Hi Friends,

I hope the holiday season finds you well!

I’m sharing a tutorial for making gluten-free chicken nuggets today. Our whole family loves them. I think just because kids might need to eat gluten-free, doesn’t mean they need to miss out on all the “regular” type foods.

I also know that especially during the holidays, kids may not like much of the food that is offered to them. So gluten-free or not, perhaps having some good old (healthier version) chicken nuggets on hand will fill their bellies.

I have a deep fryer/soup maker thing in my kitchen. It comes in really handy, especially since going gluten-free so that I can easily deep fry foods in GF flour. But you can use a stock pot and a food thermometer to check the temperature of the oil.

My tip is to buy boneless, skinless chicken tenderloins for this. I find this is the easiest, most tasty, and moist cut to work with. (Make sure it’s not frozen first.) Just take some kitchen scissors and cut off the fatty-cartilage type strip that is on one end of the tenderloin. Then using the scissors, cut the tenderloin twice, into three equal size pieces.

I use corn oil to fry with. But canola oil  or peanut oil would also work fine. My fryer has a line marked on the inside where to fill it to. But you will need about 32 ounces minimum…enough to at least completely cover one layer of nuggets. I also fry at 375 degrees, so if you are using a thermometer, let the oil reach this temperature before you fry.

Have a large plate lined with paper towels ready to dump the nuggets onto as soon as they are done frying.

You will need to have your breading ingredients ready as well. You’ll need three bowls – one for flour, one for egg, and one for breading. (When frying, remember the word, “February” for the FEB.) Making a fried food gluten-free simply means using a GF flour and a GF breading. I use rice flour and corn meal. You could do GF bread crumbs, GF cracker crumbs, or crushed corn flakes as well.

I don’t really measure when making these! Just pour some flour in a bowl. Mix up two eggs in another bowl. And pour some of your breading choice into another bowl. To the corn meal, I add salt, pepper, 1/2 tsp. Old Bay seasoning, and a pinch (we don’t like things real spicy here, so less than 1/8 tsp.) cayenne pepper. You can season it up as you wish. Mix the spices into the breading well.

Take the chunks of chicken one by one, and dip down the line. Flour, egg, then breading. I make one layer of nuggets in my frying basket and dip into the oil to fry for five minutes. If you don’t have a frying basket, carefully lower each nugget into your pot of hot oil with a metal slotted spoon, to make one layer.

After five minutes, carefully remove the frying basket or use the metal slotted spoon to take each nugget out onto the paper towel lined plate.

Repeat this process until your chicken is used up! Let them cool a little, serve, and enjoy!

I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

 

© 2013 – 2019, Kristen Hamilton. All rights reserved. Love it? Please share, pin, tweet or email but do not use my work without permission.