3 Ingredient Homemade Chicken Nuggets

Homemade chicken nuggets put frozen ones to shame! It’s shockingly easy to make incredibly delicious chicken nuggets at home – and you only need three main ingredients. Kids and adults alike will love these!

Close up of homemade chicken nuggets

Forget store-bought chicken nuggets! These homemade nuggets are baked, not fried, making them a breeze to whip up.

The secret? A crispy, flavorful coating of crushed potato chips! My son loves these! Serve homemade chicken nuggets with your favorite sauce. Our family loves BBQ Sauce, Creamy Honey Mustard, and Ketchup.

What You Need to Make Chicken Nuggets

  • Chicken — Use breast or thighs
  • Your favorite potato chips
  • Egg or egg white
  • Cooking spray or olive oil for baking or air frying

Forget flour and breadcrumbs! These chicken nuggets get their incredible crunch from potato chips. You can use any flavor you like—classic, dill pickle, barbecue, you name it! We love the extra crispiness of kettle-cooked chips.

Bonus: choose a gluten-free flavor for a gluten-free option.

Breading chicken in crushed potato chips

How to Make Chicken Nuggets at Home

Here’s how easy it is to make potato chip-crusted chicken nuggets (full recipe below):

  1. Cut boneless, skinless chicken breast or thighs into nugget-sized pieces.
  2. Dip the chicken in a whisked egg (or egg whites for fewer calories).
  3. Roll the chicken in crushed potato chips until well coated.
  4. Bake on a baking sheet until crispy. Or use your air fryer (baking and air fryer instructions are shared in the nuggets recipe below).
Delicious crispy baked chicken nuggets with honey mustard sauce.

What to Serve With Chicken Nuggets

These chicken nuggets couldn’t be simpler! Serve them with your favorite sauce:

Our family enjoys these with our favorite dipping sauce or on top of salads.

Baked chicken nuggets on a baking sheet

How to Freeze Chicken Nuggets

Store leftover nuggets in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.

Want to freeze them for later? Freeze the cooked, cooled nuggets on a sheet pan for an hour or two until solid. Then, transfer them to an airtight container and freeze them for up to 3 months.

To reheat, bake in a preheated 400°F oven for 10 to 15 minutes or air fry at 390°F for 4 to 7 minutes.

More Recipes that are Better than Store-Bought!

Homemade chicken nuggets being dipped in honey mustard

3 Ingredient Homemade Chicken Nuggets

  • PREP
  • COOK
  • TOTAL

Forget frozen nuggets! This kid (and adult) approved homemade chicken nuggets recipe is so easy, and the secret is their crispy potato chip coating!

Makes 4 servings

You Will Need

1 ¼ pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast or thighs

5 ounces (3 heaping cups) favorite potato chips

1 large egg, see notes

Nonstick cooking spray or olive oil

Directions

    1Add the potato chips to a resealable bag, then crush them into bits using a rolling pin. You can also add to a food processor and pulse until crumbled.

    2Add the potato chip crumbles to a wide bowl. Beat the egg in a separate bowl.

    3Cut the chicken into 1-inch pieces (about 24 pieces).

    4With one hand, dip a piece of chicken into the beaten egg. Shake any excess egg off to prevent soggy nuggets. Roll the chicken into the crushed potato chips with your other hand or kitchen tongs and place them onto the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining pieces of chicken.

    5Spray the tops of the chicken with nonstick cooking spray or add a light drizzle of olive oil.

  • Baked Chicken Nuggets
  • 1Preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, foil, or a silicone baking mat.

    2Bake for 15 minutes, flip, and then bake until an internal thermometer inserted into the chicken reads 165°F, another 8 to 12 minutes more.

  • Air Fryer Chicken Nuggets
  • 1Place the coated chicken nuggets in your air fryer basket in a single layer. Spray them lightly with cooking spray.

    2Air fry at 390°F for 4 minutes. Shake the basket, spray lightly again, then air fry for another 3 to 5 minutes (or until golden brown).

Adam and Joanne's Tips

  • One egg is usually enough. If you run out, whisk a second egg into the bowl.
  • For crispier chicken nuggets, insert a wire baking rack into a rimmed baking sheet. Then, bake the nuggets on top of the wire rack. Since air flows around the chicken, there is no need to flip the chicken.
  • Recipe inspired by Gimme Some Oven.
  • Nutrition facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA database to calculate approximate values. We assumed full-fat salted potato chips. For fewer calories and fat, use baked chips.
Nutrition Per Serving Serving Size 1/6 of the recipe, 4 nuggets / Calories 277 / Total Fat 13g / Saturated Fat 1.8g / Cholesterol 99.9g / Sodium 204mg / Carbohydrate 15.4g / Dietary Fiber 0.9g / Total Sugars 0.1g / Protein 24.1g
AUTHOR:  Adam and Joanne Gallagher
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12 comments… Leave a Review
  • Taylor February 12, 2024, 6:11 pm

    Wow! What a delicious and simple recipe, I was craving chicken nuggets and this did the trick! Taste exactly like a nugget, I didn’t have the Italian seasoning and still tasted great… have you ever froze these before and reheated? If so, what temperature?

    Reply
    • Joanne February 14, 2024, 3:31 pm

      So glad you loved them! They are easy to freeze. For best results, freeze uncooked nuggets individually on a baking sheet, then transfer to a freezer bag. Reheat in an oven preheated to 400°F until warmed through and crispy.

      Reply
  • Amber V. September 26, 2023, 4:09 am

    I made this tonight for the third time in the past week, it is outrageously delicious and so easy to make! (Also, in the past couple of weeks I made your fry sauce, simple strawberry smoothies, black bean soup, and blueberry muffins, and every single thing was out of this WORLD. (For the fry sauce I subbed pickle juice from the jar because I didn’t have vinegar on hand, and for the muffins I replaced the milk with vanilla caramel flavored coffee creamer – only because I was out of milk – and it all turned out lovely :)). I will never buy soup to-go from a restaurant again, there is no need to. The simplicity of the recipe and quality of the outcome supersedes anything I can find elsewhere, you guys are amazing and I appreciate you sharing your talents for all to enjoy. Instead of just preparing food, you have helped me evolve into a person that can “cook” 🙂

    Reply
    • Adam September 26, 2023, 1:18 pm

      Wow! What a wonderful comment to start our day! 🙂 Thank you so much for coming back to let us know that you love our recipes 🙂

      Reply
  • Stan Biehler February 4, 2022, 6:41 pm

    I did three of the potato chips BBQ , Dill pickles, salt & vinegar. I also added cayenne pepper to the chips to give it a little kick . Great recipe idea . Keep it up! Oh by the way I used the air fryer when I make them they turn out out great.

    Reply
  • Helga October 3, 2021, 6:32 am

    Tips… allergic to eggs – no worry – marinade chicken in a little water, GF corn starch and little salt or your favorite spice blend, add chicken pieces to bag of crushed chip or torlilla, very easy and less handling of raw chicken.Try this ckicken in a ceasar salad, so yummielicious

    Reply
  • Cindy Freeman July 28, 2021, 11:06 am

    Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I just made this chicken nugget recipe in my air fryer and they are delicious! My daughter has allergies and has gradually become allergic to every chicken nugget we have bought. She is able to eat Organic Kettle Brand Plain and Vinegar and Salt potato chips, so I thought this would work out great for us. I kept the ingredients very simple. First I brined a boneless thigh for about 45 minutes. I then cut it up and dipped the pieces in just egg and rolled in the crushed chips. I cooked them at 370 in the air fryer for nine minutes. They turned out great and she loves them (so do I)! This recipe is a blessing to us!

    Reply
  • mo po May 28, 2020, 7:05 pm

    they are awesome

    Reply
  • nancy bagwell July 17, 2019, 6:20 pm

    Oh so easy. Why bother with pricey chicken nuggets when these are so quick, and you control everything about them. The meat is tender and not dry, crunchy and not soggy. It’s so simple that I’m calling it a “how to” not a recipe. This “how to” is a win.

    Reply
  • Sheila Wilton January 30, 2019, 1:16 pm

    Seems like a good recipe for an air fryer and shorter time

    Reply
  • Wendy Wilson January 29, 2019, 5:26 pm

    I hate to be the one to tell you this, but flavored potato chips do contain gluten, unless they are certified gluten free, you have to assume always, that they have gluten in them. Read the labels to be certain. Some frozen vegetables contain gluten as well as they are dusted with a light coating of flour before being frozen to prevent them from sticking together.

    Reply
    • Joanne April 7, 2020, 4:01 pm

      Hi Wendy, thanks for the tip. We do recommend that readers check the packaging of the chips used.

      Reply

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