Chicken McNuggets

Place all the chicken in a food processor

Mix together the garlic powder, onion powder and salt, then add it to the food processor

Process on low until the meat forms a single solid ball, 1-3 minutes

spray a baking sheet with cooking spray, then press the meat ball into the tray to form a large 1/4″ thick patty, place the tray in the freezer for 20 minutes to firm the meat up for easier moulding

line another tray with wax paper, form the meat into 2″x1.5″x1/4 inch nuggets with your hands or nugget cutters. dip your hand / cutter into the 2 cups of water intermittently to prevent the chicken from sticking to things.

Spread the nuggets evenly on the wax papered tray, then freeze for 90 minutes

after 75 minutes, heat a pot of oil with about 2″ of peanut oil to 325F.

Combine 1 cup water and 1 cup tempura batter mix in a small mixing bowl, whisk til smooth.

take the nuggets out of the freezer, dredge each in the flour to fully coat, then press into the batter. Use a skewer to transfer the nuggets from the batter to the oil to prevent finger marks in the batter.

Fry the nuggets in batches for 1 minute at 325, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Bring the oil up to 375F and fry the nuggets in batches again this time for 3 minutes per batch. IMPORTANT: IF you are using vegetable or canola oil, your oil will smoke at 375F, you’ll need to fry the nuggets below 350F for about 4 minutes.

Serve with various dipping sauces (hot honey mustard, sweet Thai chilli and buffalo sauces are in my picture.)