the mixture until smooth. Set aside.

6. Prep the Skillet

Pour enough avocado oil into a cast iron skillet or other frying pan to cover the bottom so it is about 1/2 inch deep. Heat to medium-high heat.

Skillet with nuggets cooking and bowl of batter on stovetop.

7. Batter & Fry Nuggets

When the oil is hot, take the nuggets out of the freezer. Using a fork, dip the nuggets one at a time in the batter. Use the fork to flip and gently shake off excess, then place in the frying pan. Repeat with more nuggets until the frying pan is comfortably full, but not so tight that the nuggets are touching.

8. Finish Frying & Serve

Fry for 2-3 minutes on the first side, then flip and fry 2-3 more minutes on the other side until golden brown. The internal temp of the nugget should be at least 165°F when probed with a meat thermometer.

Remove cooked nuggets from the skillet and place on a plate. Repeat in batches until all nuggets are cooked.

Serve warm with your favorite dipping sauces, such as my cranberry barbecue sauce recipe!

Recipe Tips & Tricks

Watch the heat of your stove carefully. If it starts to get too hot, you may over cook one side of your nuggets. That said, they will still taste great and even if they’re darker, they won’t taste burnt (well, unless you completely over do it!) These nuggets are forgiving, but if the light golden brown color is important to you, you will want to keep and eye on them and flip after a couple of minutes or turn down the heat.
Play around with different flavors. If your kids are more open-minded than mine, try adding 1/2 to 1 tsp of garlic powder or paprika to your batter, or even to the nugget mixture itself!
Keep the batter thin (but not too thin). Be careful with the amount of water you use in the batter. You don’t want to make the batter so thin that it doesn’t coat the chicken nugget well, but you also don’t want it too think. If it’s too thick, it makes a mess in the skillet and won’t look very pretty.

Holding an opened homemade chicken nugget with full basket of nuggets in background.

Substitutions

You can use chicken thighs or ground chicken if desired. Changing the recipe may alter final results to be a little different from mine, but they will still be tasty.

You can opt for a gluten-free pastry flour blend for the batter if you are gluten-sensitive.

Related Recipes

Here are some other healthy comfort food makeover recipes your family will love!

Protein Pasta Bake – This high protein baked ziti is filling, packed with protein, and lower in calories than the traditional version!
My Bison Meatball Recipe are just as juicy and tender as pork or beef versions, but lower in saturated fat!
Chicken Ranch Poutine is a healthy twist on a typical poutine recipe–lean chicken breast cooked in a homemade ranch-flavored gravy and served with fries and cheese curds.
My Healthy Tater Tot Hotdish is packed with veggies and lean protein.
My easy Loco Moco recipe is a lower fat version of the typical Hawaiian dish.

Leave a Rating & Review!

If you make these amazing healthy chicken nuggets, please come back and tell me about it! I love to hear from everyone, and I do my best to reply to every comment. 🙂

📖 Recipe

One Comment

Holly Lee says:

October 24, 2025 at 12:23 pm

These are SO good! My husband can’t believe how much they truly resemble McDonald’s nuggets! My son ate the leftovers for breakfast, too. Delicious!

5 from 1 vote

Healthy Chicken Nuggets – McDonald’s Copycat Recipe

What Makes the Nuggets Healthy?