Pin 190

Original Pin:

http://www.mynameissnickerdoodle.com/2011/03/fabulous-food-friday-79.html

This is a copycat recipe for chicken nuggets promising to taste like a certain fast-food restaurant that isn't open on Sundays. I'll admit, I was skeptical from the start. How can one mimic such perfection? I'd been turned off in the past by the suggestion of pickle juice. I can't do pickle juice. But this recipe contains zero pickle juice.

I did have to send out the hubby for the peanut oil. I have never cooked with peanut oil before, I usually fry with vegetable oil. On the original blog page it said vegetable oil would substitute fine, but I wanted to go with the recipe this time--since I was feeling so skeptical and all.

I didn't marinate my chicken quite as long as I just ran out of time.  But I did follow all the other directions in the recipe.

First batch in the oil

And out of the oil

I left the first batch in the oil a little too long. I was waiting until it developed that golden color I am used to seeing and it didn't seem like it was getting there. When some spots started to get really dark, I pulled them out. They were really dry. They didn't taste bad, just too dried out. I tweaked my time a little and started pulling them out before they got that dark. By the time I made it to my last batch, I had it just right.

The darker, first batch is to the center-left-ish

Look pretty good, right? Pretty similar to the real deal? I thought they were pretty tasty, too. But the final evaluation was in order. . .

Serve them up to the kids. They absolutely loved them. The entire batch was gone in about 5 minutes. 

Total cost: I wish I could say, but my husband threw out the receipt and doesn't look at prices. I hear peanut oil is a little more expensive than vegetable oil.

Total time: 1 hour, no including marinating time

Final verdict: My skepticism was unfounded. This recipe was probably as close to the real thing as I am going to get with out a deep fryer and a franchise license. The family loved it and it is going to have to become a regular player in our dinner rotation. Only change I am going to make is that next time I am going to make at least double, if not triple the recipe!