From Chicken to Nuggets

Chicken nuggets were on the menu Tuesday for our “American Night”–our theme each week on Sydney’s day. Yummy, fried morsels of chicken–delicious!

In the past, I’ve made my chicken nuggets from boneless skinless breasts or thighs, but I’ve been making an effort to do more with the whole chickens we raise and butcher.

This is a quick tutorial on how to make chicken nuggets from a whole bird. How to go from chicken to nuggets.

Get the Bird Cut Up

You start with a defrosted chicken. (Though don’t let it defrost all the way–I’ve found that just slightly frozen is easiest to cut.)

Using a sharp knife, split the breast meat down the middle. You’ll need to make sure you miss the breastbone. You’re trying to cut the meat away from the bone.

Now, go in on the other side of each breast, and using your knife, slice one breast off the chicken carcass.

You’ll repeat with the other breast. You’ve just made your own boneless, skinless breasts–congratulations!

Now, dice each breast into small pieces.

You can also cut off the thighs, and dice up the thigh meat the same way. Watch out for the joints as you cut. And please, be careful with that knife–in order for it to work, it’s got to be sharp!

Time for a Brief Timeout

Put the rest of the chicken carcass in the crock pot, add some water, carrots, and celery, and let it cook for several hours. You’ll end up with broth, and cooked chicken meat for the freezer in addition to your nuggets!

Back to the Nuggets

Take out a gallon sized Ziploc bag. Add 1 cup of whole wheat flour, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of granulated garlic.

Dump in the chicken pieces. Seal the bag, and shake. You want to make sure all the pieces are covered evenly in flour.

Fry That Chicken!

Start your deep fryer heating. I use either grapeseed oil or palm shortening in mine (depending on what’s on sale!)

When the oil is hot, you’re going to fry the covered chicken in small batches. Be sure to shake off the extra flour first.

Let it fry for three to four minutes, until golden brown. Pull it out from the fryer, let it drain on a plate covered with a paper towel, and enjoy!

We love to dip our nuggets in homemade ranch or honey mustard sauce. Do you have a favorite chicken dip?

What’s your experience going from chicken to nugget? It’s definitely a little more work, but I love getting broth and cooked chicken from the same effort.