Buttermilk Chicken Nuggets

 I thought it would be fun to have chicken nuggets for a change and of course I would never buy store bought so I wondered how I could make these more adult. I added some crackers to the breading along with some spices and found they jazzed them up quite nicely. I created a dip by mixing equal parts mustard, honey and hot pepper jelly and found they completed my grown up kid's meal. Big Pete loved them and ate his whole meal so he got to have dessert and stay up an extra hour later!

You will need:

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts - cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 3-4 tbsp Frank's Hot Sauce - which is a medium heat sauce
• 1 egg
• 4 cracker or a handful of corn chips
• 1 cup regular breadcrumbs
• 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs (if you don't have any use all regular breadcrumbs)
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 tbsp Italian seasoning - mine has hot chili flakes if yours doesn't add some
• salt/pepper
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup flour
• olive oil to come almost to halfway up chicken nuggets

Sauces

• mustard and honey and hot pepper jelly (all equal parts mixed)
• honey
• bar-b-q sauce

Step 1: slice and cube your chicken.

Step 2: add cubed chicken, buttermilk and hot sauce to a bowl. Marinate 2 hours and up to 8 hours.

Step 3: in a food processor add a few of your favourite crackers, breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning and process until mixed and fine.

Step 4: prepare standard breading station. One bowl with 2 eggs whisked. One bowl with flour  and one bowl with breadcrumb mix. 

Step 5: drain and pat your chicken on paper towels to remove most of the buttermilk. Dip chicken chunks into flour first until coated. Once coated in flour add to egg mix and finally add chunks to breadcrumb mix. Press breadcrumbs onto chicken nuggets to get a nice coating.

Step 6: once breaded place on a plate or tray so they do not touch each other. Heat oil in a deep pot or pan. I add only enough oil to come to halfway up chicken pieces. Once oil is hot enough add a few pieces at a time and cook on the first side and then flip to cook on the other side. I like my chicken to be nicely browned. Continue until all pieces are cooked. Once they come out of the oil sprinkle immediately with salt and pepper.

I prepared a grown up mustard sauce by adding equal parts mustard, honey and hot pepper jelly.