These Copycat McDonald’s Buffalo Chicken Nuggets are tender on the inside, golden brown n’ crispy on the outside, and full of delicious buffalo hot sauce flavor. Made with chicken breast, seasonings and NO fillers or preservatives, these nuggets are beyond delicious!
How was everyone’s Cinco de Mayo? Did you get your fill of tequila, tacos, burritos, guacamole and salsa? I certainly did! And, I came out the other side about 5 pounds (or more) heavier.
Given this celebratory excess, you would think I would be posting something healthy and light today, right? Wrong.
Despite having two college degrees, no one has ever accused me of being smart. I think it’s the blonde hair? Well, that and I most definitely march to the beat of my own unique drum.
I figured, shoot… I’ve already ate my weight in Mexican food all week long, why not indulge just a wee bit more!? Yeah, I couldn’t think of a good reason either.
Anyways, when it comes to chicken nuggets, my better half will only order and eat them from McDonalds or Chick-fil-A.
Nuggets from a nice restaurant, or café off the kids menu? Forget about it. Don’t ask me why, I stopped trying to understand his quirks years ago.
So, when I wanted to make nuggets, I asked him which fast food joint I should try to recreate. He obviously chose McDonald’s chicken McNuggets. No shocker there.
But, I wanted to put a hot spin on my copycat nuggets recipe, because I am always dipping nuggets (grilled chicken, eggs, my fingers… basically all the things) into hot sauce. I figured, why not flavor the actual nugget with one of my favorite spicy men, Frank?
The resulting nuggets turned out brilliantly and tasted absolutely amazing! Just behold the beautiful nuggets for yourself…
Copycat McDonald’s Buffalo Chicken Nuggets
These nuggets are tender on the inside, golden brown and crispy on the outside, and full of delicious buffalo hot sauce flavor.
#WinnerWinnerChickenNuggetDinner.
However, I’m going to be honest about these superb nuggets. It is a heck of a lot quicker, and easier, to succumb to the fast food drive through Gods demons and order a 10 (or 20) piece from the golden arches than to make these.
But, these are SO MUCH BETTER. Keep reading for why!
What are chicken nuggets made from?
Now, I can’t speak to McDonald’s version of “real white meat”, but these buffalo chicken nuggets are made from real white meat.
And, I’m talking about real, real white meat.
This recipe for copycat chicken nuggets simply contains chicken breast ground in the food processed with no weird additives, fillers or preservatives!
It’s just chicken breast, buffalo hot sauce, melted butter, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Done and Done.
Who invented chicken nuggets?
The chicken nugget was invented by a professor of poultry science at Cornell University, and chicken savant, Robert C. Baker, in the 1950’s.
Baker published a way to mold ground chicken into any shape without the use of chicken skin as an un-patented academic work.
The bite sized, molded pieces of ground chicken, coated in a batter that remained attached to the chicken during the process of deep-frying was dubbed the “Chicken Crispie” by Baker and his associates.
Thus the birth of the chicken nugget.
Resist the urge to pull up to a drive-thru and join me in making homemade McDonald’s buffalo chicken nuggets.
Just prepare to be amazed and possibly swear off fast food nuggets for life. 🙂
Until next time, Cheers!
-xoxo-
Cheyanne
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How to make Copycat McDonald’s Chicken Nuggets recipe👇
Copycat McDonald’s Chicken Nuggets (Buffalo-style)
Equipment
- Mixing Bowl
- Food Processor
- large skillet
Ingredients
Nuggets:
- 2 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts – cubed (about 1 ½ pounds total)
- 1 ½ teaspoon Kosher Salt
- ½ teaspoon Dried Parsley
- ¼ tsp Garlic Powder
- ¼ tsp Onion Powder
- ¼ Teaspoon Pepper
- 3 TBS - ¼ Cup Franks Hot Sauce (SEE NOTES)
- 1 TBS Butter - melted
Breading:
- 2 eggs - beaten
- 1 Cup All-Purpose Flour
- ½ tsp Kosher Salt
- Peanut Oil for frying (about 1 ½ - 2 cups)
Buffalo Dipping Sauce:
- ¼ Cup Franks Hot Sauce
- 2 TBS Butter – melted
- ¼ tsp Garlic Powder
- Dash Kosher Salt
Serving Options: Blue Cheese Dressing, Carrot Sticks, Celery Sticks
Instructions
- For the Buffalo Dipping Sauce: Combine all ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Set aside until ready to use.
- For the Nugget Mixture:Place cubed chicken in bowl of a food processor. Add in salt, parsley onion powder, pepper, butter and buffalo sauce. Process until it resembles a fine paste.
- Roll mixture into balls: Line a large sheet pan with plastic wrap. Roll chicken mixture into balls, about the size of a ping pong ball, roughly 2 tablespoons each. Place formed balls onto prepared sheet pan.
- Heat oil in a cast iron skillet or heavy bottom pot over medium heat.
- Bread nuggets: place flour and salt onto a large plate and mix to combine. Pour eggs into a small bowl. Roll chicken balls in flour, then egg, and then back in flour again. Use your hands to flatten balls to form chicken nuggets. Transfer breaded nuggets back to prepared sheet pan. Repeat until all nuggets are breaded and formed.
- To Cook the Nuggets: Fry the nuggets, in batches, for 4-5 minutes total, until golden brown and cooked through (165 degrees F). Transfer to a paper towel lined plate to drain and season generously with salt while still warm.
- Serve with buffalo dipping sauce, blue cheese dressing, carrots and celery.
Notes
- For a very mild Buffalo flavored nugget use 3 tablespoons of Buffalo Hot Sauce in mixture. For a more pronounced Buffalo flavor use 1/4 Cup.
- Buffalo chicken mixture can be made in advance and balls can be formed in advance. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
- For more tender chicken nugget, substitute boneless skinless chicken thighs for breasts!
Nutrition
*Recipe adapted from SparkPeople
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My 12-YO son and I made these today- the sauce was pretty spot on (we added some garlic powder and pepper)…we even had a McD’s sauce to do a side-by-side taste test. We’ll make it again. The nuggets turned out as the recipe stated, but none of us cared for the texture. The breading was very good, but neither sons nor my husband cared for the texture (a little too mushy for our liking). Still, we all had fun trying to replicate McD’s nuggets and we would definitely make the sauce again. Thanks for the recipe!
I should say that we added additional garlic powder over what the recipe originally called for
This recipe did not turn out when I tried it twice not sure why hoping you can help please? Okay, I tried it 3 times but first time was my fault because I did not follow the recipe exactly the first time I used a tube of that frozen ground chicken from the store that is already like a paste. But the next 2 tries I followed the insstrructions exactly, but the coating turned out the same as first time too to be extremely thin dry and like a crunchy breading texture almost comparable to dairy queen chicken strips not at all like mcdonald? My partner then tried themselves (yes a fourth time as we were determined to make it work as yours look so good!) and he actually combined the egg with the flour mixture as a batter and found that even was more like mcdonald but still not really. So we find that switching from tube meat to chicken thigh did the trick to make the inside perfect, but the coating still comes out same everytime not right…still very yummy but not mcdonald coating. Is there something you may be able to share with me please of maybe what might cause the coating to go that way when I do it as I mentioned above? Thank you so kindly for an amazing recipe:)
Hi Katinka,
I’m sorry to hear you are having trouble getting the nuggets just right! While it’s hard to know exactly what you are doing wrong without physically being in the kitchen with you, hopefully I can provide some insight and helpful tips!
1. Quality ingredients: The quality of your ingredients will directly impact the quality of the finished nuggets. Frozen ground chicken isn’t recommended. For the best taste, use fresh chicken breasts. You can use fresh chicken thighs, but make sure you trim all the excess fat.
2. Breading station: You want a traditional breading station for breading the nuggets, not a batter – meaning don’t combine the flour and the eggs. Make sure you are *thoroughly* coating the nuggets in the flour, then the egg and then the flour again.
3. Chill the nuggets: Try refrigerating the coated nuggets! Once you have all the nuggets coated and placed on the lined-sheet pan, transfer the pan to the refrigerator and let them chill for about an hour.
4. Bread them twice: For a thick nugget breading, give the nuggets another coat in the flour, egg and the flour again.
5. Frying temperature: Make sure your oil is hot enough. Use a candy thermometer and aim for between 365-375 degrees F.
6. Don’t overcrowd the oil: If you add too many nuggets to the oil at one time it will drop the temperature of the oil too much – so fry in batches.
7. Drain on a rack: Once the nuggets are fried, transfer them to a wire cooling rack to drain (versus using a paper towel-lined plate). The rack will prevent the bottom of the nuggets from getting soggy. Just make sure you place the rack over a baking sheet or something similar to catch the oil that drips off the freshly fried nuggets!
Hopefully these easy tips and tricks help you produce perfect nuggets!! Let me know if you try the recipe again following the above tricks, I’d love to hear how they turn out! Cheers!! 🙂
Very excited to try this! Do you have tips for making them in an air fryer instead?
Hi Shannon,
Great question! Unfortunately, I do not own an air fryer, so I can’t offer any tips. If you try it, I’d love to hear how they turn out! Cheers!!
If you eliminate the buffalo sauce (I’m making a batch for toddlers too) then do I also eliminate the butter? Or do you suggest I keep the butter and add some egg to make it bind? Thanks!
Hi Karen,
I have only tested and made the recipe as directed. However, I completely understand wanting to eliminate the buffalo sauce (especially for toddlers!)! The buffalo sauce and the butter flavor the nuggets, but also keep them moist. If you were to eliminate the hot sauce, I would keep the butter if you are using chicken breasts (if you are using thighs, they have plenty of fat so you could eliminate it). You can add a bit of beaten egg for added moisture and flavor. If you try the recipe with substitutions, I’d love to hear how they turn out! Cheers! 🙂
Will do! Thank you!
We made the sauce and set it aside. It tasted amazing. We started making the chicken and now the sauce is now curdled looking. What did we do wrong?
Hey Nicole,
The sauce shouldn’t have curdled unless you added milk to it. However, it will separate due to the melted butter. Homemade sauces don’t have any additives or preservatives that prevent natural separation. The sauce is still fine, you just need to emulsify it again. 🙂
If you kept the sauce at room temperature, you just need to give the sauce a good shake (if it’s in a jar), or a good whisk to re-emulsify it and you will be good to go! If you put the sauce in the refrigerator and the butter hardened, you will need to gently melt the butter. I suggest microwaving it at 50% power in 30 second-increments until the butter melts and then whisking it to emulsify.
I hope I answered your question! And, I hope you love the nuggets! Cheers!
Can you omit the hot sauce all together? I am not a huge fan of buffalo sauce but love chicken nuggets.
Hi Ivy,
While I have only tested and made the recipe as directed, I don’t see why you can’t eliminate the hot sauce. However, you want the chicken mixture to be a little wet and stick together, so you may need to add a little bit of egg (whisked) to the mixture. That will help keep the nuggets moist and bind the mixture together. Let me know if you have any other questions! Cheers!
What temp do you fry them? 350 or 375?
Thanks
Hi Spence,
Honestly, I don’t use a thermometer, but aim for between 365-375 degrees Fahrenheit. You want the oil to bubble up when you drop in a chicken nugget, but you don’t want the oil so hot that it burns.
Let me know if you have any other questions! Cheers!!
Thanks much!
I can’t wait to make these! They look super delicious. Could these be made in batches and then frozen until wanting to reheat?
You can absolutely freeze these chicken nuggets!
To freeze chicken nuggets, follow the recipe directions cooking the chicken nuggets to completion. Allow the nuggets to cool slightly and then transfer them to a wax paper covered cookie sheet. Flash freeze the nuggets (place the cookie sheet in the freezer) until they are mostly frozen (about 45 minutes). Transfer the nuggets to a freezer-safe zip-closure bag and store in the freezer.
When ready to serve, do not thaw before reheating. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Place nuggets on a wire rack inserted into a cookie sheet. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until heated through, flipping half way through cooking time.
Cheers and thank you so much for stopping by!!
Is the chicken raw or cooked first before processing? I can’t seem to find a recipe that doesn’t turn out dry. I’m hoping this one with butter will be better.
Hi Heather,
You cube raw chicken before running it through the food processor and making the nuggets. These chicken nuggets should not turn out dry unless you overcook them. However, if you want ultra-moist chicken nuggets, I’d suggest using boneless, skinless chicken thighs instead of breasts. Let me know if you have any other questions!! Cheers! 🙂
Hi,
My kids love Mc nuggets and I feel guilty every time I buy it for them. Would love to try out this recipe but I have a question, we dont get Franks in the country I live in, would you please recommend a substitute for it.
Much thanks
Hi Ariba!
Thanks for stopping by! Any buffalo style hot sauce can be substituted. I’m not sure what you have available in the country you live in, so I can’t give you an exact name brand. You could also use your favorite hot sauce, I would just decrease the amount and mix it with a bit of butter (traditional buffalo style anything is mixed with Franks and Butter). Hope that helps! Cheers!
You have answered my recipe prayers! Just the other day I was wondering if putting chicken in a food processor would do the trick! I hate fast food, but once in a while McDonald’s chicken nuggets are a treat. (I cringe every time) and that is the only chicken they will eat. I don’t like to deep fry anything, but even deep fried these have to be healthier than McDonalds! 🙂 Can’t wait to try these. Now I just need to find a McDonald’s chicken nugget box or they’ll figure it out. 😉
So glad I could answer your recipe prayers, Angie! 😉 I really hope you guys like these fake out McDonald’s nuggets as much as we do! Love the idea to put them in a McD’s box to trick them! Clever! Thank you so much for the kind comment and stopping by! Cheers to a wonderful rest of the weekend!
Silly question, is the cubed chicken raw or precooked when you throw it in the food processor? I’m a little hesitant to throw raw chicken into the ninja for some reason, but the idea of chicken cube pate style also worries me… Help!
Hi Kati! There is no such thing as a silly question! Yes, the chicken is cubed raw and added to the food processor to produce ground chicken. I wouldn’t recommend doing this in a Ninja. I would do it in a food processor, and as long as you clean it (the bowl and blade) thoroughly with soap and water, you will be fine! However, if you are really nervous you can substitute ground chicken from the store… but the texture won’t be exactly the same as McDonald’s, nuggets. Feel free to ask more questions if you need additional clarification!! Cheers and good luck! 😉
Should I substitute anything if I’m going to leave out the butter?
Hi Bailey, thanks so much for stopping by! Honestly, I haven’t tried to make these sans the butter or with a substitute. But, for the actual nuggets, there is only a tablespoon in the entire recipe… I’m assuming you could leave it out or use a butter substitute. As for the buffalo sauce, you can do the same, but it won’t taste exactly like traditional buffalo sauce. Good luck and I hope you try these! Let me know how it goes! Cheers!
I made these this morning, while I roasted a turkey breast for deli meat.
For benefit of the wee ones in the house, I substituted Italian dressing for the hot sauce.
I must first admit, I don’t fry (enough) many things around the house, so anything fried is a hit to my taste buds. I’m savoring the occasion.
8:00 Sunday morning, turkey breast in the oven. No onr is awake. I’m frying nuggets in my cast iron skillet. Out of this world. Crispy, salty, not dry (I can’t say moist without giggling).
This was the pinnacle of my day. If I didn’t have the slicing of turkey to look forward to, I’d go back to bed until Monday (or until my kids asked for breakfast).
Thanks sovmuch for the recipe.
I am thrilled you enjoyed the nuggets, Jay!! Italian dressing would be a killer substitute for the hot sauce, Yum! I’m going to have to try that myself. 🙂 Thank you so much for not only giving the nuggets a chance, but for also coming back and letting me know how they turned out. You just made my day! Cheers!
These look delicious Cheyanne! I’m a huge fan of dipping pretty much anything into hot sauce as well, so they are right up my alley. Plus what could be wrong with cute little nuggets that actually taste like meat? 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
Maya- Yay to dipping everything into hot sauce!! I’m a total addict 🙂 The only thing, I can find, wrong with eating nuggets that actually taste like meat is the fact that you might end up eating 20+ . Opps! lol. Cheers, my dear!
Wowza! These look incredible! I don’t eat at McDonalds very often, but when I do, I always order the chicken nuggets (why do I sound like the Dos Equis guy?). In any event, these look so wonderfully crispy and l love the the buffalo dip too!
Kathleen- LOL!! There are worse things in life than sounding like the Dos Equis guy 😉 I don’t eat McDonalds very often either, but Boy does and he too is always ordering their dang nuggets. I simply had to try and recreate them myself, you understand… its a food blogger thang! Thanks for stopping by! Cheers (*clink clink with Dos Equis) 😉
My Kids are going to love these!!! Thanks
Cormac- Oh, I certainly hope they do love them!! If your children aren’t a fan of spicy food, simply leave out the hot sauce… they will cook the exact same. 🙂 Cheers and thanks for your continued support over at Voterecipe.com! Have a terrific weekend!
Girl, this is awesome. I can’t believe you made McDonald’s chicken nuggets! Well – nuggets without the weird stuff. 🙂 How cool that you put the buffalo inside and outside. What a fun idea! Now go make me a Big Mac! 🙂
Rachelle, you are too funny!! Your comments always give me a serious case of the giggles. #LovingIt (sorry McDonalds… i’m stealing your slogan too!) I will totally make you a Big Mac, but only because I like you. And I enjoy being bossed around 😉 lol. I actually made Big Mac Stuffed Potato Skins (they are on the blog)… go eat those until I perfect the actual Big Mac recipe! Cheers, girlie! xo
Wow, these look like fast food nuggets (in a good way) ;). I have never processed chicken like that before for nuggets. Do you like it better than leaving the chicken in chunks?
Melanie- It really depends on what type of nugget you are looking for. Running the chicken breast through a food processor gives it that soft interior texture which is reminiscent of McDonald’s nuggets. I like both types of nuggets: made out of chicken pieces and made out of food processed chicken. It just depends on my mood 🙂 Thanks for stopping by and commenting! If you try food processed nuggets, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do… and I’d love to hear your thoughts! Cheers!
Love what you did! I just made my own chicken nuggets just like these on my site and they were so tasty! I didn’t think about running the meat through a food processor, that’s really smart. I did it with chicken sausage and it turned out great as well. Great photos as well! ~ The Unmanly Chef
Unmanly Chef- Thank you so much! I’m totally going to have to go check out your chicken sausage nuggets, those sound unbelievaly delicious!! And, one can NEVER have too many nugget recipes! 🙂 Cheers and warm wishes for a great weekend… I’m off to your site, see you in a minute 😉
Okay, I’m willing to fully admit that I love even McDonald’s non-white meat-white meat chicken nuggets. They are such a guilty pleasure. Don’t get me wrong, I still love Chick-fil-a nuggets but given the choice between chicken selects and the mystery meat that is the McNugget, I’d always pick the latter. These look SO good – my mouth was watering when I saw them on instagram! And that buffalo sauce? I must make these – especially because I can tell myself they’re healthier because they’re using REAL white meat 🙂
Taylor- I agree, these can absolutely be considered healthy due to the all real white meat! lol (let’s both just go with that!) I’m with you on the mystery McNugget meat… I don’t know what they put in it, but when I get a craving for nuggets, I don’t really care. Guilty. Pleasure. These nuggets are very very close to actual McNuggets, so now I don’t have to feel quite so guilty! Thanks for the kind (and funny) comment! Warm wishes for a wonderful weekend!! Cheers 🙂
Great!
Thank you! 🙂
Omg yummy!! I must admit, even as a 25 year old woman, I love chicken nuggets. Sometimes I envy the children at the dinner table who get to order chicken nuggets off the kids menu while I must appropriately order from the fancier adult menu. A girl just wants some good ole fashioned nuggets from time to time and these do more than fit the bill – they’re perfect! I love Frank’s and the idea of enjoying it with these beautifully golden, tender nuggets sounds amazing. I love that these also look exactly like the real deal. While McD’s sure doesn’t serve natural chicken meat and all that, they do a great job of recreating the texture of a crispy-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside nugget so I’m so impressed that you created a genuine copycat version that would even fool the kids! (and me, the bigger kid!) 🙂 Beautiful job, Cheyanne!
Beeta- My husband (Boy) is 36 and a nugget lover. I’m going to share a secret with you. If you order to go from a restaurant you can order the nuggets off the kids menu and just say its for a child. This is what I use to do for Boy… before he gave up on all nuggets that weren’t McDonalds or Chick-fil-A. I think most of us are just a big kid at heart and still have cravings for comforting “childish” food. Thanks so much for the kind words… you made my day! Cheers and warm wishes for a terrific weekend!!
Great idea, Cheyanne! I do have a kid…he’s just furry and four-legged! 😉 But he would happily eat these with me, sans hot sauce 😀
Beeta- Thanks! I too have a child, and she is furry and four-legged as well! The “Boy” I am referring to is my husband. Boy is his nickname. He is simply a big, little kid! lol. These nuggets cook the same, sans hot sauce… and they taste equally delicious! Cheers, my dear!
Yummy!! I never eat processed chicken nuggets because of all the junk in them so I especially love this recipe. You can have your chicken nugget and eat it too! Yay!
Karrie- I hear ya on proccessed and additive laden nuggets being ick! Exactly why I decided I must recreate some myself.. but nuggets Boy would actually eat. Mission accomplished with these lil bad boys 🙂 Yay! xoxo
These look epic! My wife and I are big fans of buffalo… and anytime we can recreate fast food at home is a big win!
Thanks Chris! That means a lot coming from you! I’ve seen your stellar fast food recreations… so I’m honored you think these look good! 🙂 You just made my day! Cheers, buddy!
Love it! We don’t need no stinkin fast food!
My little ones have never had chicken nuggets, but when they do, it’s gonna be a homemade version like this for sure!
Kathryn- lol! Thank you so much for the kind words and stopping by! I hope, if you do decide to feed your little one these nuggets, that he/she loves them as much as my Big “little” kid (aka husband) does!! Cheers! 🙂
My son only eats McDonalds and Chick Fil A nuggets too – but if he tastes buffalo flavor in these he won’t eat them. Will they taste like McDonalds nuggets if I simple remove the hot sauce from the ingredients?
Hi Casey! You can absolutely just nix the hot sauce from the ingredients list!! And yes, they will still taste like McDonald’s nuggets. 🙂 Let me know if you try these and how they go over with your son! Cheers and thank you so much for stopping by!