Homemade chicken nuggets in the air fryer

Air Fryer Frozen Chicken Nuggets is going to change the way you make frozen chicken nuggets in the kitchen!

Frozen Chicken Nuggets in the air fryer deliver crispy outsides and tender insides, in just minutes!

Frozen Chicken Nuggets in Air Fryer

In the past, we've always tossed our frozen chicken nuggets into the oven.

The time has come to ditch that oven method. We are now in love with the way frozen chicken nuggets in air fryer turns out!

There is just something about how quickly the air fryer cooks frozen foods. The makes the foods so crisp without any oil! That's a win in my book!

If you use frozen foods, you should check out our Air Fryer Corn Dogs, Air Fryer Pizza Rolls and Air Fryer Frozen Chicken Wings.

If you want to try your hand at a scratch recipe you could try these veggies nuggets.

You are going to quickly fall in love with this method of cooking!

If you do not believe me, you just have to try. The proof is in the product! We promise!

HOW TO MAKE FROZEN CHICKEN NUGGETS IN AIR FRYER

1. Remove the amount of frozen nuggets you want to cook from the freezer bag.
2. Place the nuggets into the air fryer basket (no need to oil unless you want to).
3. Air Fry the frozen chicken nuggets at 400F/204C for 10-12 minutes. If you are using veggie nuggets your timing will be around 6-8 minutes.
4. Remove nuggets from the air fryer and serve with your favorite dipping sauce.

These numbered steps match the numbered photos above and are for illustration purposes. For the complete list of ingredients and instructions for frozen chicken nuggets in air fryer, please see the recipe below.

What sauce to serve with air fryer frozen chicken nuggets

Sometimes its the sauce that makes the dish. When it comes to dipping sauces for chicken nuggets we have a few favorites.

The next time you are enjoying some chicken nuggets, consider these dipping sauces: Dr. Pepper BBQ Sauce and Easy Homemade BBQ Sauce.

Air Fryer Frozen Chicken Nugget Tips

Will Tyson Chicken Nuggets work in the air fryer?

Yes, Tyson chicken nuggets will work in the air fryer.

Honestly, just about every frozen chicken nugget that you find can work in the air fryer!

Whether you are using name branded Tyson Chicken Nuggets or using a store brand, you should be good!

Will Veggie Nuggets work in the air fryer?

Yes, veggie nuggets or vegetarian nuggets will air fry perfectly.

When making them, I've found that you need to lessen the cooking time.

I typically cook my frozen veggie nuggets at the same temp as above but lessen the cooking time to 6-8 minute.

Can I stack my chicken nuggets in the air fryer?

I would not stack the nuggets in the air fryer. I would spread them out side by side in your air fryer basket or air fryer tray. They can touch sides, but should not be stacked. This can affect cook time.

I am a sucker for crispy chicken. I am constantly craving (and cooking, and eating) chicken wings. I've made my entire apartment reek of oil just to fry chicken. I am legit ashamed of how many late-night orders of chicken tenders I've placed in my life.

So it tracks that when I saw a viral TikTok recipe for simple, air fryer chicken nuggets, I had to give it a go. The recipe from @doosifit on TikTok promised tasty, healthy nuggets that were incredibly easy to make. Spoiler alert, I found that to be true. Here's what you need to know.

SEE ALSO: The best air fryers for making crispy food faster than the oven

Ingredients

• About 8 oz. of ground chicken

• Nacho cheese Quest chips

• Seasoning of your choice (I used salt, pepper, garlic powder, and chili powder)

Directions

1. Season your chicken and mix it well to distribute the seasonings evenly.

2. Shape the ground chicken into nuggets. Eight ounces should yield about eight nuggets.

3. Dump your chips into a resealable plastic bag. After sealing the bag, smash the chips into crumbs.

4. Dip the nuggets into the chip crumbs to form a crust.

5. Air fry at 390 degrees for 10 minutes, flipping halfway through. Enjoy!

Here's how the process looked for @doosifit.

Just two real ingredients and ten minutes for homemade nuggets. Credit: Screenshots: TikTok / @doosifit

The details

OK, so first, a confession. We're always on a bit of tight schedule here at AirFryDay. And this week we had to ditch Mashable's office and film in my new apartment — which I just moved into Saturday — because of scary COVID levels in NYC. What I'm trying to say is I couldn't find Quest chips for the life of me. I searched two grocery stores, a CVS, and a Duane Reed. No dice.

So...I had to ditch the whole "healthy" thing and use Spicy Nacho Doritos rather than the protein chips. The sacrifices I make for content.

Now the actual process of making these nuggets is stupid easy. Like beyond simple. All you do is season some chicken then form nugget shapes out of that ground chicken. Basically just smoosh out a rectangle. Then you drop the nuggets in crushed chips and it coats itself. Ground chicken is incredibly sticky, so it takes zero effort to get the chips to stay on the nuggets. Then you just spray your air fryer with nonstick and plop the nuggets in.

Here's how mine looked before being cooked.

Ready to air fry. Credit: Mashable

I air fried at 390 degrees for 10 minutes — flipping the nuggies halfway through — and bing, bang, boom I had a pretty decent lunch. Here's the finished product.

Not bad! Credit: Mashable

The verdict? Listen, this isn't gourmet. It's not even nuggets like you'll get from a fast food joint — all greasy, juicy, and crispy. But the air fryer nuggets are crunchy. And the recipe is easy. They're sort of a simpler cousin of the tender recipe I tested a few weeks ago. The lean ground chicken is a little dry and the crisp chips lose a little bit of crunch as they soak into the meat.

Still, you get a relatively crunchy bite of chicken that's perfect to dip into your favorite sauce. The saltiness of the chips adds to the crust, even if it's not as good as a more complicated nugget. I don't think much would be lost subbing in the Quest chips for the Doritos, if you can get your hands on the healthier snack. The crust hardly even tasted like Doritos, it was more just a salty crunch, which I think any old chip could accomplish.

All in all, in like 15 minutes total, this recipe yields a perfectly fine version of a chicken nugget. That's kind of the ideal for a viral air fryer recipe — something simple and tasty, ready in a pinch.

How do you make chicken nuggets in the Airfryer?

Do you need oil to air fry chicken nuggets?

Are chicken nuggets better in the air fryer or oven?

Are chicken nuggets better in the air fryer?