This is one of the most viewed recipes on my website because it’s easy, healthy and oh so delicious.
To start, grab some boneless skinless chicken breasts or tenders and dice them into even size pieces. Then, we can get to the secrets…
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Table of Contents
- The first secret ingredient in grilled Chick-Fil-A nuggets is pickle juice
- Brine the chicken
- The second secret ingredient is powdered sugar
- How to grill copycat Chick-Fil-A nuggets
- Chick-Fil-A copycat honey mustard sauce
- How closely does this match the ingredients in actual grilled Chick-Fil-A nuggets?
- More Grilled Chicken Recipes
- Grilled Chick-Fil-A Nuggets Recipe
- Copycat Chick-Fil-A Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce Recipe
The first secret ingredient in grilled Chick-Fil-A nuggets is pickle juice
Simply, use the juice straight out of the jar from your favorite type of pickles. I recommend going with dill pickle juice, but if you prefer sweet or bread and butter pickles, go for it.
Be mindful that not all pickles and hence not all pickle juice is the same. Some have way more sodium than others. Check the label on the jar to make sure you don’t pick one that’s too salty.
Here is some info from the nutrition labels of some popular brands. This level of sodium is per ounce.
Heinz dill chips = 60 mg
Wickles Original Pickles = 150 mg
Vlasic dill spears = 220 mg
Mt Olive dill spears = 240 mg
Mt Olive dill chips = 290 mg
Claussen dill spears = 330 mg
Vlasic stackers = 410 mg
Brine the chicken
To create the brine, you’re going to combine the pickle juice with some milk. You can use whole or low-fat, depending on your diet. If you use a milk alternative like almond milk, just make sure it’s not flavored or sweetened.
Place the chicken nuggets in a bowl or zip top bag and pour the juice and milk right on top. Give it a gentle stir. The brine is the secret to making the nuggets extra juicy.
I don’t recommend marinating the nuggets for longer than 30 minutes, because too much brine time can make them too salty.
The second secret ingredient is powdered sugar
After the chicken brines for 30 minutes in the pickle juice and milk, you’ll rub it with the powdered sugar and other seasonings.
Adding the sugar to the dry rub helps create a nice crust on the nuggets and balances out the seasonings.
Don’t try this recipe with granulated or brown sugar. It won’t be the same.
Powdered sugar is usually combined with corn starch. That’s the component that gives the nuggets their nice texture.
When I first created this recipe in 2015, the rub was a little different. I included it in the recipe notes, if you’re interested.
Now, that I have my own award-winning Chicken Rub from Spiceology, I just mix two teaspoons of it with the powdered sugar.
How to grill copycat Chick-Fil-A nuggets
You can make these on any type of grill. I usually use a gas grill, because it’s such a quick cook, but you could also use a charcoal grill, pellet grill or even an indoor grill. Just heat the grill to high or about 400F degrees.
For juicy nuggets, you only need to grill them about 3 minutes per side.
PRO TIP: Chicken is done when it reaches an internal temperature of 165F degrees.
Chick-Fil-A copycat honey mustard sauce
If you’re like me, you can’t have the nuggets without the sauce, so I’ve included my copycat version of Chick-Fil-A’s honey mustard dipping sauce below.
It uses mayo, two types of mustard, and of course honey. The touch of vinegar gives it the added pop. You could also use hot honey or add a dash of hot sauce, if you like a little heat.
How closely does this match the ingredients in actual grilled Chick-Fil-A nuggets?
This is a question I get asked a lot. So here you go. Below is the ingredients list straight from their website:
Chicken (boneless skinless chicken breast, water, apple cider vinegar, soybean oil, modified corn starch, salt, yeast extract, sugar, chicken breast meat, chicken broth, dehydrated onion, dehydrated garlic, sea salt, cane molasses, spices, chicken fat, natural flavor [including smoke], lemon peel, red bell pepper, paprika, lemon juice concentrate, parsley and vinegar solids, xanthan gum, and calcium disodium EDTA [to protect quality]).
The chicken breasts is an obvious match.
The water, vinegar, salt, onion, garlic, pepper and herbs are ingredients you’ll find in pickle juice, so that’s a close match.
They don’t list milk, so my brine recipe differs in that manner. If you have a dairy intolerance or just don’t want to use milk, you could follow their ingredients list more closely and substitute the milk with oil and chicken broth.
I like the milk, because it helps break down the chicken to make it tender, and based on the reviews this recipe gets, a lot of other people like it, too.
Lastly, you can see they list a variety of herbs, spices, sugar and cornstarch. That’s where powdered sugar rub comes in.
So there you go. Give the recipe a shot, and let me know what you think in the comments below.
More Grilled Chicken Recipes
- The Juiciest Grilled Chicken Breasts
- Perfectly Smoked Chicken Wings
- Grilled Whole Chicken – Just 3 Ingredients
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Grilled Chick-Fil-A Nuggets
Ingredients
- 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1/2 cup dill pickle juice
- 1/4 cup milk
- 2 tsp powdered sugar
- 2 tsp Christie Vanover's Chicken Rub
Instructions
- Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces. Place in a bowl with pickle juice and milk. Marinate for 30 minutes.
- Remove from marinade and pat dry.
- In a small bowl, combine powdered sugar and Chicken Rub. Sprinkle all over chicken.
- Heat grill to high. Grill chicken for 3 minutes per side until cooked through.
- Serve with honey mustard dipping sauce.
Video
Notes
- 2 tsps powdered sugar
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp paprika
- 1/4 tsp celery salt
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Copycat Chick-Fil-A Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tbsp honey
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp yellow mustard
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
Instructions
- Combine ingredients in a small bowl and chill.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I made this following the recipe, but I cooked in cast iron skillet because it was late. That’s the only improvement I can see, actually grilling the chicken. Otherwise, it was great! It is a little salty, and I’m a salt lover. You could probably dial it back a bit. I used Whole Foods dill pickles, next time I will use one with a stronger pickle-y taste, like Vlassic or Mt Olive. The Whole Food dills were pretty weak.
It’s a good marinade/rub, and my kids still really liked them, but to me they just didn’t taste like Chickfila. They were also way salty even though we didn’t marinate them in the pickle juice that long. I workout quite a bit and love Chickfila grilled nuggets for a quick protein boost, so I was really hoping these would be a good alternative. They’re not bad, just not quite Chickfila.
Perfect! We love Chick Fil A bit can’t go because our daughter is so severely allergic to peanuts and peanut oil. This was a perfect way to get the chicken for everyone. It tastes delicious.
How many nuggets are a serving?
Made these for the first time tonight, they were awesome! We love Chick-fil-A nuggets so we’re excited that we can make them at home. Will you skim milk here so that’s the quarter cup that I used with a pickle juice. And when I made the honey mustard dipping sauce I had everything but the regular mustard, But it was still great!
Not a Grill Master so are you just using aluminum foil to prevent these bite size pieces from falling into the grill?
I cut mine into strips! So yummy!
Would you recommend air frying these? Our grill is currently out of commission. How long and at what temp would be good on the air fryer!
Sorry. I don’t have an air fryer, so I’m not sure.
I’ve done 8 oz @ 400 degrees for about 8-12 minutes in the air fryer, I would say 1lb @ 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes.
Great recipe! I used it for chicken then I decide to try using it on Mahi Mahi fillets cut into nugget size pieces and following the same process. They turned out fantastic as well. I am keto so I opted to use Swerve confections for the sugar. The taste is CFA yummy and I love having another seasoning for my Mahi Mahi as well. Thanks so much!
Ok….as a Chick-fil-A connoisseur, these didn’t taste identical BUT…holy moly were so close and SO GOOD!!!!! A smidge on the peppery side for us but, that’s a personal preference and it was handled with our use of CFA sauce and nonfat greek yogurt (sour cream) as dips. These were soooo yummy!!! I used a 4 pack of chicken from Walmart at 3lbs so I tripled the seasonings and doubled the liquids. Worked great! I made them as strips as to not have any lost pieces in my grill LOL! Have enough leftovers for dinner tomorrow! Wahoo! Thanks for sharing this recipe! Now to share with all my friends LOL
Noob question, why did you only double the liquids instead of tripling them?
Better than chick fil a grilled chicken nuggets I used whole milk and was super delicious and tender!!!