Quick and easy Gluten Free Chicken Nuggets -- just like McDonald's

I found a recipe for Batter Fried Chicken Nuggets over at the GFCF Recipes Yahoo site at Recipe Circus (so, no credit to me for t
he recipe).

At first glance, I didn't think it could possibly work, meaning I did not believe I'd end up with the tasty, fried fast food nuggets that you can buy in many drive thru's - at least not gluten free chicken nuggets with the same taste. 

Well, to my surprise, it does. I - of course - played with the recipe a little bit. It's hard to not tinker in the kitchen and make a recipe your own. The best part of this recipe is that you can use basic gluten-free flours and it turns out pretty much like the nuggets you'd buy at McDonald's. 

I made the recipe specifically using Bob's Red Mill products. Why? Reliability. I found Bob's to have the best selection of gluten free flours and other products, available in many stores - including the grocery down the street, and the quality was always high. So, that's why I endorse Bob's.

Specifically, I used these two flours to make the flour mix:

- Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Brown Rice Flour

- Bob's Red Mill Tapioca Flour

I'll point out that there are affiliate links in this post, which means I may receive a small commission if you click a link and make a purchase. Please know that I only promote by name and link products that I've personally tried and endorse. I never promote any product that I personally would not feed to my family or endorse to friends. The compensation received is used to support the blog.

So, if this is the style of gluten free chicken nuggets that you're looking for - this is the recipe.

• Chicken: I cut up about 3 breasts.
• 1/3 cup gluten free flour (I used about 80 percent brown rice flour and 20 percent tapioca)
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1 1/2 tsp Heinz vinegar (or other gf brand)
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/3 cup water

Wash your chicken and then cut it up into nugget sized pieces. 

Mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Then, combine the vinegar and soda in another small bowl, quickly dump it in the flour as it reacts. Then, quickly add the water. Whisk well. Let this sit for about 5 minutes. It thickens. 

Meanwhile, heat some oil in a frying pan. Mix your chicken pieces in the batter and let them sit in there while the oil heats. When hot, fry until golden brown and cooked through.

Trust me, this works. And it's quick. And it's very simple. Say hello to homemade drive through gluten free chicken nuggets!

Gluten free chicken nuggets recipe -- my versions

I realized over the weekend that I had failed to post one of the most-requested recipes in GFCF land! Chicken nuggets.

So, here, I'll offer a couple different versions for you. However, this is very adjustable, depending on your child's likes and dislikes.

Basic fried nuggets:

- cooking oil (I used Tuscan Sun, non-GMO)
- Chicken (I use breast meat)
- GF flour mix (any will do. I have used different mixes. Some really like frying with chickpea flour mixes. I've also used a sorghum mix with tapioca starch. Use what you like. For today, I will use 1/3 cup sorghum, 1/3 cup tapioca and 1/3 cup potato starch.)
- Spices: add what you like. I add this: 1 tablespoon chili powder, 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, 1 tsp sea salt. Other possibilities: black pepper, cumin, cilantro, parsley, oregano, etc.
- Optional: ketchup
- Optional: egg substitute (I use Ener-G for this)

So, pour some oil in a frying pan. Heat on medium high to high. Mix the dry ingredients. Add your spices. Make the egg substitute.

Wash, trim and cut your chicken into nugget pieces.

Now, version 1: mix spices into flour mix and stir till blended. Coat chicken with dry mix. Fry several minutes on each side until cooked through.

Version 2: mix spices and flour. Dip chicken into flour mix, coat with egg sub, dip again in flour mix until coated. Fry several minutes on each side. This is a crispier chicken. You could also add a little baking soda to this too. Try it out.

Version 3: With either of the above two versions, you can coat the chicken lightly with ketchup before dipping and coating. Adds a welcome flavor to the mix. Very good.

Version 4: Try baking these instead of frying. I've done this with the "crispier" version. Baked on 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, flipping halfway through. I've also done chicken strips this way. I think if you did the non-crispy version, you might cook less and maybe have to dab some oil on top halfway through so they didn't dry out.

Version 5: With the fry versions, you could also do this "popcorn" style, simply by cutting the nuggets into smaller pieces, and then cooking them for less time.

I purposely didn't include cooking times here because everybody's pans heat differently and some people use real fryers and all ovens are different, etc. etc.

Anyway, hope this works for you. If not, check for more GFCF nugget recipes at Recipe Circus, like this one here.

Garlicky chicken

I've read how garlic is a natural detoxifier and I try to work it into as many recipes as possible. Others to consider, and read about on your own, are cilantro and cumin. Back to garlic. This dish is very simple -- Garlic Chicken.

Ingredients
-----------
2 chicken breasts, trimmed and cut into strips or nuggets.
2 tsp canola oil
1 tsp sea salt
2 cloves garlic, crushed
tapioca starch

OK, this takes no time at all. Cut the chicken and put in a mixing bowl. Add the oil and stir to coat. You just want enough oil to coat the chicken, not drench it. You don't add oil to the pan. Next, sprinkle the sea salt and enough tapioca starch to coat, maybe a couple tablespoons. Stir the chicken to get that light coating on. This isn't a coating like a chicken nugget, just a very light starch coating. As the pan's heating to medium high, crush the garlic and chop. When hot, toss the chicken in along with the garlic, mixing it around. Stir to cook all sides evenly. Serve.

GFCF and egg-free Hash browns -- McDonald's style

I hate to measure my cooking successes by how close I can replicate McDonald's foods. But, there's just a few things that I can't resist. This is one.

This hash brown recipe is another example of using one recipe in several ways. And, it's egg-free, soy-free, gluten-free and casein-free. It can be corn and rice free too with a little flour switching.

- one recipe for gfcf chicken nuggets batter

- 3-4 potatoes, shredded or diced in small pieces (your preference)

- 1/2 medium onion, shredded or diced in small pieces

Make batter according to directions and let sit 5 mins. Shred potato and onion. Mix into batter. Spoon into hot pan with 1/4 inch of oil or less. Form into shapes, if desired, using greased cookie cutters - circle, etc.

Fry on both sides until golden brown.

This was a treat last weekend. I don't think we'll do this too often due to health reasons.

A GFCF TVP burger

OK -- this recipe won't be for everyone, especially if you're avoiding soy. If you can eat soy, this would be an interesting experiment. I've tinkered with TVP lately -- that's textured vegetable protein. It's really dry chunks of soy that you can reconstitute with water quickly and make meat substitutes, like burgers, nuggets, chili, etc. I'm using it for myself -- trying to lose some weight. The TVP is high in protein and has some carbs. It's a good way to get protein food without the high cholesterol in regular beef. I posted this recently on the SparkPeople website -- a health site.

Basic TVP burger

Ingredients
1 cup dry TVP -- you can find this at a health store. It's inexpensive.
1/2 onion for 1/4 cup
Shredded carrot for 1/2 cup
Corn/tapioca starch 1/2 cup
Olive or canola oil 2 tbsp
1/2 cup fat free chicken broth
1/4 cup water
spices

Boil broth and water, add spices -- I use soul seasoning, pepper, salt. After boiling, pour over dry TVP. Sit 10 mins.
Add chopped onion, shredded carrot and starch. Stir together.
Heat half the oil in a pan on medium high. Mold a 1/2 cup of the mix into a burger shape and brown on each side -- two burgers at a time.

Number of Servings: 6

Nutritional Info
Fat: 4.5g
Carbohydrates: 20.6g
Calories:193.8
Protein: 16.2g

Crok pork roast -- an easy gfcf dinner

Now that my children are a little older -- 4 & 6 -- and not so stuck in the burger, nuggets, sticks phase -- I've dared to experiment a little, branch out our taste buds into some more adult areas. Like pork roast. Why? For a few reasons, and some very selfish. I'd like my kids, who would love to eat chicken pieces and potatoes for the rest of their lives, to learn to appreciate other foods. I know this will be a challenge. Like so many of our kids, mine are stuck in a rut. Deviation from their menu will not be accepted lightly. But, I've learned a few tricks over the years. The one that works best is to make my plate first, sit and eat while their food continues to "heat up." They always, well 75% of the time, want to try my food. So, here's a recipe I'm going to try with them. I chose it because I miss roasts -- beef and pork. They are delicious and often very simple in terms of time and ingredients. That's the selfish part. I realize some younger kids may not digest the beef, so wait until they can. And, I know some kids actually have a white pork intolerance. So, beware of that too. But, most will be able to handle this. I'm making the crok pot version, since that is the easiest.

Ingredients are simple:
-- pork roast: any size
-- Carrots, cut up, or the small salad size
-- onion, chopped into halves
-- 1 apple, any kind
-- Potatoes, cut into quarters
-- water, 1 cup
-- garlic: powder or minced will do, or two real cloves, crushed
-- salt and pepper to taste

Wash off the roast and place it in the crok pot. Wash the carrots and dump in as many as desired. Cut onion in half, toss in. Cut apple into quarters, toss in, pitch core. Add garlic, salt and pepper if desired and the water. Cook on low anywhere from 6-10 hours, based on size of the roast. Add the potatoes in the last two hours so they cook through.

I'll let you know how my experiment works. Either way, I'll be sure to enjoy it. If the kids don't -- hot dogs :)