Recipe for Sriracha Chicken Nuggets at Life's Ambrosia

Ah Chicken Nuggets. The ultimate kid food. Growing up, if my mom really wanted to make sure that dinner went off without a hitch, she would turn to chicken nuggets. My sister and I would be so busy eating that we would finish our dinner without the obligatory fight over who got to watch their favorite TV show afterwards. To this day I still enjoy a plate of chicken nuggets every now and then but my version gets a kick from some sriracha, crunch from panko and forget the fryer, these babies are baked not fried.

I know there are probably some chicken nugget purists out there saying to themselves “but…but…chicken nuggets are supposed to be fried.” But you wanna know a little something, they are actually really good baked too. And with this recipe, you don’t have to worry about a lack of crunch, the panko in this recipe helps give a little crunch to each tender bite of chicken.

Sriracha Chicken Nuggets Recipe

A spicy grown up version of everyone’s favorite kid food.

Serves 2 - 4

Prep time: 40 min

Cook time: 23 min

Ingredients:

1/3 cup sriracha
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 1/4 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into large chunks
1 egg
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon olive oil

Instructions:

In a bowl combine sriracha, rice vinegar and ginger. Stir in chicken pieces and coat completely. Cover and marinate for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place a cooling rack on top of a baking sheet and spray lightly with non-stick spray.
In one bowl beat an egg. In another bowl combine panko, kosher salt and garlic powder.
Remove chicken from marinade, dip into egg and then dredge into bread crumbs. Place breaded chicken on prepared cooling rack. Repeat process until all chicken is coated.
Once all chicken is breaded, drizzle the olive oil over the top and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Turn on the broiler and broil for 3 minutes, the bread crumbs will brown slightly.
Remove from oven, allow to cool slightly. Serve.

I have to confess that I dipped these in ranch, because well, I love chicken nuggets with ranch but an equally good dip would be sweet and sour sauce. Enjoy!

Responses to "Sriracha Chicken Nuggets"

“
I love that these are baked, not fried! That’s wonderful! I also like that you used grated ginger. I love the flavor of ginger so I’m pretty sure I will love these nuggets!
”

- Sook

“
LOVE sriracha, will have to give these a try!
”

- Wendy

“
YUM!!!!!
”

- Jenn

“
I saw your twitter post this morning and have been craving these ever since!
”

- Mrs. L

“
Wow, these look absolutely amazing! I can’t wait to try these! YUM!
”

- Brit

“
Now that is some delicious adult chicken nugget. My dd uses Sriracha instead of ketchup when she eats her nuggets. She is so going to love these.
”

- Soma

“
I’m off to find out what Sriracha is. :}
”

- Tanja Fussell

“
I’m making these now, and just noticed that olive oil is in the ingredient list, but not in the instructions. Is it supposed to be in the marinade, or drizzled on top before baking?
Thanks…can’t wait to taste these.
”

- Diane

“
Sorry Diane! Thanks for catching that. It is supposed to be drizzled on top before baking :) I’ll make the change right now.
”

- Deseree

“
We didn’t miss the olive oil, Deseree! Those babies were so good! My son devoured them.
This recipe’s a keeper! Thank you.
”

- Diane

“
What a great recipe to share! Thanks!
”

- Mrs Ergül

“
Found you via tastespotting.com. Mine didn’t look like that but man, how flavorful! Can’t wait to try it with shrimp or tofu. Stunned by the flavor. Thanks!
”

- barry

“
Diane and Barry- You’re welcome! I am glad you enjoyed them! Thank you everyone for your comments :)
”

- Deseree

“
i made these for dinner tonight, alongside kare udon. a spicy and fantastic meal!
”

- Helen

“
I wonder if this recipe could be adapted for shrimp or scallops. I am making these for dinner!
”

- Kathy

“
Delicious! We don’t have a large rack for the baking part, so we lined a tray with aluminum and otherwise followed directions, and it turned out well. Great memories of childhood, we often made frozen deep-fried chicken nuggets just bake ‘em in the oven to warm them up…now I have a healthy and almost-as-easy way to recreate those memories. Thanks so much!
”

- Adrian

“
Thanks Helen! Its nice to hear you enjoyed them :)
Kathy- I think you could adapt this for shrimp or scallops and it would be delicious. The baking time would be a lot less though, closer to 7 – 10 minutes depending on the size of the shrimp or scallops. Let me know if you try it, I’m curious.
You’re welcome Adrian. I’m happy to hear this reminded you of your childhood. I love when food does that.
”

- Deseree

“
I finally tried it out! (http://funandfearlessinbeantown.blogspot.com/2010/01/sriracha-chicken-nuggets.html) Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!
”

- Fun and Fearless in Beantown

“
Those look fantastic! Have you ever tried this sriracha sauce? It is preservative free and really good!

http://organicvillefoods.com/products/condiments/sriracha-sauce/
”

- Ashleigh @ simplehonestreal.blogspot.com