How to Make Homemade Tempura Chicken Nuggets

You’ve gotta’ try our homemade tempura chicken nuggets recipe. With a light crunch 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.

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.

Chicken Nuggets with Tempura

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;

• 2 lbs chicken breast nuggets cut into bite size pcs., thigh meat works too
• Soy sauce
• Salt and pepper divided
• All purpose flour
• 3 tbsp cornstarch divided
• Garlic powder or onion powder
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• Batter mix just needs 2 ingredients
• Egg
• 1 c cold water ice cold

Now you could make fried tempura nuggets into little sliders with by making our Hardees biscuits into small sizes, split in half and put a piece of meat in the middle!

Tempura Chicken Strips

You can do this same thing with chicken tenderloins too for larger pieces. Only difference is you may need to double the batter to coat and cook time will be a bit longer. Just have a meat thermometer to always check to ensure the middle reaches 165 F in the thickest part before consuming.

• 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.
• 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. Place ice into a large bowl. Set aside.
• Whisk together the remaining flour, remaining cornstarch, garlic powder, and paprika. Set aside. In a small bowl (that will fit into the larger bowl,) whisk the egg.
• To the egg, add 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.
  • These are tips on How Hot Should Oil be for Fried Chicken

Dip the chicken into the batter, allow excess to drip off, place battered chicken breast into hot oil. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes per side or until the batter is golden and the chicken is cooked through. Transfer the chicken to paper towels to drain. Serve with chicken nuggets dipping sauce, if desired.

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.