Baked Buffalo Chicken Nuggets

Buffalo chicken is one of those things that I never really think about until I see some on TV or on a blog or in a magazine. And then it’s all I can think about. Like, if I don’t get some soon I may not be able to go on.

That happened recently. I don’t remember what triggered it but I couldn’t stop thinking about buffalo chicken. And my go-to is usually the frozen veggie buffalo “chicken” nuggets but since I’m doing (kind of) the Paleo thing, I wanted to actually make my own.

From actual chicken.

I thought these were interesting because typically when you see a recipe with “nugget” in it, it’s just chopped up chicken breasts. But this recipe uses ground chicken which makes it seem more like a fast food nugget. And you guys know I like a McDonald’s nugget every once in a while.

The recipe also has a breading made from coconut flour. Coconut flour is super fine and it seemed to stick to the chicken a lot better than your usual breading options. I have never had good luck making “oven-fried” chicken and things like that because my breading always falls off or burns randomly, but this one worked so well!

I really, really liked them. I ended up using them on salads in place of my usual (bland and boring) ground turkey and it was a really nice change.

Print

Baked Buffalo Chicken Nuggets

from Paleo Spirit

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground chicken a little fat makes for a moister nugget
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 2 teaspoons buffalo sauce
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

For the breading:

• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

For the sauce:

• 1/3 cup buffalo sauce
• 3 tablespoons butter

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. In a large mixing bowl, use your hands to mix together ground chicken, egg, 1/4 cup coconut flour, buffalo sauce, salt, onion powder, and garlic powder. Do not overmix.
3. Take about 1 1/2 tablespoons and roll into a ball. Flatten slightly into a "nugget" shape. Repeat with remaining chicken.
4. Combine the remaining 1/4 cup coconut flour, 2 tablespoons flax meal and 1/4 teaspoon salt and dip each nugget gently into the flour mixture until coated on all sides.
5. Place the coated chicken nuggets onto a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.
6. Bake for 15 minutes.
7. While chicken is baking, melt butter. Stir in buffalo sauce.
8. Once the chicken has baked for about 15 minutes, remove nuggets from the oven and carefully dip each one in the butter mixture until coated on all sides. Place each nugget back on the baking sheet and bake for another 5 minutes.