This is the best homemade tempura chicken nuggets recipe. With a light breading you can make these deep fried homemade chicken nuggets or pan fried on your stove. Pair with a variety of dips for a fun dinner idea with a light batter.
Tempura batter chicken is my girls’ favorite snack. You may have had this at your favorite Japanese restaurant with vegetables or shrimp inside. That is wonderful but you can make this yourself, cheaper, fresher, and with any type of meat inside. Try it!
Copycat Tyson Tempura Chicken Nuggets
We have made the packaged kind using our air fryer frozen chicken nuggets directions but homemade is always best so we are here with that. Using breasts or thighs and our 3 ingredient batter once you get the hang of how this is made you will want to dip all the things after that!! Make it a finger food night and let’s get to creating.
Ok so you may be here because you fell in love with Tyson’s version in the freezer section. Those are pretty good but still have processed meat vs. using chunks of fresh meat of your choice. We have even used this same technique to make our fish nuggets too, so good y’all.
Can You Make Tempura Chicken Nuggets with Frozen Chicken?
If making our homemade recipe here I would say no. By the time the wet breading fried to a golden brown it wouldn’t give the meat inside enough time to cook all the way through. You should defrost first which you could do in a freezer bag submerged in a bowl of cool water.
Tempura Chicken Tenders
You could make this with larger pieces, and with other liquids. Here with our Beer Battered Chicken Tenders you can see how we used lager instead of water to add a ton of flavor which my husband loves. Cook time is a bit longer but worth it.
Ingredient Notes
I use a few pounds of boneless skinless chicken breast cut into bite size nuggets pcs., thigh meat works too if you rather have dark meat.
To make the tempura batter all you need is all purpose flour, cornstarch, egg and some ice cold water. This can vary just a bit depending on how thick you want the coating to be. Measurements are below but you can thin out a bit more with more liquid. You will want to season this to your liking with at least some salt and pepper.
You have a choice when it comes to added even more flavor. You could make and sit inside our Chicken Stir Fry Marinade, leave as is or just refrigerating for 30 minutes in some Soy sauce is great too.
Variations
For a protein packed vegetarian version just make tofu nuggets tempura style like this, which surprisingly my girls just loved too. If your a mom, especially with little ones, anything you can pick up will be loved much more at dinnertime than other choices. Believe me. Try this. You’re going to need;
Tips
When you dip the chicken into the batter, always allow excess to drip off before you place battered chicken breast into hot oil. With that said, How Hot Should Oil be for Fried Chicken? You should read this article as adding before it is ready to fry will make the texture gross.
Using chicken tenderloins you may need to double the batter to coat and cook time will be a bit longer. This size is great made into little sliders with our Hardees biscuits, split in half and put a piece of meat in the middle!
Transfer the chicken to paper towels to drain. Serve with chicken nuggets dipping sauce, if desired. Just have a meat thermometer to always check to ensure the middle reaches 165 F in the thickest part before consuming.
Tempura Chicken Nuggets Recipe
Equipment
- 1 pan deep
- 1 Bowl
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken breasts, cubed
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1.5 tsp salt and pepper, divided
- 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 3 tbsp cornstarch, divided
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup cold water, ice cold
Instructions
- Place the chicken pieces into a bowl with the soy sauce, ½ teaspoon black pepper, and ½ teaspoon salt. Toss to distribute. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to marinate. Remove the chicken from the marinade and pat dry with paper towels.
- In a gallon size freezer bag, add ¼ cup flour and 1 tablespoon cornstarch. Place the chicken into the bag, seal the bag, and toss until the chicken is completely coated.
- Whisk together the remaining flour, remaining cornstarch, garlic powder, and paprika in a bowl. In another bowl whisk the egg. Add egg into the flour mixture and mix together until crumbly and well blended.
- Add the ice water to the flour mixture and whisk until evenly moistened. Some small lumps are okay. In a large stock pot or dutch oven, heat the oil to 360 degrees or until a drop of batter fries immediately but not too hot that it burns quickly.
- Dip the chicken into the batter, allow excess to drip off when lifted, and place into the hot oil. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes per side (depending on the size of your pieces) until the batter is golden and the chicken is cooked through.
- Transfer the chicken to paper towels to drain. Serve with sweet and sour sauce, if desired
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Food That Goes Well with Tempura
Now we have used this same coating to make Beer Battered Fish Air Fryer style and chicken could work the same way but honestly the texture is better in oil. In an air fryer basket it will get crispy but becomes more dense than if deep fried like these, just being honest.
On a baking sheet in the oven can get super messy since this is wet and not recommended either. Just go with this method and believe us, we have tried it all. Once done don’t waste the oil. Instead make a batch of fried green beans in it to add veggies to your meal.
