Keto Chicken Nuggets
By Carine Claudepierre
Published on 05/21/2020 - Last updated on 03/20/2025
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These Keto Chicken Nuggets are a simple low-carb version of the classic take-away food to make at home with real ingredients and only 3 grams of net carbs per serving! Plus, this recipe includes an oven-fried option and uses no crushed pork rinds. So keep reading to learn how to enjoy simple, crispy keto chicken nuggets with no guilt!
Store-bought keto nuggets or classic nuggets recipes are keto-approved. All manufactured nuggets recipes include a lot of carbs in the wheat flour and breadcrumb coating. Plus, you’d be surprised by the other additives that go in the coating, like sugar or vegetable oils, that aren’t keto, either.
Luckily, I am an expert at cooking keto copycat versions of my favorite chicken recipes, including my Moo Shu Chicken, Almond Flour Chicken Tenders (my homemade Keto KFC!), or Keto Chicken Marsala.
And making these crispy, juicy homemade keto chicken nuggets with Parmesan almond flour coating is my new best way to fix my cravings for nuggets. The crispy low-carb coating is very similar and inspired by the technique I am using for my keto mozzarella sticks, and you will surprised by the crispy nuggets it delivers.
I’ve included the whole recipe just below, but don’t miss all my tips further down, including ingredient swaps, process shots, and more!
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Keto Chicken Nuggets
Ingredients
Keto acidic solution to tender the meat
- 2 tablespoons White Vinegar
- ⅓ cup Water
- ½ teaspoon Salt
Egg wash
- 1 large Egg
- 2 tablespoons Heavy Cream or coconut cream
Nuggets
- 1 lb Chicken Breast
- 1 cup Almond Flour
- ¼ cup Grated Parmesan or more almond flour if dairy-free
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ¼ teaspoon Garlic Powder
- ¼ teaspoon Onion Powder
- ¼ teaspoon Dried Oregano
- ½ teaspoon Ground Paprika
- ½ teaspoon Pepper
To fry the nuggets
- 1-2 tablespoons Coconut Oil or avocado oil
Instructions
- Cut the breast into 1-inch (2.5 cm) thick strips and then cut 2-inch (5cm) chunks from each strip. Your keto nuggets should be small enough to be perfectly cooked inside without burning the coating. Small nuggets will also use more coating, increasing carbs per serving. So as a general rule, the perfect nugget size is 2.5 cm x 5 cm (1 inch x 2 inches), and you should get roughly 30 nuggets from this recipe.
- Place the chicken chunks in a bowl and cover them with water, vinegar, and salt. Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes or up to 1 hour until the meat is whiter in color. This step makes the meat juicy and tender, so it is highly recommended.
- When ready to make the nuggets, drain the chicken chunks and roughly pat dry with absorbent paper. Set aside on a plate.
- In a small shallow bowl, beat egg and heavy cream. Set aside.
- In another bowl, whisk the dry ingredients together: almond flour, grated Parmesan, along with all your spices.
- Dip the drained chicken pieces one at a time into the beaten egg using a tong. Then press down the chicken nuggets on both sides into the almond flour mixture to adhere.
- Set aside each coated chicken piece on a baking tray, covered with parchment paper, leaving 0.2 inches (0.5cm) of space between each nugget. Repeat these steps until all the chicken pieces have been fully coated.
Frying method – highly recommended for crispy nuggets
- Heat a 1 cm-layer of oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. The best oils are high-smoke-point oils like avocado oil or coconut oil.
- Fry the chicken nuggets for 3-4 minutes on each side or until golden brown and crispy. Use a sharp knife to cut the center of one nugget and check the meat color. If it's pink, it needs to fry longer. Keep frying until the meat is white and juicy.
- Use a slotted spoon to remove the nuggets from the pan and transfer them onto a plate covered with absorbent paper to soak the extra oil that could make the coating fall off the meat.
- Keep frying until all the nuggets are cooked and serve immediately.
Oven-fried method
- Preheat the oven 400°F (200°C).
- Slightly spray oil on top of the nuggets.
- Bake on the baking tray for 10 minutes then flip each nugget on the other side and bake for 5-10 more minutes or until golden, crispy and meat is white, not pink in the center of the nuggets. The longer you bake, the dryer the meat will be, so check often.
- Serve with avocado oil mayonnaise, dijon mustard, or sugar-free ketchup.
Notes
How to store keto chicken nuggets
You can freeze your nuggets, baked or unbaked. The best way to freeze nuggets is to lay them one by one on a plate covered with parchment paper. Leave a 1-inch space between each nugget. One hour later, the nuggets are slightly frozen, and it’s a good time to transfer them all into a zip-lock bag. This two-step freezing method will prevent the nuggets from sticking to one another in the freezing bag.Tools
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Nutrition
Ingredients and Substitutions
You only need a few basic ingredients to make almond flour chicken nuggets. Let’s see what you need to start:
- Chicken Breast – Breasts are the best part of the chicken to make juicy, tender chicken nuggets. If you like chicken, try my other keto chicken recipes.
- Water and Vinegar -To soak the meat, break the meat fiber, and release the meat tenderness.
- Almond Flour or almond meal – Almond flour is very low in carbs and crisps very well when fried or oven-fried. This is your keto four replacement for carb-loaded wheat, breadcrumbs, or starch. Read how to choose your keto flour!
- Grated Parmesan Cheese – This is the best part of flavorsome keto cheesy chicken nuggets. A dairy-free option is to add more almond flour to the recipe. However, if you do so, this will slightly increase the carbs per serving.
- Egg and Heavy Cream – To make the egg wash. If you are paleo or eat dairy-free, coconut cream can be used.
- Salt for flavor
- Onion Powder for flavor
- Garlic Powder or more onion powder
- Oregano or any dried herbs you love.
- Paprika or you can try smoked paprika or curry powder.
- Pepper or chili flakes for a spicy touch.
How To Make Keto Chicken Nuggets
- The trick to perfectly cooked chicken nuggets, crispy outside and juicy, tender in the middle, is the size of the chicken pieces. The best is to cut the breast into 1-inch (2.5 cm) wide strips and then cut 2-inch (5cm) length chunks from each strip.
- Your keto nuggets should be small enough to perfectly cook the inside without burning the coating. On the other hand, if your nuggets were too small, the meat would cook faster than the coating. So, as a general rule, the perfect nugget size is 1 inch x 2 inches (2.5 cm x 5 cm).
- I know it sounds like a weird step but soaking your chicken in acetic acid like vinegar breaks down meat fibers. It results in tender and flavorsome chicken meat.
- Regular homemade chicken nugget recipes soak the meat in pickle juice, which I don’t recommend as pickle juice is often loaded with sugar. Follow my recipe to soak your nugget meat for tender keto chicken nuggets properly.
- The best part of a chicken nugget is the outside, the crispy coating.
- To achieve the best crispy keto chicken nugget recipe, you must dip each piece of chicken into an egg wash first.
- Then dip the chicken into the dry coating ingredients. I always recommend making the egg wash by combining beaten egg and cream rather than milk or almond milk. The cream keeps the chicken meat juicier.
- While I prefer to fry my nuggets in coconut oil, you can also oven-bake chicken nuggets. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. It takes a bit longer to bake as you will have to cook the nuggets for 10 minutes on one side first, then flip them one by one on the other side and bake for 5 to 10 extra minutes. Oven-baked nuggets are firstly sprayed with oil and then baked at 400°F (200°C) for a total of 15 to 20 minutes on a baking tray, leaving 0.2 inches (0.5 cm) space between each nugget. Check the baking process by slicing one nugget in the center. If the meat is still pink in the center, it needs to bake for longer. The result of oven-fried nuggets is crispy, like pan-fried nuggets, but they are less fatty, and the meat is slightly less juicy.
Dipping Sauce Options
The best sauce to dip your chicken nuggets is avocado oil mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, or these other keto dip recipes, along with crunchy keto vegetables on the side or some keto fries!
Storage and Warming
You can rewarm your keto chicken nuggets with almond flour in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for 15 to 20 minutes. Place the nuggets on a large baking tray covered with a piece of parchment paper or lightly oil the tray with coconut oil.
Leave 1 inch (2.5 cm) between each nugget and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, flipping over halfway to make sure both sides bake as well. You don’t have to thaw the frozen nuggets before baking them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Find below my answers to the most common questions about this recipe.
Chicken Nuggets are only fine on keto if the breading is made from keto-friendly ingredients.
Fast-food nuggets are generally not particularly keto-friendly.
For example, one single Chicken McNuggets from McDonald’s contains 2.5 grams of net carbs which is about 4 times more than my keto nuggets.
So, on a keto diet, you can have one to three McNuggets, but not more!
One single Chicken McNuggets from McDonald’s contains 2.5 grams of net carbs.
On a keto diet, you can have one to three McNuggets, depending on your macros, but not more!
Let’s compare the most popular fast-food chicken nuggets:
• McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets contain 2.5g of net carbs per nugget.
• Burger King’s Nuggets contain 2.6g of net carbs per nugget.
• Wendy’s Nuggets contain 2.3g of net carbs per nugget.
• Chick-Fil-A’s Grilled Nuggets contains only 0.2g of net carbs per nugget, but they are made without any breading, it’s essentially pure chicken.
• Chick-Fil-A’s Nuggets contain 1.4g of net carbs per nugget.
• Popeyes’ Nuggets contain 4.8g of net carbs per nugget.
• Arby’s Nuggets contain 2.9g of net carbs per nugget.
• Jack In The Box’s Nuggets contain 2.4g of net carbs per nugget.
So the best option on keto is Chick-Fil-A’s grilled chicken, but for a classic breaded nugget, opt for their classic Nuggets.
One serving of the se keto chicken nuggets contain 3.1 grams of net carbs, which makes about 0.6 grams of net carbs per nugget.
Yes, you can absolutely cook them in the air fryer!
Use the same recipe and place them on a single layer in your air fryer basket.
Bake them in batches for 12 minutes at 400°F (200°C).
I couldn’t skip answering this question because I know that most of us have had some Mcdonald’s chicken nuggets at some point, whether because it was convenient or tasty to you.
The Chicken McNuggets are not keto. In fact, Mcdonald’s Nuggets are coated with starch and natural flavoring made of dextrose.
Both will raise your blood sugar level quickly and take you out of ketosis.
More Quick-Bite Recipes
If you like quick recipes like these keto nuggets, you’ll love these other ones:
About The Author
Hi, I'm Carine, the food blogger, author, recipe developer, published author of a cookbook, and founder of Sweet As Honey.
I have an Accredited Certificate in Nutrition and Wellness obtained in 2014 from Well College Global (formerly Cadence Health). I'm passionate about sharing all my easy and tasty recipes that are both delicious and healthy. My expertise in the field comes from my background in chemistry and years of following a keto low-carb diet. But I'm also well versed in vegetarian and vegan cooking since my husband is vegan.
I now eat a more balanced diet where I alternate between keto and a Mediterranean Diet
Cooking and Baking is my true passion. In fact, I only share a small portion of my recipes on Sweet As Honey. Most of them are eaten by my husband and my two kids before I have time to take any pictures!
All my recipes are at least triple tested to make sure they work and I take pride in keeping them as accurate as possible.
Browse all my recipes with my Recipe Index.
I hope that you too find the recipes you love on Sweet As Honey!
Disclaimer
The recipes, instructions, and articles on this website should not be taken or used as medical advice. You must consult with your doctor before starting on a keto or low-carb diet. The nutritional data provided on Sweetashoney is to be used as indicative only.
The nutrition data is calculated using WP Recipe Maker. Net Carbs is calculated by removing the fiber and some sweeteners from the total Carbohydrates. As an example, a recipe with 10 grams of Carbs per 100 grams that contains 3 grams of erythritol and 5 grams of fiber will have a net carbs content of 2 grams. Some sweeteners are excluded because they are not metabolized.
You should always calculate the nutritional data yourself instead of relying on Sweetashoney's data. Sweetashoney and its recipes and articles are not intended to cure, prevent, diagnose, or treat any disease. Sweetashoney cannot be liable for adverse reactions or any other outcome resulting from the use of recipes or advice found on the Website.
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Love these x
I haven’t tried the vinegar Bath yet. I want to but I have an extreme aversion to vinegar. does the vinegar taste stay on the chicken? Can I rinse the chicken after I bathe it in vinegar?
No, the vinegar taste is gone once you cook the chicken.
What a great recipe!! I can’t wait to make this tonight with some zucchini fries. Once I do, I’ll tag you on instagram! You always have such fantastic recipes 😀
Made this with egg flour and boneless chicken thigh today. Soo delicious!
Can the chicken nuggets be air fried.
As mentioned above in the recipe post, air frying don’t deliver a crispy crust, it will stay softer and not that golden in color.
Have you cooked the nuggets using an air fryer? If so, what was the temp and cook time? Thanks!
No I didn’t but I tried in the oven and they won’t crisp as much. I really recommend frying for best texture and taste. Enjoy!
Ok so this is a decent recipe but definitely don’t make these in the oven. The breading turns out “doughy” and not crisp. I’m going to try frying next time.
Yes, the recipe recommend frying in oil to achieve the same result as seen on picture. It works in a oven but the crumb stay dry and white in color
Followed the recipe exactly as written, except I used turkey meat…. these were absolutely delicious! Thanks for a great recipe!
Hi is there any substitution for the egg, allergy issues. Great recipe!
Sure, you can use a flax egg. Combine 1 tablespoon of flaxmeal into 3 tablespoon of lukewarm warm and let sit for 1 minutes until an egg like texture form. Use as a keto egg replacer in this recipe. Enjoy ! Carine
I love chicken nuggets
I hope you wil love this recipe then! Let me know how it goes 🙂 Enjoy, XOXO Carine
Why did you say that a smaller nugget will use coating? I am very interested in why this is. Thank you so much.
A smaller nuggets cook faster inside and avoid the crumb to burn.
Hi, can I substitute Apple cider vinegar instead of white vinegar?.
Sure! or even lemon juice. Enjoy, XOXO Carine