Make Your Own Saucy (Not Soggy) Nuggets With These Easy Tips

Apple pie is the archetypal American dessert, but chicken nuggets may be the nation's star poultry product. Invented in 1963 by Robert C. Baker, a Cornell University food science professor, bite-sized breaded chicken chunks made poultry mainstream. Only a few years before their creation, the average American ate 28 pounds of chicken in 1960; 2024's projected consumption is 103.2 pounds per person, which makes it the most widely consumed protein in the United States (via the National Chicken Council). While this dramatic increase isn't solely due to the rise of chicken nuggets, they have become a fixture in American diets. As of 2023, 5% of Americans ate nuggets every day, while 18% ate them weekly, according to Statista. And with so many chicken-centered chains dotting the country, from Raising Cane's to Chick-fil-A, both beloved for their sauces, the popular food is a prime target for innovation. While you've likely heard of dino nuggets, how about saucy nuggets?

Two versions of this trendy fast food item launched at Wendy's and KFC on June 10, 2024. Although dipping chicken nuggets in delicious sauces is nothing new, it's not as common to coat the morsels in them as you would with chicken wings. After all, nuggets are beloved for their crispy breading, which can become mushy from soaking up moisture. However, preparing a homemade version could be a recipe for success. If you're interested in making your own saucy nuggets, here are some tips on how to keep them from becoming soggy.

Breaded chicken is bound to soak up sauce, especially when compared to the non-breaded kind. While striving to make saucy yet crispy nuggets might seem like fighting a losing battle, with some slight changes to how you coat them before cooking, you can keep the nuggets from becoming super soggy. Homemade chicken nugget recipes sometimes call for a breadcrumb coating to lend them an irresistibly crispy exterior similar to chicken parm or schnitzel. However, this isn't the best option if you're looking to limit moisture. After all, breadcrumbs are often used in meat dishes to absorb juices during cooking and prevent the foods from drying out. 

Instead of a breadcrumb coating, consider preparing soon-to-be-sauced chicken nuggets with a thicker coating, similar to fried chicken. As done by many fast food chicken chains, including for Chick-fil-A's nuggets, thoroughly coating bite-sized pieces in a flour-based batter (which could include cornstarch and all-purpose, wheat, or rice flour), can keep the chicken juicy while limiting oil and moisture absorption (via the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture). This can help ensure the nuggets don't end up so soggy when fried and sauced while still delivering a satisfying crispy texture.

The first thing that parmesan and poultry call to mind is chicken parmigiana. The saucy dish is delicious, albeit notorious for ending up soggy due to the tomato sauce that drenches the breadcrumb crust. While the melted cheese can serve as a shield for a thin chicken cutlet, another strategy to protect the crispy breading from becoming moist is to coat the chicken in plenty of parmesan before it's cooked.

In the case of saucy nuggets, adding parmesan to the breading mixture when coating the bite-sized morsels can help keep the chicken crispy and less likely to absorb any moist sauce. And if you do still prefer to make your nuggets with breadcrumbs (ideally panko), using a higher proportion of the cheese can make a big difference when it comes time to sauce the chicken.

One of the simplest tips to prevent saucy nuggets from ending up super soggy is to be mindful of the sauce's consistency. Ideally, it should be similar to standard dipping sauces served with chicken nuggets or fries. The goal is thicker and stickier rather than runny. After all, watery ketchup and ranch aren't all that appetizing. If you're working with a slightly thin buffalo or barbecue sauce, you can easily thicken it in a saucepan on the stovetop by cooking out some of the excess water or adding some cornstarch slurry.

It's also worth drawing inspiration from the sauces used by fast-food chains. At Wendy's, the chain's saucy nuggets come in flavors like Honey BBQ, Garlic Parm, and an extra-spicy sauce made with ghost pepper – all of which are commonly used for chicken wings as well. When it comes to condiments that might be slightly runnier and not as easy to thicken, such as a garlicky cheese sauce, you can also adjust how much of it you use. For instance, the standard butter-based wing sauce can be a bit thin, but a little goes a long way when coating chicken nuggets in it.

A common mistake many home cooks make when adding sauce to chicken wings or nuggets is rushing the process. If you plan to prepare the fried food for a party or are just whipping some up for a casual dinner, it's worth it for texture's sake to hold off on the sauce until it's time to plate.

To prevent saucy nuggets from getting soggy, toss them with the sauce in a large bowl right before serving — you could even do it tableside. This way, they won't have as much time to soak up the liquid and go from crispy to mushy. Not sure how much to use? It's always best to err on the side of caution and start with less, especially if you're using a thinner sauce. After all, it's much easier to pour in more than to try and un-sauce your nuggets.

Before McDonald's first began selling the chain's Chicken McNuggets in 1981, the company went through a recipe development process to figure out how best to bring poultry to the menu. McDonald's hired chef Rene Arend, who had cooked for British royal Queen Elizabeth II, to take on the task. As he told The New York Times, the process of creating the Chicken McNugget required 14 to 16 months of work — and one of the potential menu items that preceded it but missed the mark was a fried chicken breast in sauce. Unlike the now-famous finger food, McDonald's deemed it impractical.

However, this predecessor to McDonald's signature chicken nuggets is worth considering when making saucy nuggets at home. Instead of pouring sauces directly over your nuggets, which can also lead to uneven distribution, take a page from Ina Garten's book — specifically her chicken Marbella (via Facebook) — and help keep the coating crunchy by placing the chicken on top of the sauce. When done right before serving, as with the recommendation to toss them judiciously, it'll take time for the sauce to soak into the bottom of the nuggets, but the tops will be left crispy with no opportunity to turn soggy. When it's time to dig in, you can flip each piece of chicken over for an even coating with every bite, resulting in perfectly saucy nuggets.