You can make delicious chicken nuggets for your family in the air fryer without sacrificing the nutritional value of the meat. Layer a few frozen nuggets in the air fryer basket and cook at 400 degrees for 8 minutes. Then, serve them with your favorite dipping sauce. And, best of all, you don’t have to defrost them first. You can even use a frozen bag of chicken nuggets to make this process easier!
To get the most out of your air fryer, you can spritz the nuggets with cooking oil before removing them from the freezer. You can do the same with the fries and flip the nuggets over after six minutes. Ideally, you should be able to cook them thoroughly before serving. However, if you want them crispy, you can air fry them separately before serving them.
How to Air Fry Frozen Chicken Nuggets?
To prepare frozen chicken nuggets in the air fryer, place the nuggets in the basket. Make sure to use a high-quality air fryer basket. This type of air fryer does not need to be preheated. You can place frozen nuggets in the basket and set the timer for 12 minutes. While the timer is still running, you can flip the nuggets once they have reached the desired crispiness.
If you’re unsure how long to cook chicken nuggets, it’s best to check the packet. Nuggets can take anywhere from seven to twelve minutes, depending on the thickness. You can also adjust the cooking time by shaking the basket. For best results, cook your nuggets for a little longer if you don’t flip them halfway through. Then, check the temperature of the nuggets using a meat thermometer. You can serve your cooked chicken nuggets with barbecue sauce or honey mustard.
- Take out the bag the number of frozen nuggets you want to cook.
- Put the nuggets in the air fryer’s basket (no need to oil unless you want to).
- Air-fry the frozen chicken nuggets for 10 to 12 minutes at 400F/204C. If you use veggie nuggets, the cooking time will be between 6 and 8 minutes.
- Take the nuggets out of the air fryer and serve with the sauce you like best.
These numbered steps go with the numbered pictures above and are just an example of the full list of ingredients and how to cook frozen chicken nuggets in an air fryer.
Ingredients
- One package of Frozen chicken nuggets
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Remove the number of frozen nuggets you want to cook from the freezer bag.
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Place the nuggets into the air fryer basket (no need to oil unless you want to).
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Air Fry the frozen chicken nuggets at 400F/204C for 10-12 minutes. If you use veggie nuggets, your timing will be around 6-8 minutes.
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Remove nuggets from the air fryer and serve with your favorite dipping sauce.
Nutrition
How are Frozen Chicken Nuggets Processed?
When you Eat too Many Chicken Nuggets?
Are Frozen Chicken Nuggets Made with Real Chicken?
Breast meat is used to make chicken nuggets that are good for you. Sorbara Mora says, “Some brands also use ‘rib meat,’ which is an extension of breast meat and has the same nutritional value.” It would help if you avoided nuggets that don’t say what part of the chicken they use. All of our Chicken McNuggets® are made with boneless white-meat chicken that the USDA has checked. This chicken comes from chicken breast, tenderloins, and rib meat. Chicken, water, wheat flour, and less than 2% of the following: brown sugar, corn starch, dried garlic, dried onion, dried yeast, paprika extract, natural flavor, oat fiber, salt, spices, wheat starch, white whole wheat flour, and yellow corn flour.
How to Freeze Homemade Chicken Nuggets?
Step 1. Make as many chicken nuggets as you want (I think you should double or triple the recipe because people will ask for these a lot!)
Step 2. Freeze extra nuggets on a cooling rack (I have these) or a cookie sheet for 30–60 minutes. (You can skip this step, but the chicken nuggets will stick together, and the breading will come off when you pull them apart).
Step 3. Move the frozen homemade chicken nuggets from the cooling rack to a container that can go in the freezer. I think it’s best to measure enough for one meal at this step. So you won’t have to thaw out more than you need later.
Step 4. Preheat the oven to 375F and bake for 10-15 minutes!
Are Chicken Nuggets Unhealthy?
Even though most chicken nuggets have real chicken meat, that doesn’t make them a healthy choice. Eat This, Not That! says that many chicken nuggets have fillers and extra ingredients that add a lot of fat and calories. Most are also fried, adding fat and calories and making the outside crispy. Chicken nuggets are a favorite meal for kids, and many adults still eat them.
This dish is breaded and cooked chicken, which isn’t a bad idea, but the nutritional value of chicken nuggets can vary a lot. Fast food is rarely a healthy choice. For example, 225 calories, 14 grams of fat, and 345 milligrams of sodium are in a six-piece serving of Popeyes chicken nuggets (via Health). This isn’t a great nutritional profile since six chicken nuggets don’t fill you up very much.
Some of the worst chicken nuggets are from McDonald’s. Even though white boneless chicken is listed as the first ingredient, there’s no way to know how much real chicken is in their nuggets. Christopher Ochner, Ph.D., a research associate at the New York Obesity Nutrition Research Center at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital Center, told Livestrong, “White boneless chicken is almost pure protein.
It has a phenomenal 0.2 protein (grams) to kcal ratio and less than 20% fat.” “On the other hand, McNuggets have a very low protein-to-calorie ratio of 0.046, and 57 percent of their calories come from fat. This shows that the other ingredients besides the chicken mostly drive the macronutrient profile.”
Conclusion
One of the best things about air-frying frozen chicken nuggets is that you don’t have to worry about the fat. The hot air will cook the frozen chicken without causing it to get dry or crumbly. Plus, you won’t have to worry about the calories compared to oven-baked nuggets. And, since air-frying doesn’t involve dipping sauces, you can use healthier versions of the nuggets.
Once the air fryer has reached 400 degrees, spread out the frozen chicken nuggets in one layer in the basket. Cook the nuggets for approximately 10 to 12 minutes, depending on their size. Flipping them halfway through is usually enough if they’re small. Once cooked through, serve with your favorite dipping sauce. These nuggets are sure to become a hit with your family!