Ingredients
For the Baked Nuggets:
- 6 ounces tortilla chips (white or yellow corn), crushed to make about 1 ½ cups
- 1 ½ teaspoons garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 ½ pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, patted dry and cut into 1-inch cubes
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil or olive oil
- Cooking spray
For the Honey-Mustard Dipping Sauce:
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ¼ cup spicy brown mustard or Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons pure honey
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
- ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450℉. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside.
- To crush the tortilla chips, add them to the bowl of a food processor and process until finely crushed. Alternatively, you can place the chips in a plastic zip-top bag and crush them with a rolling pin.
- Transfer the finely crushed tortilla chips to a shallow dish or pie plate. Add the garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, salt, and black pepper to the crushed chips and mix to combine. Set aside.
- Place the chicken in another bowl. Add the oil then toss to coat.
- Add the chicken pieces, a few at a time to the seasoned tortilla chip mixture. Toss the chicken in the crumbs pressing them onto the surface of the chicken to ensure each piece is well coated.
- Arrange the chicken pieces, evenly spaced, on the baking sheet. Lightly spray the top of each chicken piece with cooking spray before placing the pan in the oven. Bake 8 minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the oven, turn over each piece of chicken, and spray them again with cooking spray before returning to the oven. Bake an additional 8-10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the coating is lightly browned.
- Meanwhile, whisk together all of the dipping sauce ingredients in a bowl.
- Remove baked nuggets from the oven and serve with Honey-Mustard Dipping Sauce or other sauce for dunking. Refrigerate any leftover sauce in a covered container for up to 1 week. If desired, garnish with a fresh herb, such as chopped flat-leaf parsley or thyme leaves.
Notes
Air Fryer Directions: If you have an air fryer (or an air fryer lid for your Instant Pot), you can just as easily bake these crispy homemade nuggets in there instead of an oven. To do so, turn the air fryer to 400℉ and let it heat for 2-3 minutes. Since air fryers work like a convection oven, circulating hot air around the food, it’s important not to overcrowd the basket of the air fryer so the hot air can reach all sides of each nugget. For that reason, you’ll need to bake them in batches, 8 to 10 at a time. Place coated nuggets in the air fryer basket, mist each one lightly with cooking spray, and air fry for 6 minutes. Flip each nugget over, mist again with cooking spray, and bake for 6 minutes more, until the nuggets are cooked through. Repeat the steps, baking 8 to 10 nuggets at a time.
The nutrition analysis for 1/4 of the baked chicken nuggets without sauce is as follows: 448 cals, 17 g total fat (3 g sat fat), 94 mg chol, 22 g carb (2 g fiber, 0 g sugars), 576 mg sodium, 37 g protein
Nutrition Information
- Serving Size: ¼ of the nuggets with 2 tablespoons sauce
- Calories: 533
- Fat: 29 g
- (Sat Fat: 4 g)
- Sodium: 843 mg
- Carbohydrate: 27 g
- (Fiber: 2 g
- Sugar: 5 g)
- Protein: 38 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Cholesterol: 106 mg