Even though the cold chills of Fall air are blanketing the cities, these chicken nuggets will bring a vibrant taste of summer back to dinner that will warm you up and give the vibe of a warm, cozy evening. If you’ve been looking for a nice, fresh, and zesty flavor on your chicken – step right up! Not only do you get a fantastic burst of flavor, but you get the crunchy and delicious texture of real chicken nuggets.
Most of you already know that I love to coat my chicken with pork rinds to get that delicious and crisp layer, but this time we’ve combined it with some awesome spices, almond meal, and flaxseed meal to really get the crunch up a notch. Baking them to take the moisture out is the perfect way to do it – you get a deliciously zesty and crisp outer layer and perfectly tender chicken on the inside.
Although I normally recommend Honeyville Almond Flour for most of my recipes, you can feel free to use pretty much any almond flour you have. That includes Trader Joe’s brand or Bob’s Red Mill brand. The skin of the almond add a nice color, but if you only have Honeyville on hand, that is definitely no problem either! I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did.
Yields 4 Servings of Low Carb Zesty Chicken Nuggets with Avocado Lime Dipping Sauce
The Preparation
Chicken Nuggets:
- 24 ounces boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 1/2 ounces pork rinds
- 1/4 cup almond flour
- 1/4 cup flaxseed meal
- 2 teaspoons lime zest
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 1/8 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 large egg
Zesty Sauce:
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 medium avocado
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/8 teaspoon cumin
The Execution
1. Preheat oven to 400F. Dry chicken off with a paper towel. Cut chicken thighs into bite size chunks and set aside.
2. In a food processor, combine pork rinds, almond meal, flax meal, lime zest, and spices. Pulse until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.
3. Add processed crumbs into a bowl, then crack 1 egg in a second bowl. Scramble the egg well until no whites are seen. Add 1-2 tsp. water if needed.
4. Dip the chicken in the egg mixture, then dip into the crumb mixture. Coating each side well. Set onto a cookie sheet that is covered with foil and has been sprayed with oil.
5. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until nuggets are golden brown on the top and the meat is cooked through.
6. While cooling the nuggets, put together all of the ingredients for the sauce and mix together well.
7. Serve nuggets with sauce and dip to your hearts content. Enjoy!
This makes a total of 4 servings of Zesty Low-Carb Chicken Nuggets. Each serving comes out to be 627 calories, 50.6g fats, 2.2g net carbs, and 39.7g protein.
| NUTRITION | CALORIES | FAT | CARBS | FIBER | NET CARBS | PROTEIN |
| 24 ounce boneless, skinless chicken thighs | 973 | 60.8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 115.4 |
| 1 1/2 ounce pork rinds | 243 | 15.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23.1 |
| 1/4 cup almond flour | 162 | 14 | 6.2 | 3.6 | 2.5 | 5.9 |
| 1/4 cup flaxseed meal | 139 | 10.9 | 7.5 | 7 | 0.5 | 4.7 |
| 2 teaspoon lime zest | 2 | 0 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| 1/4 teaspoon salt | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1/4 teaspoon black pepper | 1 | 0 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| 1/4 teaspoon chili powder | 2 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| 1/4 teaspoon paprika | 2 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| 1/8 teaspoon onion powder | 1 | 0 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0 |
| 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder | 1 | 0 | 0.3 | 0 | 0.3 | 0.1 |
| 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper | 1 | 0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0 |
| 1 large egg | 79 | 5.2 | 0.4 | 0 | 0.4 | 6.9 |
| 1/2 cup mayonnaise | 748 | 82.3 | 0.6 | 0 | 0.6 | 1.1 |
| 1/2 medium avocado | 150 | 13.9 | 7.8 | 6.1 | 1.7 | 1.8 |
| 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes | 3 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.1 |
| 1 tablespoon lime juice | 4 | 0 | 1.3 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 0.1 |
| 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder | 3 | 0 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 0.1 |
| 1/8 teaspoon cumin | 1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Totals | 2514 | 202.8 | 27.3 | 18.3 | 9 | 159.5 |
| Per Serving (/4) | 628 | 50.7 | 6.8 | 4.6 | 2.2 | 39.9 |
Zesty Low-Carb Chicken Nuggets
Ingredients
Chicken Nuggets:
- 24 ounce boneless, skinless chicken thighs cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 ½ ounce pork rinds
- ¼ cup almond flour
- ¼ cup flaxseed meal
- 2 teaspoon lime zest
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- ⅛ teaspoon onion powder
- ⅛ teaspoon garlic powder
- ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 large egg
Zesty Sauce:
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ½ medium avocado
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ⅛ teaspoon cumin
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F. Pat thighs dry with a paper towel. Cut into bite-sized chunks and set aside.
- In a food processor, combine pork rinds, almond flour, flaxseed meal, lime zest, and spices. Pulse until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.
- Add the processed crumbs to a bowl and crack the egg into a second bowl. Whisk thoroughly — add a bit of water if needed.
- Dip the chicken in the egg mixture and then the crumb mixture, making sure to coat each side well. Place on a lightly greased, foil-lined cookie sheet.
- Bake for 15–18 minutes or until nuggets are golden-brown on top and the meat is cooked through.
- While the nuggets are cooling, combine all the ingredients for the sauce and mix together well.
- Serve the nuggets with sauce on the side and dip to your heart's content. Enjoy!
Excellent! I’ve been looking for some good chicken nuggets! I may pan fry these and dip them in fry sauce (Utah delicacy ya know).
You could do that for sure. My only problem with pan-frying chicken nuggets is usually if you want to have a dinner with a few people, you have to serve out individually as the pan can only hold so much and they’ll go cold otherwise. Or, you could hold them in the oven to keep warm while the rest cooks.
As far as fry sauce goes – definitely, it’s one of my favorite sauces 🙂 Hope you enjoy!
Any ideas on healthier options for pork rinds? I’m not scared of the fat in them…I just want them to have better quality fats (ie: pastured pork skin) than those you find in the grocery store chip-and-pretzel aisle or at my local Mexican grocer that doesn’t know what a trans-fat is. I know it’s a long shot, but I’m hoping a quality source exists. Thx!
Not so much Dalasquez. The only way I could see that being completely plausible is if you were to make your own rinds from pastured skin. I personally don’t hold too much against this as I buy mine in the latin grocery store a lot of the time and it’s pretty rare occasion when I use it.
These are one of my favorite recipes you have. I love finger foods that i can dip into something thick like this sauce. 25 lbs down, 25 to go!
Thanks! Keep making good food, keep up the good work!
Made these this evening sans sauce and while I enjoyed the flavor of the chicken, they did not crunch up for me. Any suggestions on a possible modification?
I’m not sure why that would happen Hannah, maybe popping them under the broiler for the last few minutes would help? It might be that your oven is running at a different temp than ours too. (Sometimes they can run a bit cool or hot.)
hey laura how many nuggets did you get out of 1 serving?
Hi Kristian, I haven’t made this one yet…but it looks like Craig had about 34 pieces on the sheet pan. So probably about 8-9 pieces per serving, depending on size they are cut to.
Do you think I could freeze these, and then heat them up in the oven later in the week?
Sure! I think that would work fine 🙂
can i use a nutribullet as a food processor. Sorry I’m new to this.
You should be able to, yes.
Best nugget recipe I’ve tried yet…Keto or not. Best part; they freeze great. I’ve learned over the last 3 months to make a head and freeze!! Don’t throw anything out! Thank you for the recipe!
Those are really kind words – thank you so much. I’m really happy you enjoyed them!
Wow! These are fabulous – even my grown up non low carb kids loved these. They are zesty and crunchy and the avocado zesty mayo was a big hit! This will be a firm family favourite from now on!