These air fryer chicken nuggets are golden on the outside, juicy on the inside, and packed with flavor. They are the perfect, easy family-friendly dinner.
The full recipe with ingredients/instructions is available on the recipe card at the bottom of the post. Important tips/tricks are also included in the blog post.
The Air Fryer and chicken make the perfect combination, especially for chicken nuggets. I like to make homemade chicken nuggets as they are healthier and almost as easy as the premade kinds.
My family absolutely enjoys Chick-fil-A nuggets. When we can't go to the restaurant, we make our own delicious nuggets at home.
Now I’m not going to say that these taste exactly like Chick-fil-A nuggets, but they come pretty darn close. They fry those nuggets in peanut oil. These nuggets are air-fried (saving on fat and calories), and I use whatever oil I have on hand to spray the nuggets. According to my 10-year-old, both nuggets are “yummo.”
Make sure to try my Air Fryer Fried Chicken and my Air Fryer Chicken Wings, too.
A Quick Look at the Ingredients
Ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions are on the printable recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- Main Ingredients - Boneless, skinless chicken breast. You can also use chicken tenderloins. They'll be cut into 2-inch pieces.
- For the Brine - pickle juice. If you're not a fan of pickle juice, buttermilk is also a good substitute for this brine.
- Breading - egg, milk, all-purpose flour, cornstarch, powdered sugar, salt, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper.
- Oil for spraying the nuggets - Any high-heat sprayable oil works here.
How to Make Air Fryer Chicken Nuggets
Step 1: Cut your chicken into large chunks, about 2 inches in size. This will give you nice, juicy chicken.
Step 2: Soak those beautiful chicken pieces in pickle juice for 20-30 minutes.
Step 3: After you finish soaking your chicken pieces in the pickle juice, you will prepare your coating station for your nuggets. Grab two shallow bowls. Place egg and milk in one bowl and whisk to combine.
Put flour, cornstarch, sugar, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, salt, and pepper in another bowl. Mix with a whisk.
Time to Air Fry...
Step 4: Prepare your air fryer basket by lightly spraying the bottom with oil from a spray bottle. Avoid using aerosol spray oils in air fryers, as they can damage the bottom over time. I discuss this in my air fryer tips post. I use a spray bottle to hold my oils.
Grab a piece of chicken with metal tongs. Dip it in the egg mixture, then in the flour mixture. Shake off any excess flour and place it in the air fryer basket.
Repeat this step with all your chicken pieces until the bottom of your air fryer is full. Do not overlap the pieces, and make sure they are not touching. You’ll need them spaced apart so that air can flow around them.
Step 5: Close the air fryer basket and cook at 360 degrees Fahrenheit for 6 minutes. Open and spray any flour spots that appear on your chicken, then flip the pieces. If you see any flour spots on the chicken after flipping, spray that, too. Cook for 6 more minutes.
After finishing cooking, check if the chicken is cooked to your liking and has reached 165 degrees Fahrenheit. If so, you can take it out and eat it. If you like them a little darker, close the basket, increase the heat to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, and cook for 2 minutes more.
And that’s it, golden delicious air fryer chicken nuggets. Serve them with your favorite dipping sauce and enjoy 🙂
Serving Suggestions
Here are a few suggestions on how to serve these chicken nuggets.
Dipping Sauces for these Nuggets
There are endless choices for dipping sauces. You could use store-bought sauces or try your hand at some homemade favorites, like my homemade BBQ sauce or homemade ranch. You could dip these copycat nuggets in some spicy mayo or some copycat Chick-fil-A sauce.
Sides
Try these nuggets with sides like copycat air fryer potato wedges or these Air Fryer French Fries. I also like these with a good pasta salad on the side.
How to make Frozen Chicken Nuggets in the Air Fryer
Frozen nuggets are handy and great in the air fryer. To cook store-bought frozen nuggets in the air fryer, place them inside and cook at 400°F for 10-12 minutes. Remember to flip them halfway through the cooking process.
If you need to freeze these nuggets, let the cooked chicken nuggets cool completely, then place them in a single layer on a baking sheet until solid before transferring to a freezer-safe bag or container. When ready to cook, cook them from frozen until cooked through, and the inside reaches an internal temperature of 165°F (74°C).
Tanya's Notes on Air Fryer Chicken Nuggets:
- The longer your chicken soaks in pickle juice, the stronger the pickle flavor will be. I usually opt for 20 minutes.
- I use the pickle juice from a jar of dill pickles. My hubby and my oldest love pickles, so we always have a jar around.
- These chicken nuggets are best served fresh. If you need to reheat, reheat in the Air Fryer at 350°F for 3-5 minutes until heated through.
Looking for more air fryer chicken recipes? Or try these out:
- Air Fryer Bacon Chicken Bites - my non-breaded version of chicken nuggets wrapped in bacon
- Air Fryer Lemon Pepper Chicken Thighs - for those who love lemon pepper and chicken combined.
- Air Fryer Chicken Bites (No Breading) - these are seasoned well and then air-fried with no breading.
- Crispy Air Fryer Chicken Tenders - My chicken tender recipe is also a family favorite. This recipe uses panko in the breading for even crisper results.
I hope you love this chicken nuggets recipe as much as we do. If you have tried this or any other recipe on my blog, please rate it and let me know how it turned out in the comments below! Your feedback is invaluable and helps us grow. I appreciate your support!
Homemade Air Fryer Chicken Nuggets Recipe
Ingredients
Instructions
- Place chicken pieces and pickle juice in a plastic bag. Close and place in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a shallow bowl, whisk together egg and milk.
- In another bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, powdered sugar, salt, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, and black pepper. Set Aside.
- Remove chicken pieces from the refrigerator. Grease the Air Fryer basket with a little oil.Coat chicken pieces in egg mixture, then coat it in flour mixture, then shake off any excess flour and place it in the basket. Repeat until the bottom of the air fryer basket is full. Make sure none of the pieces are overlapping, nor should they be touching.
- Close the air fryer basket and cook at 360 degrees Fahrenheit for 12 minutes, flipping halfway. Spray any flour spots when flipping.
- After 12 minutes is up, increase the heat to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and cook for an additional 2 minutes.
- Remove and serve with your favorite dipping sauce.
Nutrition
Notes
- You can use this technique and batter to make chicken tenders, chicken sandwiches, etc.
- As always, different air fryers cook differently. Use a quick-read thermometer to ensure your food is thoroughly cooked.
Tried this recipe?
Let us know how it was!This post was originally published on August 6, 2019. It has been updated with new information.
Mamamooska says
I think my air fryer might really suck but I don't think the recipe is quite right either. The coating wasn't sticking to the chicken. They also pretty much tasted like pickle juice, no flavor of seasoning.
Tanya says
Sorry you felt that way, I love them. It may be your air fryer then. I've made them in three different air fryers (Ninja Foodi, philips, and bella pro) and haven't had any issues.
Shannon E. says
I LOVED this recipe! I made a few modifications to make it paleo-friendly but I followed the basic concept. The nuggets came out perfect. This will definitely be in regular rotation in my household.
Tanya says
Thank you so much Shannon 🙂 So glad you liked the recipe.
JP says
Did you preheat the air fryer first?
Tanya says
Hi JP, I didn't when I originally made the recipe but you can. Sometimes preheating can help with any sticking issues. You may just need to reduce the time by a minute or two since your air fryer will be hotter when starting.
Carol says
What kind of pickle juice do you use!
Tanya says
Hi, I use pickle juice that comes in a jar of dill pickles.
Darlene Lemons says
Your chicken nuggets are awesome & easy to make! Can't wait to try more of your recipes.
Victoria says
sounds yummy my kids love chick fil a but it is so darn expensive well imo lol. Would this recipe work well with chicken thighs instead of breast? Going to try and made these tonight! thanks in advance!
Georgia says
First time fryer, first recipe all together. Learned plenty, still have lots to learn.
I know all air fryers are different, so recipes can’t always be followed to a T.
I used 3 smaller breasts, cut up, followed all directions there. Lightly sprayed the basket before adding any chicken. Cooked 6 min and spritzed lightly those that still had visible flour. Some stuck *a little*, not enough to cry over. Sprayed basket better the 2nd and 3rd batches. Once the 1st was done with the 2nd 6 min, they were still floury. I didn’t spritz again because I didn’t want to over oil it. Cranked it up to 400 for 2 min and the edges burned and the chicken dried out. Couldn’t taste the flavors of the batter at that point.
Basket 2, spritzed the basket and chicken pieces more liberally. Success. Opted for 7 min at 360°, flip and 7 min again without changing the temp. Nuggets were more tender, a little juicier and the breading was more like it should be.
Basket 3, husband wanted to add additional seasonings and that’s the batch he liked the most.
All in all, don’t get in a hurry. We usually eat about 8pm. I’m off work at 7pm. 15-16 min per basket, plus warming up fries from a restaurant, we didn’t eat until 9:15. I won’t give up on this contraption, but I sure don’t think [YET] that the time spent outweighs a light fry and finished in the oven - all wrapped up in about 30 min.
scott larson says
those having sticking issues might try shaking the basket every 4 minutes or so instead of flipping once halfway through. not helpful for oven types, but works for my ninja.
scott larson says
also, preheating to 360' prior to adding the chicken might help
Barbara Turner says
Well I made these today and although they didn't LOOK exactly the same, they are AWESOMEEEEEE!!!!!
I tweaked the seasonings a bit for my taste and I had enough to put up 2 ziploc freezer bags of future dinner portions!
Thank you so much for this recipe. Actually I cheated a tiny bit, I made an Air fryer batch and then a double batch in the oven on 400 for 30 mins. Delish! Ranch, Italian dressing, Sweet n Sour, whatever! Sooooo good!
Thanks again!
Tanya says
Yay! So glad they worked out for you. I love the idea of freezing some for dinner portions. I do that often when I remember and I tell you it's perfect for nights I have no time to plan for dinner. Thank you for the feedback on the recipe 🙂
Traci says
Great recipe!! I done banana pepper juice bc I didn’t have any pickles at the moment. They were tasty, crispy, and very moist too!! I think the dill pickle juice will be better.The banana pepper juice added a bit of kick to them though. Also had a tad problem with them sticking to the bottom of the basket after it was sprayed. Parchment paper will eliminate this problem I know. Just didn’t have any on hand. Thanks for the yummy recipe ?.
Tanya says
Hi Traci, thanks for the feedback. I love the idea of banana pepper juice for a little kick. I'll have to figure out the sticking problem as I didn't have it with my air fryers but the parchment paper is def a good fix.
Katherine D Kurch says
I don't buy dill pickles, so any suggestions for someone who doesn't have dill pickle juice in the house?
Tanya says
Hi Katherine, You can leave out the dill pickle juice. It won't be exactly like the Chick-fil-A flavor but they will still be good.
Barbara Turner says
Can you use Balsamic Vineger in place of this? maybe w a little lemon or lime juice? How would that be?
Tanya says
Hi Barbara, I've never tried it but I don't see why it wouldn't work. It wouldn't have the chick-fil-a slight pickle taste though.
Amy says
@Katherine D Kurch, I didn’t have any except homemade dill carrots that are not quite there yet (another week), but I still had the Ball Jar Dill Pickle spice jar, vinegar, and water. Made a quick brine and voila! Perfect.
Elizabeth Phillips says
This was the only time I was a bit disappointed with one of your recipes! I don't know if it's because I have an oven type air fryer (Cuisinart) but they looked nothing like your photo and the coating, which was delicious, stuck to the tray...a lot! Will definitely try again but will need to tweak temps/cook time.
Tanya says
Hi Elizabeth, I'm sorry to hear that. I've made this recipe in my Phillips, Ninja Foodi, and Bella and didn't have the issue with sticking. Those are all basket types but you should get the same/similar results in the oven. I spray my baskets before adding the chicken. You could use the parchment liners sold on Amazon to avoid it sticking to the grates.
Carrie says
I sprayed the basket, but it still stuck. Do you have any specific tips for good spraying I guess?
Tanya says
Hi Carrie, You could try the parchment liners with the holes. Which kind of basket do you have? I believe the stainless steel grates may cause some foods to stick while the traditional basket types don't.
Geoffrey says
Seriously what is a tradition basket? After a frustrating day I had a frustrating night. Same sticking and I am making enough nuggets for 1 person that took well over 20 minutes. I did not taste them yet but the sticking issue reminded me when the character "anger" pushed all the controls up 😛
Tanya says
Hi Geoffrey, I mean the non-stick coated basket air fryer like I have in the photos and video. Some users are using stainless steel baskets (like the ones that come with most air fryer ovens) and certain foods will stick to those. In those cases, parchment paper will help with the sticking.
Shadi Hasanzadenemati says
I made your recipe for a gathering the other day and everyone kept asking for the recipe. It was totally a hit!
wilhelmina says
We loved these nuggets! They turned out so crispy and delicious!
Sonia Giliard says
Yummy , yummy and healthy