Community Pick
Chick-Fil-A Chicken (And Nuggets) Copycat
"After looking on the internet for days for a Chick-Fil-A copycat and finding only plain old fried chicken recipes, I decided to try and imitate it myself. It came out pretty darn close I think! There are two crucial ingredients chick-fil-a uses that most recipes dont have- pickle juice and sugar. They also use MSG- but its also ok without it if you dont like it. Just cut up the breasts into chunks and follow recipe for nuggets. (Edit: I also have to say I love Chick- Fil-A and that I think they're a great company. I encourage anyone to visit if they can, the staff is always so nice and polite at every location I've been to! Its just too bad they don't have more locations!)"
photo by limeandspoontt
- Ready In:
- 1hr 20mins
- Ingredients:
- 14
- Yields:
-
4 sandwiches
- Serves:
- 4
ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts
- 1 cup pickle juice (use dill pickles, great way to use up that empty jar!)
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup flour
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1⁄2 teaspoon pepper
- 1⁄2 teaspoon msg (Accent, leave it out if you prefer)
- 1⁄2 teaspoon oregano
- 1⁄2 teaspoon basil
- 1⁄4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1⁄4 teaspoon onion powder
- peanut oil
directions
- Pound chicken breasts till they are thin enough for your taste. (I find a lot of breasts are really too thick for a sandwich so I pound out the thick part a little) Cut into chunks if you want nuggets.
- Place chicken in plastic bag with pickle juice and marinate for an hour (preferably overnight).
- Mix up eggs in seperate bowl for the egg wash.
- Mix flour and remaining spices in another shallow bowl.
- Remove chicken from the pickle juice maranade and drain well. Dip into the egg wash and then into the flour mixture.
- Fry the chicken however you prefer here. I pan fried mine in a few tablespoons of oil and it turned out fine. Chick-Fil-A deep fries theirs in a pressure cooker, so you can try that if you are feeling adventurous.
Questions & Replies
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I saw a review that said use powdered sugar. Is that what's supposed to be used or just regular white sugar? A while back I ran across a CFA nugget recipe that did call for powdered sugar. So glad I ran across your recipe because that first one was AWFUL. *Maybe it shouldn't have used powdered sugar. Lol. Thanks
Reviews
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This recipe is excellent and very close to the real thing. I think using peanut oil really makes a difference. I cut back the marinating time to 1/2 hour based on the previous review and used dill pickle juice. We had our first Chik-Fil-A when driving through PA - there are none within 100 miles of our home. We went out of our way to stop because we had heard so many things great things about their food and their American values. We all loved the food and the polite staff.
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Very close to Chik Fil A's recipe. Look no further. Thank you!!! First time I made this... we only had 4 people and I had a TON of nuggets. Not even one of them managed to get saved for leftovers. :((( I suppose that's a good thing. Definitely worth it and will be making this many more times! Great for a party. Excellent with Ranch! -
I loved it! So close to the original too. Next time though I am going marinate it under an hour to lessen the pickle taste, but still good. -
My husband had been wanting Chik-fil-A, but we refuse to eat there anymore. He also recently had to begin eating gluten-free, so eating fried chicken is usually out. I substituted the flour in this recipe with a gluten free all-purpose flour mix and the basil and oregano with 1 tsp total of italian seasoning, and the chicken came out very close to Chik-fil-A's. I don't like their chicken, but my husband was very excited to be able to have a gluten-free version of their original chicken sandwich, and he said it tasted almost like theirs. Thanks for a good recipe! -
HAVE to use dill pickle juice and powdered sugar. And a healthy dose of fresh ground pepper in the marinade.
see 27 more reviews
Tweaks
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These nuggets came out good. It doesn't taste like chic fil a, but still good. I made nuggets, didn't use the MSG, and used vegetable oil instead of peanut oil. I will be making these again.
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Instead of DILL pickle juice, try using Bread and Butter pickle juice. The sweetness the really the key factor. So yummy!!!!!! -
My husband had been wanting Chik-fil-A, but we refuse to eat there anymore. He also recently had to begin eating gluten-free, so eating fried chicken is usually out. I substituted the flour in this recipe with a gluten free all-purpose flour mix and the basil and oregano with 1 tsp total of italian seasoning, and the chicken came out very close to Chik-fil-A's. I don't like their chicken, but my husband was very excited to be able to have a gluten-free version of their original chicken sandwich, and he said it tasted almost like theirs. Thanks for a good recipe!
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This is really a great recipe. One of the closest I've found to the real thing. I did substitute 2 1/2 T powdered sugar for the 2 T of sugar and fried in canola oil as that is what I had on hand. Hands down the pickle juice marinade makes this recipe.
