★ Why You'll Love this Recipe ★
These hot honey chicken nuggets are so yummy and incredibly easy to make. You'll need just 6 main ingredients and 25 minutes total.
Dinner or Appetizer
Make these hot honey chicken nuggets for dinner or serve them up as an appetizer. These are quick and easy to make—equally perfect for a football or holiday party as they are for a quick, yet homemade weeknight meal.
Make it a meal.
Add a veggie and some potatoes or fries on another sheet pan and cook those along with these nugget for a complete sheet-pan meal! My favorites to pair with these nuggets are carrots and diced potatoes. Toss in a little salt and oil first and just roast everything. Easy!
Sweet and Spicy
You'll love the sweet-spicy combo. If you need to tone down the spice, you can easily do that by switching to Monterey jack cheese in place of pepper jack.
Bake or Air Fry
These are oven baked to a perfect golden brown but can be made in the air fryer too. Either way — you'll get an amazing crispy coating from the panko breadcrumbs.
★ Ingredients You'll Need ★
So much flavor, yet so few ingredients actually needed!
Here's everything you will need:
- Chicken cutlets. These are essentially a chicken breast cut in half. Cutlets cook quickly because they are thin. Cover with plastic wrap and pound to an even thickness, if needed.
- Panko bread crumbs. These extra large breadcrumbs work really well to add crispy texture to the nuggets. Unflavored Panko crumbs is what you want since we'll be adding our own spicy-sweetness.
- Pepper jack cheese. You can shred your own or save time and buy pre-shredded. Pepper jack cheese is made with a blend of spicy peppers so if you want to tone down the spice, you can use Monterey jack cheese instead.
- Butter. This combines with the cheese and breadcrumbs to help the coating stick to the chicken.
- Salt and pepper. These lightly season the bread crumb coating. Go as heavy or as light on each as you prefer.
- Frank's Honey Garlic seasoning. This is a dry, powdered spice blend that adds a nice kick and can be found at most grocery stores or you can order from amazon.
- Honey. This is the finishing touch! Drizzle the honey on top or if you prefer to preserve more of the crunchy coating on the chicken nuggets, offer honey as a dip.
★ How to Make this Recipe ★
This recipe comes together in a few simple steps. Here's a peek at what's involved — the full recipe can be found further down.
- Pat chicken dry.
- Pound flat, if needed.
- Cut chicken into pieces.
- Microwave butter.
- Stir together cheese, crumbs, seasoning, and butter.
- Toss chicken pieces in crumb mixture.
- Place chicken on baking sheet.
- Bake.
- Drizzle with honey before serving.
So easy! Yet absolutely divine.
★ Tips & FAQs ★
Don't overcook the chicken.
If you like your chicken moist and tender, make sure to cook your chicken just right.
Since the cook time can vary depending on how thick your chicken pieces are, it's best to determine doneness using a meat thermometer.
I love my digital meat thermometer. It reads instantly so you can quickly assess if you're done or need more cook time.
Shop digital thermometers on amazon.
Storage
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
These nuggets can made ahead and then frozen before cooking. Coat chicken then transfer to an airtight container or wrap in plastic.
When you're ready to cook the nuggets, unwrap and place frozen nuggets on your baking pan and cook as directed. You may need to add 2-3 extra minutes to accommodate defrosting. Check for a safe internal temperature of 165˚ by using a digital meat thermometer.
Can this recipe be made into tenders?
Yes. You can use chicken tenderloins instead of cutlets or slice the cutlets into larger tenderloins instead of nuggets.
Cooking these as tenders will typically add a few minutes of cook time. Be sure to check the thickest part of the chicken for a safe temperature of 165˚F before removing them from the oven.
Can these hot honey chicken nuggets be made in the air fryer?
Yes! These can be made on the air fryer.
The process is exactly the same but the air fryer will cook these faster than the oven. So, you can reduce cook time by 2-3 minutes or until the internal temp reaches 165˚F.
★ More Recipes You'll Love ★
Hungry for more easy chicken dishes?
Browse all my chicken recipes. Be sure to Pin your favorites for later!
Love spicy foods?
Hot Honey Chicken Nuggets
Equipment
Ingredients
- 10 oz chicken cutlets
- 2 tablespoon butter
- ½ cup Panko crumbs
- ½ cup shredded pepper jack cheese**
- ½ teaspoon Frank's Honey Garlic seasoning
- salt and pepper
- ¼ cup honey
Mighty Mrs. is a #WalmartPartner.
Instructions
- Dry chicken cutlet with a paper towel, pound flat (if needed*), then cut into bite-sized pieces. Try to keep them equal in size.Generously season chicken with salt and pepper on all sides.
- In a microwavable bowl, melt 2 tablespoon butter.Stir in Panko crumbs, pepper jack cheese, Frank's honey garlic seasoning, and several dashes of salt and pepper.
- Add chicken pieces to crumbs and toss to coat.
- Place chicken pieces on a lightly greased or lined baking pan.
- Roast chicken on top rack of oven set to 425˚ for 10-15 minutes or just until chicken has reached an internal temperature of 165˚F.Chicken should be golden brown.
- Serve chicken nuggets hot, drizzled with honey.
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