This Keto Chicken Nuggets recipe is about to change the way you think about eating low carb! They are one of my favorite keto air fryer recipes made with simple ingredients found right in the pantry, and it is the best way to enjoy a quick and easy lunch that fits the keto diet.
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Homemade chicken nuggets are a super easy keto recipe to make using canned chicken, shredded mozzarella cheese, almond flour, spices, and pork rinds. They are a recipe the entire family will love and are far healthier than the fast food restaurant version of chicken nuggets.
❤️ Why I Love This Recipe
✔️ It is a low carb chicken nuggets recipe the whole family will love and is far better than the deep fried regular chicken nuggets with a flour based batter.
✔️ Air fryer chicken nuggets are extra crispy from the pork rind breading on the outside and taste better than the fast food counterpart.
✔️ It is easy to bake up a double batch these keto friendly chicken nuggets in the oven for special occasions or game day parties.
🥘 Ingredients
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Canned chicken
Large eggs
Part-skim mozzarella cheese
Onion powder
Garlic powder
Crushed pork rinds, these give an outer crumb to the chicken nugget adding added crunch.
Cooking spray
🍽 Equipment
Baking sheet
Small cookie scoop or tablespoon
Large bowl
Small bowl (shallow)
🔪 Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the canned chicken, almond flour, mozzarella cheese, onion powder, garlic powder, and black pepper (if using) until well incorporated.
- Using a small cookie scoop or tablespoon, scoop out a portion of the chicken and egg mixture and form into the shape of a nugget.
- Place the ground pork rinds in a shallow bowl. Dip each chicken nugget into the crushed pork rinds, coating all sides. Place the nugget on a baking sheet lightly sprayed with cooking spray or on an air fryer basket or tray. Spritz a light coating of cooking spray on top of the nuggets.
- Bake in a 400 degree preheated oven or air fryer for 15 minutes, flipping the chicken nuggets over half way thru, until crispy.
💭 Top Tips
- Be sure to drain the canned chicken well.
- Before mixing any of the ingredients into the chicken, break the chicken pieces up with a fork or use a food processor to mix everything together.
- If not using pre crushed pork rinds, use a blender or food processor to crush the pork rinds.
- I do not recommend using parchment paper if baking the recipe.
📖 Variations
- Use plain or different flavored pork rinds as the coating (be sure there is no sugars involved in the making of these).
- Substituting coconut flour for almond flour is not recommended for this recipe as the flavor of coconut flour is too prominent.
- Add 1-2 tablespoons of parmesan cheese and a dash or two of cayenne pepper for added flavor.
- Stir in 1 tbs of hot sauce or sugar free barbecue sauce to the nugget mixture.
🙋 FAQ's
There is 1 net carb in each keto nugget.
I do not recommend using raw meat for this particular keto chicken nugget recipe.
🍽 Serve with...
Serve these delicious keto chicken nuggets with your favorite dipping sauce. I love to serve these with homemade ranch dressing or chipotle salad dressing.
Storage
Store keto nuggets in an air tight container in the fridge up to 3 days and in the freezer for up to 3 months.
🏫 The last word
- These keto chicken recipe is one of the easiest and tastiest ones out there, and the best part is the cooking method is very versatile. They can be baked, air fried, or skillet fried
- Each nugget has 1 net carb, 6 piece chicken nuggets are 1 serving
- This is an easy recipe that even kids will love to make
- Keto cooking is not hard. Using canned chicken in this recipe was a great way to get the perfect balance of flavors fast
Related Recipes
Boneless Chicken Wings in the Air Fryer
Sun Dried Tomato Chicken | Skillet Recipe
Chicken Enchilada Casserole - low carb recipe
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When you make this recipe, please comment below and let me know what you think. I'd love it if you tag me on Instagram @grumpyshoneybunch or #grumpyshoneybunch so I can see your photos!
If you love this recipe, please leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating
📖 Recipe
Keto Chicken Nuggets
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Ingredients
- 12.5 ounce canned chicken drained
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup part-skim shredded mozzarella cheese
- ½ cup almond flour
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ¾ cup crushed pork rinds
- cooking spray
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°. In a large mixing bowl, combine the canned chicken, almond flour, mozzarella cheese, egg, onion powder, and garlic powder until well incorporated.
- Using a small cookie scoop or tablespoon, scoop out a portion and shape into the shape of a nugget.
- Dip each chicken nugget into the crushed pork rinds, coating all sides. Place the nugget on a cookie sheet lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Spritz a light coating of cooking spray on top of the nuggets.
- Bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until crispy, flipping the chicken nuggets over half way thru.
Barbara Owen
I often rotisserie an entire chicken. Would these nuggets be OK if the chicken was shredded? I only use pastured, soy free chicken because of food allergies.
Shelby Law Ruttan
Hi Barbara, I would chop the chicken up into small pieces rather than shred it and using a rotisserie chicken is a great idea!
Shelby
Kim
I have made this delicious!!!!
Pamela Vignapiano
Would you happen to have more keto recipes? This was simple and delicious.
Shelby Law Ruttan
Hi Pamela, yes! I have a whole section devoted to keto. If you navigate to the recipes page you will find it as a category. I am also publishing new keto recipes right now, so my newest posts are mostly keto also. And, I do have a new cookbook for sale on amazon, it is called the Clean Ketogenic Cookbook for Beginners. I will have it linked up with my other two cookbooks on my site today. Thank you for trying the recipe! Shelby
cheryl
I used chicken drumstick meat I cook as stock. I processed I'm the food processor. Subbed half the cheese with cheddar. They were fabulous.
Amanda
These are amazing! I have made these about 5 times now. It is such a simple recipe. I used my food processor to shred the canned chicken more. These chicken nuggets are good to pair with anything.
Shelby Law Ruttan
Hi Amanda, so glad you love the recipe and the food processor is a great idea and would work for batch processing also! Thank you so much. Shelby
Amanda
I have literally now made this same recipe 10 times. Its so easy to make and use with so many other different recipes. I have used this with keto Chicken parm lasagna and also along side cauliflower tots.
Jason
Been craving chicken nuggets. I accidently added only 1/2 cup of cheese (I only had Colby) but they still held together and tasted great.
Andrea
Any alteration in time or temp when using the air fryer? Really looking forward to trying this, might be part of my Super Bowl spread.
Shelby Law Ruttan
Hi Andrea, Basically cook these in the air fryer the same as oven instructions, Air fry at 400 for 7 minutes, flip, and air fry 7-8 minutes more, until crispy. I hope you enjoy these, my family loves them! Shelby
Lisa G
These were great! I don't like pork rinds at all, but you really don't taste it or smell it once the nuggets are cooked. The pork rinds give them a great crispy texture!
I added a dash of cayenne pepper. I think a tbsp or two of grated parmesan would be a terrific addition, too. Thank you for the recipe!
Shelby Law Ruttan
Hi Lisa, so glad you loved the recipe! Thank you for trying it and I love the addition of cayenne! I agree with the parmesan cheese also. 🙂
Amanda
These were amazing! They curved my craving for fast food chicken nuggets. SO good. I paired them with green beans and it was fabulous.
Shelby Law Ruttan
Hi Amanda, So glad you loved the recipe! We make these often as well as the buffalo chicken chaffles. So delicious and satisfying! Thank you! Shelby
RobinZ
This is the best recipe yet for nuggets. So simple and good ingredients. It’s a win win!👍🏼
Shelby Law Ruttan
Hi Robin! Thanks for stopping back to rate the recipe! Happy you enjoyed it. Sheby
Karla
I was staring into the pantry trying to come up with a lunch idea when I spied a can of chicken. Googled what to do with it and found this recipe which I am incredibly grateful for! These were so easy and super tasty. I didn't have mozzarella so just used an Italian blend but it worked. Hubby declared "wow something smells good" when he entered the house and was overly excited to have chicken nuggets and sugar free dip for lunch. Haha as far as he was concerned these were as good as gourmet. Will definitely make again.
Shelby Law Ruttan
Hi Karla, so glad you found the recipe and that you and your hubby enjoyed it! Shelby
Shellie
These look so good. I want to make them but was wondering how important the mozzarella cheese is in this recipe? After having covid my taste has been altered greatly and I'm not able to eat cheese anymore in anything 😢 what would I be able to use as a substitute for mozzarella if its in there to use to help hold the ingredients together? Thank you .
Shelby Law Ruttan
Hi Shellie, I think could make these without the cheese and increase the almond flour to 1 cup. They should still hold together. I have not done this so I am not sure how they would turn out, but the egg is what helps hold the nugget together. Let me know if you try and I'm happy that you were able to recover from covid! Shelby
Lauren
These were delicious and so easy! I was so surprised how much these tasted like traditional nuggets! Thanks so much for sharing. 🙂
Shelby Law Ruttan
Hi Lauren, thank you for stopping by and sharing your experience! Shelby
SCOTT & VANESSA
Trying this recipe right now. I am disappointed to realize they never mentioned adding the egg into the chkn & chz mixture. I did see the egg on the ingredient list. Thankfully I did my own twist at the end, by dipping my chkn & chz nuggets in flour 1st, egg 2nd, then a mix of ground up seasoned pork cracklings (waffle chips I had leftover from chick fil a & some bread crumbs, I know not entirely keto friendly, but we're still allowed the few carbs a day okay lol)
They are halfway done right now, just flipped them they are looking good.
Shelby Law Ruttan
Hello Scott & Vanessa, thanks for stopping by and for trying the recipe. I fixed the instruction to be sure the egg was in there. Thank you for letting me know. Hope they turned out with your variation! Shelby
Liz
Love how quick this recipe is!
Shelby Law Ruttan
Hi Liz! Thanks for coming back to rate the recipe, it is very much appreciated! Shelby
Kayla DiMaggio
Love the idea of using canned chicken in these chick nuggets. So cheap and budget friendly!
Shelby Law Ruttan
Thanks! We also just started using tuna fish and salmon as a test and my grandson loves them both!
Cathleen Childs
These chicken nuggets are calling my name!! I am definitely going to give this a go this weekend, thank you so much for the recipe 🙂
Shelby Law Ruttan
Hi Cathleen! Thank you for stopping by. I hope you love them as much as we do! Sheby