Popcorn Chicken Nuggets Recipe: Easy Dinner Idea

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This Popcorn Chicken Nuggets recipe is an easy dinner idea your kids will love. It’s lightly breaded and baked, not fried, for a delicious healthier meal you can have on the table in just 30 minutes!

When school nights get busy, how do you help your family to eat healthy while still getting dinner on the table quickly? Today, we’re going to show you how to make Popcorn Chicken Nuggets, one of our family’s favorite easy dinner ideas!

Easy Popcorn Chicken Nuggets Recipe

Kid-Friendly Dinner Idea

In just a few short weeks, we’ll be sending our five-year-old off to kindergarten. It’s a strange feeling knowing he’s going to start spending more waking hours at school than he does at home. I get a little misty-eyed whenever I think about it too much. He’s a bright young boy though, who loves to learn. I know he’s more than ready for the challenges that lie ahead… I just don’t know if I am! GULP!

To help him ease into the first few days of school, I’m planning to make some of his favorite foods for dinner. The number one meal on his list right now are these tasty Popcorn Chicken Nuggets. He keeps asking me when we’re going to have them again.

Homemade Popcorn chicken nuggets in a bowl

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easy popcorn chicken nuggets

I originally shared this Popcorn Chicken Nuggets recipe a few weeks ago at Belle of the Kitchen. Every month Ashlyn and I trade delicious recipes to bring you new ideas for the kitchen.

Since she’s also sending her firstborn child to kindergarten this fall, we thought it would be fun to share easy back-to-school meal ideas this month for those busy weeknight dinners. While I was there, Ashlyn was here sharing her amazing Chicken Cordon Bleu Noodle Bake recipe. It looks delicious, so you ought to check it out while you’re here.

Kitchen Tools Needed:

Ingredients

These are the ingredients you’ll need. All the exact amounts are in the printable card at the bottom of this post.

How to Make Homemade Baked Popcorn Chicken Nuggets

This Popcorn Chicken Nuggets recipe is super easy to make. It involves tasty bite-sized pieces of chicken that are lightly breaded and baked, rather than deep-fried.

Here are some tips that I found to help me out when I make this recipe.

1.) Bread the Chicken

All you have to do is cut up the chicken into small bite-sized chunks and toss them in a resealable bag with the breading ingredients.

If you don’t have a plastic bag like this, you can toss them in a bowl too. I just found that the bag makes clean-up a lot easier.

How to bread popcorn chicken nuggets

Don’t forget to lightly grease the cookie sheet. I’m all about making clean-up quicker, so I used foil on my baking sheet. But even with foil, you should still spray it with non-stick spray.

Popcorn chicken nuggets on a sheet pan

3.) Serve!

That’s it! Honestly, they are as easy to make as frozen nuggets.

The first time I made this Popcorn Chicken Nuggets recipe, my five-year-old gave them a “two thumbs up with all the fingers AND toes” which is the highest rank possible in his mind. His two-year-old little brother promptly chimed in with a resounding “nummy, nummy, YUMMY!” So I can say with confidence, I believe your children are going to LOVE this Popcorn Chicken Nuggets recipe as much as my picky eaters do.

Homemade popcorn chicken nuggets
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Popcorn Chicken Nuggets

This Popcorn Chicken Nuggets recipe is an easy dinner idea your kids will love. It’s lightly breaded and baked, not fried, for a delicious healthier meal you can have on the table in just 30 minutes!
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Total Time30 minutes
Course: Dinner
Cuisine: American
Keyword: chicken, chicken nuggets, kid friendly, popcorn chicken
Servings: 4
Calories: 265kcal
Author: Carrie Ypma

Ingredients

  • 2 chicken breasts
  • 2 tablespoons Melted Butter
  • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
  • 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
  • 1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
  • 1/4 teaspoon Garlic Powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon Pepper
  • 1/8 teaspoon Salt

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • Cut the chicken breasts into small bite-sized cubes and place in a resealable plastic bag.
  • Pour in the melted butter and Worcestershire sauce. Seal the bag and shake it to distribute the butter evenly.
  • Add bread crumbs, parmesan cheese and spices. Reseal and shake the bag to coat the Popcorn Chicken Nuggets.
  • Spread the breaded Popcorn Chicken Nuggets on a lightly greased baking sheet.
  • Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, turning once or twice. Enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 265kcal | Carbohydrates: 11g | Protein: 28g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 93mg | Sodium: 564mg | Potassium: 464mg | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 290IU | Vitamin C: 1.7mg | Calcium: 102mg | Iron: 1.3mg
Did you make this recipe?Tag us on Instagram at @kenarryideas or leave us a comment rating below.

Popcorn Chicken Nuggets Recipe Serving Suggestions

This Popcorn Chicken Nuggets recipe is a quick meal you can have ready for your family in only 30 minutes. Here are some suggestions to help:

  • Use kitchen scissors rather than a knife to cut up the chicken. It’s a faster way to make those bite-sized Popcorn Chicken Nuggets.
  • Cut the chicken the night before and keep it in the resealable plastic bag overnight. This will help you save time and make it easier to get your Popcorn Chicken Nuggets on the table.
  • We love to eat our Popcorn Chicken Nuggets with barbecue sauce and ketchup, but they’d also be delicious dipped in ranch dressing or honey mustard.
Homemade popcorn chicken nuggets on a plate

What’s your go-to easy meal to make on a busy school night? Please comment below and share. We’re always looking for new ideas for the kitchen. Of course, if you have ideas to help moms cope with sending their kids to kindergarten, we’d love to hear those suggestions too!

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Easy Popcorn chicken nuggets recipe

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9 Comments

  1. I love chicken nuggets and these look super tasty! I love that they’re baked instead of fried, too. Yum!

  2. Your chicken nuggets look great and so much better than those frozen ones you can buy. The seasonings sound tasty. Thanks for sharing on Snickerdoodle Sunday. Pinned and Tweeted.

    1. Oh Beverly! These are WAY better than store bought chicken nuggets. Thank you so much for coming by from Snickerdoodle Sunday and for sharing our recipe on Pinterest and Twitter. Hope you had a great weekend!

  3. My guys would love these. Thanks for the tip on the kitchen scissors. I don’t know why I never think to use them for things like this.

    Thanks for sharing on Creative K Kids Tasty Tuesdays, I hope you will join us next week.

    1. Thanks, Audrey! You will LOVE using the kitchen scissors to cut up chicken. It makes it so much faster and easier to prepare dinner. I hope your guys enjoy the popcorn chicken nuggets. 🙂

  4. Pingback: 23 Quick Dinner Ideas for Families

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