These Cheesy Oven Fried Keto Chicken Nuggets are made without grains, low carb, nut free, and baked not fried, served with a zesty, creamy Roasted Red Pepper Sauce!
Oven Fried Chicken Nuggets
Oven fried is basically the same as baked, but doesn't it sound much better? When you don't want the hassle of frying, you bake, but you still can get the same effect in your oven and less mess as well. These delicious oven fried keto chicken nuggets will make even your kids think that you went through the drive-through!
How to Make Keto Chicken Nuggets
Making a healthier, low carb chicken nugget that will pass the inspection of children is a hard task in and of itself. Using swaps for the traditional flour and/or nut flours that many keto chefs use is also another challenging accommodation to be made. My youngest son has a tree nut and peanut allergy so using almond flour is completely out of the question. This often gets me into a very creative mode when I'm working on a recipe that requires a delicious coating, especially a kid friendly one! Ground flaxseed in combination with grated parmesan and spices and we had magic happen! The kids were impressed and to be honest, so was I! They loved these nuggets!
Although I have no training from a Culinary school I do come from a home of talented cooks. What has inspired me most is watching cooking shows like Rachel Ray, Nigella, and even The Pioneer Woman ( a homeschooling momma like me!) who also had no formal training, yet are quite successful. My plan is to one day go back to school for a degree in Culinary & Nutrition at Johnson & Whales in my hometown of RI. But until then I will continue to be inspired by others who have gone before me that have paved the way and the reputation for all home cooks.
Tools to Make Keto Chicken Nuggets
Food Processor- My Cuisinart food processor has been a staple in my keto kitchen for years, and even before I was keto, I used it regularly. This is the easiest and quickest way to get the chicken ground up fast and smooth. The goal is a nice texture, exactly what the kids know and love about fast food nuggets! You can make it happen at home with a good food processor.
Baking Sheet Pans- I love the handles on these Rachel Ray sheet pans! Multiple sizes for all your baking and cooking needs!
Cookie Scooper- You don't need these to make the perfect sized chicken nugget, but they do make them nice and uniform so the kids will have no idea!
Meal Plan Membership
Our membership is simple. You can subscribe for a month to try it out or you can subscribe for a yearly membership. Each Friday you will get a meal plan that comes to your email. You'll have that early in order to go food shopping before the meal plan begins on Sunday. You will be able to view and print the meal plan and the shopping list. If you don't like a meal, simply delete it and swap it with another meal you like. The shopping list will automatically adjust. It's the best software available out there for a customizable menu plan. Not many other low carb or keto meal plans allow you the option to remove, add, start with a blank menu and create your own if you so wish.
Right now our meal plan membership is 25% OFF!! Use Coupon Code NY2020 at Check Out! Learn More here!
Oven Fried Keto Chicken Nuggets
Keto Cheesy Chicken Nuggets with Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
Ingredients
- 2.5 pound chicken breast
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 cups Cheddar cheese shredded
- ½ cup ground flaxseed
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons dried parsley
Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
- 2 red bell peppers
- ¾ cup mayonnaise
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Place your chicken breasts, garlic powder, onion powder, garlic salt, pepper and cayenne into a food processor and pulse until the meat is ground well.
- Transfer the chicken to a large bowl and stir in the cheese. Set aside.
- Grease a baking sheet.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- In a shallow bowl combine the flaxseed, Parmesan, salt and parsley.
- Form a tablespoon size ball of the chicken mixture, it will be sticky.
- Drop it into the flax and Parm mixture.
- Roll it around to coat it all over and flatten it to form an oval shape.
- Continue with the rest and place onto the baking pan. Should make 48 nuggets.
- Bake nuggets for 15 minutes then flip them over and bake another 10 minutes.
Creamy Roasted Red Pepper sauce
- Place the peppers on a gas grill on medium high heat. Once one side gets blackened turn to another side until it's all charred.
- Place peppers in a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap for about 15-20 minutes.
- Once cooled, scrape off the skin and stem and seeds and place into a blender with the rest of the ingredients.
- Keep refrigerated until ready to serve with nuggets.
Does the chicken have to be raw? Can you use leftover cooked chicken?
I haven't tried it with cooked chicken but I would guess that you just wouldn't cook it very long since it's already cooked, don't want it to be dry.
Could I use ground chicken instead of the chicken breast? I don’t have a food processor.
Yes that works.
These are seriously amazing! I dipped them in sugar free Baby Rays. My husband raved about them! Thank you for such a great recipe!
Hi I am new. I saw the recipe for the nuggets without cheese, however, I am not a fan of pork rinds. I like this recipe, but I don't want to use the cheese. I don't see a reason for the cheese. Can I just omit the cheese?
You could but I think they would be fairly dry without the cheese.
Could I use tomato’s instead of bell pepper? I don’t like the bell pepper taste.
How did you keep your hands so clean? I know you said the chicken was sticky, but I could barely roll the balls because it was sticking to my hands. Any tips?
I drop in the ball, sprinkle on the pork rind mixture, tap and roll it around.
Have you ever tried freezing the sauce? Do you think it will freeze okay?
I've not tried sorry!
I can't wait to try these! When you freeze do you pre cook in the oven and then reheat the already cooked nuggets or freeze the raw mix? Thanks 🙂
I usually bake, cool then freeze.
Amazing recipe for Ketos Chicken nuggets. Wasy to prepare and my family loved them. Keep it up. Thank you
These were excellent. Crowd pleaser all around - me, hubby and 5yo daughter (who doesn’t love breaded items - but these were light and crispy). I made just one change which was to reduce the amount of cheddar to about 1 1/2 cup - but other than that made per recipe and they’re awesome. We will make again for sure!!!
Amazing!! Thanks so much for this. I tried it with the pork rinds instead of the flax and cut out the salt (for the breading portion of the recipe). i used about 1.5 pounds of chicken and made 32 nuggets (made 6 today and froze the rest). I'm a ketchup with my nuggets type gal but will definitely make the sauce another time.
Can you tell me the nutritional information on just the nuggets, please.
You'll have to add in the ingredients into an app for just the nuggets.
I substituted almond flour for the flaxseed...Delicious. Guessing that in the creamy red pepper sauce that 75 mayonnaise is 3/4 of a cup?
yes
These were way better fried in a pan with evoo. They were delicious!
How long did you fry them in a pan, at what temp?
Have you ever made these in an air fryer instead of the oven?
Yes I have. 400 degrees for about 10 minutes then flip and another 10.
You recipe writing is not good. First off, cut to the chase so I don't read a 5 page story. Second, dont just say seasonings because now the parm and flax are in my nuggets instead of on them. Thanks. Ruined all my ingredients.
I've edited the first sentence to clarify seasonings. For the record, reading all the instructions once through might have helped you as instruction number 2 says stir in the cheese which is after all the seasonings and instruction number 5 says to combine the Parmesan and flaxseed.
Wow! Just wow!
Brenda, I commend your patience 🙂
This sounds absolutely wonderful - and I WOULD like to try it - but, as usual, KETO doesn't care about anything but carbs, apparently. 148 grams of cholesterol for just a tiny few nuggets? Seriously? And that's healthy????? Really? Not for me and I'm sure there are a LOT of us who just can't do that.
read up about keto, our bodys need cholesterol especially our brains
Just found your blog and tried this recipe! So good!
I made the recipe exactly as stated and the nuggets were delicious! Thank you very much for posting this recipe.
I do not have a food processor or grill, can I use blender and burn peppers on the stove burner ?
Yes I think that would work, may have to do a couple batches since a blender doesn't have as much space as a food processor.
Can these be frozen and reheated?
Yes and you can reheat in the air fryer too.
For the jacket ofthe niggets you can use grind pork rinds. Here in my country you can buy fried pork rinds. They look like these recipe , so yummy https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/homemade-chicharrones-pork-rinds-low-carb-and-gluten-free/
If you want to replace an ingredient for the coating you can, though I have not tested it with other things.
I made these with ground turkey instead of chicken breast because I recently dropped my vintage Cuisinart food processor base, completely destroying it. ?
They were easy and delicious! What a fantastic recipe. They are not fussy to make At all, unlike many gluten-free/ paleo nuggets.
Just the kind of recipe this busy mom needs. I’m really looking forward to trying with chicken after I replace my food processor. Thank you so much.
Thanks for sharing Corey!
Hi from the Netherlands! I've just made these and they turn out fantastic. Great flavor. Crunchy. Thank you so much! Michèle ?