Baked Chicken Nuggets
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These are the best homemade baked chicken nuggets! Crispy, juicy, and so much healthier than fast food. And they freeze and reheat so well!
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Why You’ll Love These Baked Chicken Nuggets
- Chicken nuggets are a crowd favorite. Not only are these toddler, kid, and teen-pleasers but grown ups will love these too.
- Completely baked start to finish. The secret? These bad boys are baked on a wire rack using cornflake crumbs, letting them get nice and crisp all around.
- Super flexible recipe. Also, any part of the chicken can be used here (chicken breasts, thighs or tenderloins), served warm from the oven with all of your favorite dippers.
- Freezer-friendly. Lastly, this is a great recipe to double or triple as needed for freezing, perfect for a quick family favorite meal for weeks to come.
How to make baked chicken nuggets
- Prep the chicken. Dice the chicken breasts or chicken thighs into uniform 1-inch pieces so they cook evenly.
- Set up the 3-dredge station. In one shallow bowl, add the flour. In a second shallow bowl, mix the buttermilk and egg. In a third shallow bowl, combine the cornflake crumbs, Parmesan, oil, salt, and pepper.
- Coat the chicken. Dip each chicken piece into the flour, then the buttermilk-egg mixture, then the cornflake mixture until well coated.
- Arrange on the pan. Place the nuggets in a single layer on a greased wire rack set over a baking sheet. Pro tip: avoid overcrowding the wire rack or they will steam instead of crisp up, yielding soggy nuggets.
- Add a light spray. Spray the tops of the nuggets with olive oil or avocado oil spray in an even layer. This is key to mimic a fried crunch in the oven.
- Bake. Bake at 425°F for 13-15 minutes until crisp and cooked through, reaching an internal temperature of 165°F.
- Serve. Serve warm with classic dipping sauces (ex. ketchup, Ranch, BBQ sauce, honey mustard, buffalo sauce, or sweet chili), or dice into smaller pieces for salads, wraps, sliders, or tacos.
How to serve chicken nuggets
- Party style: serve with various dipping sauces
- Sliders: place 1-2 nuggets each on sweet Hawaiian roll topped with pickles and slaw
- Salads: dice the nuggets into smaller pieces and serve on top of a classic caesar salad or Chinese chicken salad
- Tacos: chop the nuggets and place them inside soft flour tortillas to make Korean tacos
Storing, reheating, and freezing
Storage
Store leftover chicken nuggets in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days.
Reheating
Reheat in the oven at 375°F on a baking sheet in a single layer to ensure even cooking until warmed through, about 10-15 minutes.
Freeze before baking
Place the assembled, unbaked chicken nuggets on a baking sheet lined with wax paper or parchment paper, freezing for 1 hour until solid. Transfer the chicken to an airtight, resealable freezer bag. Label, date, and freeze up to 1 month. To reheat, thaw overnight in the fridge and bake as directed, reaching an internal temperature of 165°F.
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Tools for this recipe
Baked Chicken Nuggets: Frequently Asked Questions
Use breasts for leaner white meat or use thighs for juicier, more forgiving nuggets. You can also use a 50/50 blend for the best of both worlds.
Cornflake crumbs can easily be made in a food processor or by adding cornflakes to a gallon Ziploc bag and using a rolling pin to crush the cornflakes until the crumbs have reached an even consistency.
Use a 3-step dredge for optimal crispiness – dip the chicken pieces in flour first, then in a buttermilk-egg mixture, and finally into the cornflake mixture.
This allows for maximum crispness, elevating the nuggets off the baking sheet and allowing hot air to circulate throughout.
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days, reheating in the oven at 400°F until warmed through and crisp.
Absoolutely! Reheat in an air fryer at 400°F in a single layer for 2-4 minutes, flipping halfway and reaching an internal temperature of 165°F.
Yes! Chicken nuggets are very freezer-friendly, and can be frozen prior to baking up to 1 month.
Baked Chicken Nuggets
Video
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts or chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch chunks
- 1 tablespoon Ranch Seasoning and Salad Dressing Mix
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper, optional
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- ¾ cups all-purpose flour
for the buttermilk mixture
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 large egg
for the cornflake mixture
- 1 ½ cups cornflake crumbs
- ⅓ cup freshly grated Parmesan
- 3 tablespoons canola oil
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Coat a cooling rack with nonstick spray and place on a baking sheet; set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine chicken, Ranch Seasoning and Salad Dressing Mix, cayenne pepper, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper; let sit for at least 30 minutes.
- Working one at a time, dredge chicken in flour, dip into buttermilk mixture, then dredge in cornflake mixture, pressing to coat.
- Place chicken in a single layer onto the prepared baking sheet and coat with nonstick spray.
- Place into oven and bake until crisp and cooked through, about 13-15 minutes.
- Serve immediately.
for the buttermilk mixture
- In a medium bowl, whisk together buttermilk and egg.
for the cornflake mixture
- In a large bowl, combine cornflake crumbs, Parmesan and canola oil; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Equipment
Notes
- Use white or dark meat. For example, chicken breast, thighs and tenderloins will all work very well here.
- Cut in uniform pieces. Dice the chicken into uniform bite-sized pieces to ensure that they cook through at the same rate.
- Cornflake crumbs are key. Cornflake crumbs are not only easy to make but the crumbs also give the chicken nuggets a far more superior crust than breadcrumbs – more crispy, crunchy and flavorful.
- Add a crisp boost. Lightly spray the tops of the nuggets with olive oil or avocado oil spray just before baking.
- Don’t skip the cooling rack. The cooling rack is actually one of the best kept secrets for baking chicken. This helps elevate the chicken pieces, allowing for better air circulation, resulting in even cooking and a more consistent golden brown crispy, crunchy coating.
- Freeze before baking. This will preserve the texture and prevent sogginess. Label, date, and freeze up to 1 month.
Did you make this recipe?
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Do you have the nutritional info. Such as protein, carbs and fat.
Could I freeze these? Would you freeze them before or after baking? Thanks!
Absolutely de-lish!!
Is there a substitute for the buttermilk? I cannot have any lactose.
Wow! I have *never* left a review of an online recipe (and I’m very into online recipes), but these are just so insanely amazing that I had to. I could hardly believe how juicy the chicken was, how crispy they were, or the flavor. Cannot wait to wow my nieces and nephew with these – nobody will believe they weren’t fried and from a restaurant!
can’t wait to cook my way through your work
Baked Chicken Nuggets are my idea of the perfect Fall breakfast! Great flavor and so cozy!
This recipe sounds delicious & easy.I made these last night. They were absolutely delicious.Very glad to see this.
I made these last night. They were absolutely delicious. Moist, crunchy, full of flavor! I used chicken breasts.
Hola, the nuggets were delicious! Mine got burnt at first, I guess because I used breadcrumbs instead of cornflake crumbs ah silly me. But for second batch I went to buy some cornflakes, it really came out so good though. The nuggets was so crisp and was golden brown too! Btw can I marinate the chicken for 24 hours to make it more flavorful? Thank you.
Great recipe!!! All picky eaters will even like these. We serve ours with BBQ sauce. I like sometimes just plain sour cream. I’ve combined Ranch and BBQ sauce, too. Whatever you fancy! So versatile.
Good job
Can someone explain what you are supposed to marinate the chicken in? No liquid? Just dry seasonings?
Yep! And it turns out great. When you let it marinate for 30 mine, the chicken juices come out & make it liquidy.
I’m trying this over the week. I like that the chicken marinates for some ti
me.
My daughter has enjoyed the breading in a number of recipes but she sometimes says that the chicken needs more taste. This recipe likely will have good taste on the chicken itself. Can’t wait to try it!!
MaggieB <– one way to do gluten-free is to buy gluten-free sliced bread, dry it up, and then blend it to use as flour substitute
*baking time
This recipe sounds delicious & easy, would bring time be the same if I used panko crumbs in place of the corn flakes ? Would textured be totally different ?
I’d like to know if you tried it with Panko?
I dont have any cornflakes on hand.
If you did, how’d they turn out?
Looks delicious. I will try it tomorrow. sure the kids will love it
Wondering what you would use in place of the regular flour to keep this gluten free? Thanks!
There are lots of 1-to-1 (meaning you can substitute it equally for flour in recipes) gluten free flour’s out there that I’m sure would be a great substitute. King Arthur Flour Company makes a really good one!