Homemade Chicken Nuggets

This recipe makes a batch of homemade Chicken Nuggets with parmesan breadcrumbs. They’re oven baked (or air fried) for light, crispy, succulent nuggets that are totally moreish.

Homemade Chicken Nuggets are NOT just for children (but you definitely won’t get any complaints from them either!) 

I love to make a batch of these tender, tasty, golden bite-sized nuggets when it’s time for a treat but I don’t want to go down the takeaway route.

Why you’ll love this Chicken Nuggets recipe

⭐️ Oven-baked but still super crunchy coating

⭐️ Healthy, tender bites of juicy chicken

⭐️ Family meal or impressive buffet dish

Chicken Nuggets Ingredients

• Chicken breasts – These should be skinless and boneless. I cut them into bite-sized pieces with scissors.
• Greek yoghurt – If you can get it, I do think thick Greek yoghurt works best for this as it acts like glue for the breadcrumbs. If you only have natural yoghurt, you can try it but they won’t stick quite as well and you may need to reduce the amount you use a little.
• Panko breadcrumbs – I use Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) as they are SO crunchy and lush. Regular breadcrumbs or homemade breadcrumbs will work fine too.
• Paprika – You can substitute this for smoked paprika, chilli flakes, a reduced amount of cayenne pepper, or anything similar to give the chicken nuggets a little kick and colour.
• Oil – Vegetable, sunflower or olive oil is fine. This step is important as it makes the nuggets crispy. If you had a spray bottle of oil this would be AMAZING for doing this.
• Other coating ingredients – Grated parmesan, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
• Honey & Mustard dip – Greek yoghurt, runny honey and wholegrain mustard.
• Sweet Chilli Mayo – Mayonnaise and sweet chilli sauce.

An Alternative (and easier) Way to coat the chicken

This is one of my favourite cooking hacks and I do it all the time for things like this…

1. Put the chicken pieces into a Tupperware dish with the Greek yoghurt and put the lid on firmly. Shake well until fully coated.

2. Pop in the rest of the breadcrumb ingredients and repeat. Fully coated chicken in seconds… and clean hands!

Substitutions

• Flavouring – You can use this recipe as a guide, but really you can flavour/spice up your chicken nugget coating however you like. So add more chilli or cayenne pepper for a little more heat, or if you like yours plain, just add the salt and pepper.

FAQs

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4.86 from 35 votes

Homemade Chicken Nuggets

By Sarah Rossi

Succulent bite-sized chicken pieces with a cheesy, golden, crispy coating. So much flavour without the faff, these fast food-style homemade Chicken Nuggets are a winner for a family meal or as part of a buffet-style party platter.

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes minutes

Servings: 4

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Ingredients 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 4 Chicken breasts, Skinless and boneless
• ▢ 50 g (2 oz) Greek yoghurt, See notes
• ▢ 50 g (2 oz) Panko breadcrumbs, See notes
• ▢ 30 g (1 oz) Grated parmesan
• ▢ 2 tsp Paprika, See notes
• ▢ 2 tsp Garlic powder
• ▢ Salt and pepper
• ▢ Olive oil, See notes

For the Honey and Mustard dip:

• ▢ 75 g (3 oz) Greek yoghurt
• ▢ 3 tsp Runny honey
• ▢ 1 tsp Wholegrain mustard

For the Sweet Chilli Mayo:

• ▢ 100 g (4 oz) Mayonnaise
• ▢ 5 tsp Sweet chilli sauce

Instructions 

• Preheat the oven to 220℃ fan/240℃/Gas Mark 9/425F.
• Cut the chicken breasts into even, bitesized chunks (I use scissors).
• Put into a large bowl with the greek yoghurt and coat well.
• In another bowl, mix the breadcrumbs, parmesan, paprika, garlic powder and salt and pepper.
• Roll each piece of yoghurt coated chicken into the breadcrumbs mixture and coat well.

To Cook in the Oven:

• Place each piece onto a baking sheet covered with baking paper (don't overcrowd them. You may need two baking trays).
• Give each nugget a little drizzle of oil. (You can also use an oil spray, which would work brilliantly).
• Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until crispy and golden all over (they may take a little longer depending on your oven).
• While they are baking, make each of the sauces by mixing the ingredients for each one together in a small bowl.

To Cook in the Air Fryer:

• Carefully place the nuggets into the air fryer basket, be careful not to overfill the air fryer basket, depending on the size of your air fryer this may mean you need to cook in more than one batch.
• Air Fry for 15 minutes at 220℃/400F.
• If you want them to be really crispy you may want to cook them for a little longer but check at 15 minutes. Use a thermapen thermometer to be sure they are cooked properly.
• While they are cooking, make each of the sauces by mixing the ingredients for each one together in a small bowl.

To Serve:

• Serve with the dips.

Notes

Greek yoghurt: If you can get it, I do think thick Greek yoghurt works best for this as it acts like glue for the breadcrumbs. If you only have natural yoghurt, you can try it but they won’t stick quite as well and you may need to reduce the amount you use a little.

Panko breadcrumbs: I use Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) as they are SO crunchy and lush. Regular breadcrumbs or homemade breadcrumbs will work fine too.

Paprika: You can substitute this for smoked paprika, chilli flakes, a reduced amount of cayenne pepper, or anything similar to give these chicken nugget pieces a little kick and colour.

Oil: Vegetable, sunflower or olive oil is fine. This step is important as it makes the nuggets crispy. If you had a spray bottle of oil this would be AMAZING for doing this (I didn’t have one).

Servings: We’re using 4 chicken breasts for this recipe, which generally serves 4 people, but this may be different if you’re cooking for little ones. Use your judgement on quantities.

To cook in air fryer: These do cook really well in an air fryer or Tefal Actifry if you have one. If your machine has a paddle to move the food around, just remove it and cook without as it will knock the coating off. The nuggets will take less time when cooking this way, so check on them after 15 minutes.

To fry: I like these golden chicken nuggets oven baked as it saves a lot of mess and oil, but they would also be good shallow fried too if that’s your preference.

To batch cook: Once they’ve cooled down, freeze them flat and separate on a baking sheet for an 1-2 hour, then pop them in a labelled freezer bag. Then you can defrost however many you need at a later date. Such a great batch cook win!

Nutrition

Calories: 408kcalCarbohydrates: 44gProtein: 32gFat: 10gSaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 147mgSodium: 597mgPotassium: 483mgFiber: 3gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 395IUVitamin C: 2.9mgCalcium: 297mgIron: 8.1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Kids Cooking, Lunch, Main Course

Cuisine: Family Food

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This post was originally published on May 13th, 2020. It was updated on July 30th, 2025 to add additional tips and step-by-step videos.