Best Easy Cast Iron Skillet Chicken Nuggets

Our perfect, simple cast iron skillet crispy chicken nuggets with parsley and parmesan cheese made from healthy ingredients.

These cast iron crisped chicken nuggets are ultra simple to make with simple, real ingredients. And they taste AMAZING. They hit the notes of salty, with parmesan crunchy and golden and slightly nostalgic. They are better than the chicken nuggets of your childhood. These are home made, living your best life kind of chicken nuggets. 

This chicken nugget recipe is I suppose what some people would call a 'clean eating' baked chicken nugget recipe in a way. It's healthier than a deep fried chicken nugget, but they're just not spritzed with a whisper of a molecule of fat and baked. They're cooked in a lightly oiled, seasoned cast iron skillet from my grandma and that's how they get this insanely beautiful exterior. It's the best part of what makes a chicken nugget 'indulgent' paired with real ingredients to make it healthier.

These are simply pieces of chicken breast, coasted in egg white, seasoned breadcrumbs with dried parsley and topped with a fresh grate of parmesan cheese. This is exactly what you serve with a huge bowl of sheet pan roasted vegetables. Our personal blend of choice is celery, broccoli, red pepper and onion but go crazy and add sweet potato or brussels sprouts (you wild thing you). 

This recipe is actually a take on Chris's Mom's chicken nuggets. Although she wasn't much into cooking, she made REALLY GOOD chicken nuggets and steak nuggets (I mean when you make steak nuggets out of fillet, chances are they're going to be okay). Over years of tweaking and practice, this is what I've turned the chicken nugget recipe into. 

Best Easy Cast Iron Skillet Chicken Nuggets

INGREDIENTS

• 2, boneless skinless chicken breasts (note you can scale this recipe up)

• about 1/4 cup liquid egg whites or 2 full eggs

• about 1 cup breadcrumbs

• 2 teaspoons dried parsley

• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder

• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• a few cranks of freshly ground black pepper

• 2-4 Tablespoons canola oil or other neutral light oil

• 1/2 Tablespoon grated parmesan cheese

• fresh parsley

Note: You can use seasoned Italian breadcrumbs in lieu of breadcrumbs, parsley, onion and garlic powder. In fact, I do sometimes! But there are sometimes other ingredients snuck into blends like that, so it's up to you here.

DIRECTIONS

1. Cut chicken into even, bite sized pieces so they all cook at the same rate.

2. Pour egg whites, or add full eggs whisked, to a bowl.

3. Pour breadcrumbs, dried parsley, onion powder, salt and pepper to a second bowl and stir to combine.

4. Take each chicken piece and dip it into the egg whites, then breadcrumbs. Complete process for all chicken pieces.

5. Heat a large cast iron skillet on medium on the stove with 2 Tablespoons oil. Wait until oil begins to swirl- test by tossing a breadcrumb into the oil. If it sizzles, it's ready.

6. Add chicken pieces in batches to the skillet. Cook for several minutes on each side until golden brown and internal temperature reaches 165 F by checking with a thermometer.

7. Cook chicken in batches in the skillet skillet so not crowded. Cook remaining chicken.

8. Add grated parmesan on top with freshly chopped parsley.

Note: A classic all time favorite recipe that makes extra umami nuggets with parmesan cheese. When seasoning after pan frying, sprinkle with a blend of 50% MSG, 50% salt which can reduce your sodium content by about 40%!