A Whole30 version of the beloved fast food staple, these Copycat Gluten Free Chick Fil A Chicken Nuggets are sure to satisfy your craving without any questionable ingredients!
Copycat Gluten Free Chick Fil A Chicken Nuggets
I was on day 9 of a round of Whole30 when my dad walked in with Chick Fil A. If you’re not familiar, they make delicious fried chicken and waffle fries. I couldn’t stop thinking about those nuggets after smelling and seeing them, so I thought, why don’t I just make my own but with cleaned up ingredients?!
Not only are these comforting bites made with mindful ingredients making them a healthy choice, but they are also a great way to get your protein in! They’re free from any grains, gluten, dairy and refined sugars as well, so they’re super allergy friendly! Plus, they’re so crispy and delicious you could fool even your most picky eater!
Why Cassava Flour?
Instead of using coconut and almond flour here (which you totally can if you’d like!), I chose to use cassava flour. As of last year, it’s my favorite flour to bread things with as it makes the coating nice and flaky instead of grainy. It also sticks super well and the taste is so so so good! Trust me.
Not all cassava flours are created equal. Some are grainy while others are super high quality. Otto’s Naturals is the only cassava flour I use, and they were nice enough to give me a discount code for you all! Use “kaylaskitchandfix” at checkout for a discounted price. They also have free shipping on all orders! Click here to shop!
Why cassava flour?
While mixtures of almond flour and coconut flour are great ways to bread chicken while keeping recipes both gluten and grain free, they can sometimes turn out a bit on the grainier side. While I don’t always mind it since it still tastes delicious, I do prefer the result of breading chicken with cassava flour instead!
Not all cassava flours are created equal. Some are grainy while others are super high quality. Otto’s Naturals is the only cassava flour I use, and they were nice enough to give me a discount code for you all! Use “kaylaskitchandfix” at checkout for a discounted price. They also have free shipping on all orders! Click here to shop!
Tips & Tricks
In the recipe, you’ll notice that one of the first steps is to allow the chicken to sit in a mixture of coconut milk and egg wash for at least 30 minutes. The reason for this is to help the breading stick to the chicken. Another way to ensure your breading sticks well is to be sure that your skillet is coated with a good amount of oil while you cook it. This will prevent the breading from sticking to the pan or from falling off!
In addition, be sure that the oil is already hot when you place your chicken in the skillet and remove and burnt flour leftovers in the skillet between batches. Once it’s cooked, place the chicken on a drying rack or a paper towel to cool. This should help as well!
When reheating leftovers, opt for popping them in your conventional toaster oven or air fryer instead of the microwave. You can also throw it in the oven for a few minutes if that’s what you have! This will make the outside breading crispy again and will keep your chicken from getting rubbery in the microwave. No one wants that.
Hungry for more?
If you like this recipe, you’ll love my grain free Chicken Milanese (click here)! It’s breaded in cassava flour as well, but has lemon and thyme to make it taste super fresh and light.
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Copycat Gluten Free Chick Fil A Chicken Nuggets
Ingredients
Marinade
- 1 lb chicken breast
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup pickle juice (I use Bubbie's)
- ¼ cup milk (I use coconut)
Breading
- ½ cup cassava flour (I use Otto's Naturals)
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- ¼ cup avocado oil
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
Instructions
- Whisk egg, pickle juice and milk together in a large bowl.
- Chop your chicken into nugget sized pieces and add it into the bowl, ensuring it is all covered. Place the bowl in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour.
- Heat a pan on the stove over medium heat with avocado oil for about five minutes or until warm.
- While the pan is heating, mix together cassava flour and seasonings in a large bowl and place next to the stove.
- Remove the chicken from the refrigerator and place the bowl next to the cassava flour mixture.
- Piece by piece, move chicken from the marinade to the flour using a fork and cover completely.
- Carefully transfer the coated chicken to the stove and cook for 5-7 minutes on each side. Tip: if the bottom of your pan is coated in excess flour after cooking a batch, clean out pan and start the oil heating step again to achieve clean, not burnt chicken.
- Move the chicken to a drying rack and let cool so that the coating is less likely to fall off.
- Serve with dipping sauces of choice and pickle slices.
i loveeeee chick-fil-a! i can’t wait to try this 🙂
Hi friend! I can’t wait to hear what you think! 🙂
Made these last night and they were amazing! I’m on week 2 of Whole30 and I will absolutely be making these weeks 3 and 4! I’m thinking they will become a staple even when I’m not doing Whole30. Surprisingly good for being healthy and I don’t feel guilty eating them!
Hi McKenna! I’m so happy you feel this way because making healthy food delicious is what I believe in! Good luck with the rest of your Whole30, you’ve got this!
These are seriously life changing! I am not usually a chick-fil-a fan because I love a super crispy chicken nugget but these came out SO perfectly and crispy! The breading on these stuck to the nuggets SO well and the taste was just out of this world! Highly recommend making these and changing your life 🙂
LIFE CHANGING! Love that. So glad you love these as much as I do and that you enjoyed these crispy bites 🙂
Love all of these cassava chicken recipes! Missed gf breading for so long and this is grain free so even better!! Sooo good
Ok ANOTHER whole30 winner!! SO delicious! I made these for myself to eat at a super bowl party while everyone else was eating boneless wings from a restaurant, and everyone who tried mine liked them better!!
WOW that is such a compliment! Thank you so much for making and for sharing 🙂
These nuggets were SO good, and so easy to make!! We actually left the nuggets soak in the pickle brine over night and we were both amazed at how similar they were to Chik Fil A. It’s a staple recipe in our house, now!
Letting them marinate overnight is genius (and ambitious, you go girl)! When I have the time I love letting them sit a little longer too so I’m glad that worked for you! Thanks so much for making and I’m so happy to hear they made it into your rotation!
This recipe is amazing! I was out of avocado oil so I used coconut oil instead and still so good!!
Ooooh yum I bet the coconut oil gave it a fun/subtle touch of sweet which I could definitely see working well for this! Thanks for making and reviewing 🙂
I made these tonight, absolutely delicious. Way better than the coconut/almond flour coating I have tried in the past. So much lighter and crispier. Thank you for sharing!!
I am so with you, Megan. The cassava flour just makes the best coating, in my opinion! So glad you loved these! Thank you for making and reviewing! 🙂
This is one of our favorite recipes, one Whole 30 or not! We make it every other week now. Yum!
“Whole30 or not” is music to my ears and my all-time goal! Thank you so much for adding this recipe into your routine. 🙂
Omg. These nuggets were INSANE. Couldn’t be easier. Thanks so much Kayla!
Sooo happy you love these as much as I do, Megan! 🙂
These were amazing! The only issue I have is I snacked on them as I took them out of the fryer, so by the time I was done cooking I was full. 😂 oh…can we get some type of sweet and spicy dipping sauce?
I know that issue ALL too well! Be sure to check out the sauce recipe in my “oven baked chicken nuggets” post! I think you’ll like it. 🙂