Healthy Homemade Chicken Nuggets Fried in Beef Tallow
In this blog post, I'm sharing my recipe for healthy homemade chicken nuggets fried in beef tallow.
Chicken nuggets: quite possibly the all-time favorite meal among kids in America. I don’t know anyone under 10 who doesn’t love chicken nuggets.
It's an easy, healthy recipe for homemade chicken nuggets that children will love. My kids say this recipe is the best!
If you don't have beef tallow, you can also use lard or coconut oil (expeller pressed).
Why Use Beef Tallow to Fry Chicken Nuggets?
If you have been watching the news lately with RFK Jr. taking office as HHS Secretary, you may have missed that beef tallow is sweeping the nation.
It's MAHA, baby!
I'm so thrilled about this because I've been extolling the virtues of frying and baking with grass-fed beef tallow for almost 20 years.
Who knew that a day like this would come in our lifetime?
Why Make Homemade Chicken Nuggets?
Why not just buy store-bought chicken nuggets or in a bag? Why not just get chicken nuggets at a fast food place?
The problem with most chicken nuggets is they are full of junk like MSG, trans fats, and petrochemicals. Not only that, but they're fried in nasty seed oils like soybean oil or canola oil.
And of course the chicken comes from battery chickens from factory farms, which are pumped full of hormones and antibiotics and fed genetically modified corn and soybeans. They're also given feed sprayed heavily with fluoridated pesticides – so if you're trying to avoid fluoride, you gotta avoid conventional chicken nuggets.
Check out the ingredients for McDonald’s Chicken Nuggets:
McDonald’s Chicken Nuggets:
Chicken, water, salt, modified corn starch, sodium phosphates, chicken broth powder (chicken broth, salt, and natural flavoring (chicken source)), seasoning (vegetable oil, extracts of rosemary, mono, di- and triglycerides, lecithin). Battered and breaded with water, enriched bleached wheat flour (niacin, iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), yellow corn flour, bleached wheat flour, modified corn starch, salt, leavening (baking soda, sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium aluminum phosphate, monocalcium phosphate, calcium lactate), spices, wheat starch, dried whey, corn starch. Batter set in vegetable shortening. Cooked in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, (may contain partially hydrogenated soybean oil and/or partially hydrogenated corn oil and/or partially hydrogenated canola oil and/or cottonseed oil and/or sunflower oil and/or corn oil). TBHQ and citric acid added to help preserve freshness. Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an anti-foaming agent. Source: Fast Food Facts: McDonald’s Ingredients List
I was going to mark the unhealthy ingredients in bold — but then I found I was bolding the whole dang list — LOL!
The most frightening of all is the tertiary butylhydroquinone, an antioxidant derived from petroleum that is either sprayed on the nugget or the inside of the box it comes in to help preserve freshness! TBHQ (tertiary butylhydroquinone) is a form of butane (lighter fluid). The FDA allows processors to use it sparingly on food. Source: Chicken Nuggets, Twinkies and Candy… Do You Really Know What You’re Eating?
Needless to say, this is not food, folks. This is a bunch of petrochemicals, denatured flours, and rancid hydrogenated oils (trans fats). Not to mention GMOs.
What Makes My Homemade Chicken Nuggets Recipe So Healthy?
- Fried in healthy beef tallow, lard or coconut oil – no seed oils!
- Pastured or free-range, organic chicken
- Marinated in organic whole milk yogurt
- Sea salt instead of refined table salt
- Organic sprouted whole wheat flour instead of bleached white flour
- Served with nutritious raw honey or organic ketchup
- No petrochemicals, MSG, cancer-causing preservatives, or lighter fluid
Recipe Tips
You’ll be surprised at how easy this recipe is to make.
How to Serve
Serve these homemade chicken nuggets with whatever you like — homemade mac & cheese, mashed potatoes (with cream and butter), or homemade sourdough biscuits. They would also go great on a fresh green salad with grated cheddar cheese, cherry tomatoes and cucumbers.
And don’t forget the honey for dipping. Your kids will love it.
What To Use if You Don't Have Beef Tallow on Hand
If you don't have beef tallow or lard, you can use expeller-pressed (refined) coconut oil. It is flavorless so you won’t taste any coconut flavor, but it has a high smoke point like the tallow and lard, so it works great.
Coconut oil is also shelf-stable and will keep for years (you need to refrigerate or freeze the lard and tallow). You can also strain coconut oil, store it, and use it a few times.
What to Use Instead of Yogurt
If you don't want to use yogurt, you can use buttermilk.
However, I learned this tip from my daughter: never buy buttermilk. It's so easy to make it yourself. For every cup of whole milk, mix in one teaspoon of vinegar or fresh lemon juice.
What to Use Instead of Sprouted Flour
You can use white flour if you don't have sprouted flour.
I buy sprouted flour in bulk – because it's a lot cheaper per ounce – and store in the chest freezer. You can also sprout your own flour or soak flour with some yogurt or whey. I'll post those recipes soon.
Please, No Air Fryers!
I do NOT recommend using an air fryer or any cookware that is non-stick (Teflon). They are full of toxic aluminum and other chemicals. Avoid!
Homemade Chicken Nuggets Fried in Beef Tallow
Equipment
Garlic crusher
Chef's knife
Cutting board
Mixing bowl, large, Pyrex glass baking dish, or gallon-sized plastic freezer bag
Dutch oven or large stainless steel saucepan
Candy thermometer (optional)
Tongs
Small finger bowls or ramekins
Ingredients
Yellow or white onion (1)
Garlic cloves (2-3)
Chicken thighs, boneless, pastured or free-range organic (3 pounds)
Organic whole milk yogurt or buttermilk – see recipe notes to make buttermilk (2 cups) — enough to cover the chicken
Paprika (1/2 tsp)
Cayenne pepper (1-2 pinches)
Beef tallow or lard or expeller pressed (refined) coconut oil (2 cups)
Sprouted flour (1 1/2 – 2 cups)
Sea salt (1/2 tsp)
Black pepper, freshly ground (1/2 tsp)
Raw honey or organic ketchup for dipping
Instructions
- Using a chef's knife and cutting board, chop the onion and set aside.
- Crush the garlic and set aside.
- Cut the chicken thighs into into nugget-sized pieces. Set aside and wash your hands.
- Marinate the chicken in yogurt (or buttermilk) in a large mixing bowl, Pyrex glass baking dish or plastic freezer bag.
- Stir in the chopped onion, crushed garlic, paprika and cayenne pepper to the container of chicken and yogurt.
- Cover the bowl or the Pyrex dish (or zip the plastic bag) and put in the fridge for a minimum of 4 hours and up to 2 days.
- Set a Dutch oven or large stainless steel saucepan on medium heat and add the 2 cups of beef tallow, lard or expeller pressed coconut oil.
- Let the oil get hot. The oil will be hot enough when it starts to bubble — but not so hot that it’s smoking. You don't need a thermometer, but if you want, you can use a candy thermometer and bring the temperature of the oil up to at least 350 to 375 degrees F.
- While the oil is getting hot, place chicken in a colander and drain off any excess buttermilk or yogurt.
- In a large plastic freezer bag, add the sprouted flour, sea salt, ground pepper and the chicken mixture.
- Zip the bag to seal, and shake until the chicken is completely coated. You can also dredge the chicken in the flour mixture in a large bowl if you prefer.
- Add the chicken pieces to the pan of hot oil and fry for 3-5 minutes on each side, until dark golden brown.
- Using tongs, remove chicken nuggets from the skillet and place on a cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet, or on a plate or cookie sheet lined with a paper towel or parchment paper.
- Add sea salt to taste.
- Serve with small bowls or ramekins of honey or ketchup for dipping.
Got Questions?
Ask me in the comments. You can also email me if you prefer at annmarie at annmariemichaels.com.
Sign Up for My Free Email Updates
Please subscribe to my free email updates so you never miss a post.
Pin This Recipe
Please Donate to Help Me Stay Alive
Here's the link to my GiveSendGo to donate.
There are more links below to other pay platforms.
Also, please share this. I have almost no reach. Thank you!
GiveSendGo: https://www.givesendgo.com/annmariemichaels
Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/cheeseslave
Venmo: https://account.venmo.com/u/Ann-Michaels
Cash App: https://cash.app/$cheeseslave
Help Support Me & My Work
I was completely de-platformed on Google in the summer of 2019, banned on Pinterest, Facebook and Instagram in 2020, and taken off Twitter in 2021. I have lost 90% of my income. My husband divorced me in 2022 which is when I lost my home, and I have two kids to support. Everything helps!
For just $5 a month (or $45/year – $3.75 month,) you can become a premium member of my blog and help keep me blogging.
Thank you to everyone who has continued to follow me, share my work, donate, and pray.
You mean the world to me and I will never forget what you did for me in my time of need.
Enter My Giveaway: Lifewave Patches
Click here for a chance to win a month supply of Lifewave patches.
Join My Detox & Heal Class
Are you in pain or suffering from health issues? Do you know you can heal naturally?
Click here to sign up for my online class, Detox & Heal.
Need Help with Your Health or Finances?
If you're experiencing hardships physically or financially, or you have family members or friends who are, this post is for you.
- Are you suffering from chronic pain or other health issues?
- Are you struggling to make ends meet?
- Do you wish you could do more to help the people you love?
Click here to learn how I am starting over with my health and finances and how I can help you, too.
Disclaimer
Information found on this site is meant for educational and informational purposes only, and to motivate you to make your own health care and dietary decisions based upon your own research and in partnership with your health care provider. It should not be relied upon to determine dietary changes, a medical diagnosis or courses of treatment.
I have marketing and business connections to brands, topics and/or products on this site. Through the use of affiliate links on this site, I may collect fees from purchases made.