Thursday, February 21, 2013

Pin 190

Original Pin:
Pinned Image
http://www.mynameissnickerdoodle.com/2011/03/fabulous-food-friday-79.html

This is a copycat recipe for chicken nuggets promising to taste like a certain fast-food restaurant that isn't open on Sundays. I'll admit, I was skeptical from the start. How can one mimic such perfection? I'd been turned off in the past by the suggestion of pickle juice. I can't do pickle juice. But this recipe contains zero pickle juice.

I did have to send out the hubby for the peanut oil. I have never cooked with peanut oil before, I usually fry with vegetable oil. On the original blog page it said vegetable oil would substitute fine, but I wanted to go with the recipe this time--since I was feeling so skeptical and all.

I didn't marinate my chicken quite as long as I just ran out of time.  But I did follow all the other directions in the recipe.

First batch in the oil
And out of the oil
I left the first batch in the oil a little too long. I was waiting until it developed that golden color I am used to seeing and it didn't seem like it was getting there. When some spots started to get really dark, I pulled them out. They were really dry. They didn't taste bad, just too dried out. I tweaked my time a little and started pulling them out before they got that dark. By the time I made it to my last batch, I had it just right.
The darker, first batch is to the center-left-ish


Look pretty good, right? Pretty similar to the real deal? I thought they were pretty tasty, too. But the final evaluation was in order. . .
Serve them up to the kids. They absolutely loved them. The entire batch was gone in about 5 minutes. 

Total cost: I wish I could say, but my husband threw out the receipt and doesn't look at prices. I hear peanut oil is a little more expensive than vegetable oil.

Total time: 1 hour, no including marinating time

Final verdict: My skepticism was unfounded. This recipe was probably as close to the real thing as I am going to get with out a deep fryer and a franchise license. The family loved it and it is going to have to become a regular player in our dinner rotation. Only change I am going to make is that next time I am going to make at least double, if not triple the recipe!

1 comment:

  1. Lizzy, Thanks so much for sending me this link! I'm extremely happy that your family loved them! Yes, peanut oil is more, but they sure taste better with it.

    P.S. I've just become your newest fan! What a wonderful blog!

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