This Keto Chicken Nuggets recipe is made with simple ingredients found right in your pantry and is the best way to enjoy a quick and easy lunch that fits a low carb or keto diet. These homemade nuggets are made with canned chicken and are made in just a few basic steps and can be cooked in the air fryer, oven, or skillet.
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❤️ Why You'll Love This Recipe
Easy Keto Recipes: fans of keto chicken recipes will love these homemade chicken nuggets made with canned chicken
Simple ingredients: made with basic keto ingredients you will likely have in your pantry.
Family approved: your entire family will love these and they are better than any fast food chicken mcnuggets.
🥘 Ingredients
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Please scroll to the bottom of this post for the printable recipe card with full instructions.
Canned chicken: drained well and shredded with a fork.
Part-skim mozzarella cheese: pre-shredded cheese is ok to use in this recipe.
Almond flour: is added to the chicken and egg mixture to aid in binding the ingredients.
Large eggs
Onion powder
Garlic powder
Crushed pork rinds, these are option but add an outer crumb to the chicken nugget giving it crunch and texture.
Cooking spray
🍽 Equipment
Baking sheet
Small cookie scoop or tablespoon
Large bowl
Small shallow bowl
🔪 Instructions
- In a large 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 small bowl. Dip each chicken nugget into the crushed pork rinds, coating all sides.
Oven method:
- Place the nugget on a baking sheet lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Spritz a light coating of cooking spray on top of the nuggets.
- Bake in a 400 degree preheated oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown, flipping the chicken nuggets over half way thru cooking time.
Air Fryer method:
- Place the keto nuggets in the air fryer basket and place in the air fryer. Air fry at 400 degrees for 7-10 minutes, turning halfway through cooking time, until golden.
Pan Fry method:
- Heat 1 tablespoon avocado oil over medium heat until hot. Place chicken nuggets in hot oil and cook for 4-5 minutes on each side until golden brown and hot. Transfer cooked nuggets to a paper towel lined plate to absorb any excess grease.
💭 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.
- If using the oven method, do not use parchment paper to line the baking sheet. The nuggets do not crisp up as well if you do.
📖 Variations
- Use plain or different flavored pork rinds as the coating (be sure there is no sugars involved in the making of these).
- If pan frying, olive oil can be substituted for avocado oil.
- Add 1-2 tablespoons of parmesan cheese and a dash or two of cayenne pepper for added flavor.
- Substitute 1 tablespoon coconut flour for the almond flour.
- Almond flour can be used to coat the chicken nuggets instead of pork rinds.
🙋 FAQ's
For 6 keto chicken nuggets you will consume 6 grams of net carbs compared to McDonalds 6 pack which is 14 carbs.
I do not recommend using raw meat for this particular keto chicken nugget recipe however you can use cooked shredded chicken in place of the canned chicken.
🍽 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
Refrigerate: store in an airtight container in the fridge up to 4 days
Freeze: store in a freezer safe airtight container up to 3 months.
Reheat: warm frozen nuggets in the air fryer or oven at 350 degrees for 7 minutes (air fryer) or 15 minutes (oven) until warmed through or warm in the microwave for 30-40 seconds.
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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📖 Recipe
Keto Chicken Nuggets
Equipment
- Baking Sheet (if oven baking)
- Large skillet (if pan frying)
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.
Oven method:
- Place the nugget on a baking sheet lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Spritz a light coating of cooking spray on top of the nuggets.Bake in a 400 degree preheated oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown, flipping the chicken nuggets over half way thru cooking time.
Air Fryer method:
- Place the keto nuggets in the air fryer basket and place in the air fryer. Air fry at 400 degrees for 7-10 minutes, turning halfway through cooking time, until golden.
Pan Fry method:
- Heat 1 tablespoon avocado oil over medium heat until hot. Place chicken nuggets in hot oil and cook for 4-5 minutes on each side until golden brown and hot. Transfer cooked nuggets to a paper towel lined plate to absorb any excess grease.
Video
Notes
- Place the nugget on a baking sheet lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Spritz a light coating of cooking spray on top of the nuggets.
- Bake in a 400 degree preheated oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown, flipping the chicken nuggets over half way thru cooking time.
- Place the keto nuggets in the air fryer basket and place in the air fryer. Air fry at 400 degrees for 7-10 minutes, turning halfway through cooking time, until golden.
- Heat 1 tablespoon avocado oil over medium heat until hot. Place chicken nuggets in hot oil and cook for 4-5 minutes on each side until golden brown and hot. Transfer cooked nuggets to a paper towel lined plate to absorb any excess grease.
Jennifer
This is such a great idea for folks like me who are watching their carbs!
Angela
These were fantastic! My entire family loved them, looking forward to making them again. I appreciate this easy & delicious recipe.
Serena Tawil
I can think of many different sauces to use with these but probably my favorite one would be my husband’s homemade hummus!
Theresa Krier
My grandkids will love these, I would be serving with ranch, sweet and sour plus honey and mustard sauce and of course fries. Thank you ! kpkrier@kci.net
Keith
I make these for my family almost once per week now. We add extra cheese to really get them cheesy. Great recipe and thank you for sharing.
Keith
Judy Armstrong
I got an air fryer for Christmas so I am looking for recipes to try; This looks pretty easy so will give it a try! French frys sound like a good addition in the air fryer as well. I'm a big fan of teriyaki sauce so will most likely do that as a dipping sauce for the chicken!
Barb Hahn
A coconut sweet and sour dipping sauce jumps out at me! That tangy taste with chicken would just pop those nuggets right into heaven! A side of skinny garlic bread and a small side dinner salad and we're good! Enjoy!
Kat
Made these using a mini muffin tin in the oven (no flipping required!) and used pepper jack for my cheese. No need to use the pork rinds since they were crunchy enough on the outside. Delish!! Thanks for the recipe!
Irene Casimiro
This is very good and french fries go good with it. May as well as you are already using the air fryer. And some nice Texas toast.
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!!!!
JK
A great dipping sauce for this would be tzatziki sauce or a blend of hot sauce and mustard.
Patty J Shay
I would make this with some fresh cut veggies and sour cream, dill dip, and some olive oil, roasted potato chunks!
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.
Katie
I know it would affect the nutritional content but could I sub regular flour for the almond flour or is there another ingredient I could substitute? I don’t have almond flour
Shelby Law Ruttan
I wouldn't substitute regular flour, almond flour is basically ground nuts. If you have any almonds, pecans, or walnuts that you could grind that would work better. You could try leaving it out altogether or even substitute finely crushed pork rinds.
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