Buffalo Chicken Nuggets

This recipe for Buffalo Chicken Nuggets was a favorite at our house growing up, and it is still one of my favorites today.  My mom clipped the original recipe from Parents Magazine back in 1988, so it is officially 20 years old this year.  I love everything about wings except, well, the wings themselves.  I don’t like eating the meat off the bone, and I prefer chicken breast to wings.  This recipe uses boneless skinless chicken breast cut in to chunks.  The chicken is marinated in your hot sauce of choice, then breaded.

My favorite hot sauce is Tabasco Sauce.  Having lived in Lafayette, Louisiana until 7th grade, we grew up with Tabasco sauce.  In fact, Avery Island, the home of Tabasco Sauce, was not that far from Lafayette, and we visited quite a few times.  There is much more to Avery Island than just the Tabasco Pepper Sauce Factory.  There are also beautiful gardens and huge old oak trees with enormous branches trailing back down to the ground, covered with moss.  One particular visit to Avery Island stands out in my memory.  I don’t remember the specifics of the visit…perhaps my Dad’s company picnic?  On this particular visit, around the time my mom started making this recipe for Buffalo Chicken, I was playing in the big old oak trees with the other kids.  I was hanging down from a large tree branch, waiting for my mom to turn around to see me goofing off.  Of course, as soon as she turned, I lost my grip and fell and broke my wrist.  Instead of taking me to the emergency room at the tiny hospital in the little town closest to Avery Island, my parents fashioned a splint for me out of some gauze and an old license plate from the trunk of the car, and drove me all the way back to Lafayette, over an hour away, over bumpy backwoods Louisiana roads.  Now whenever I think of Tabasco Sauce, which remains my favorite hot sauce, I think of Avery Island and this story.

Buffalo Chicken Nuggets

adapted from Parents Magazine, 1988

Ingredients:

• 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1″ cubes
• 1/3 cup of Tabasco sauce
• 1 cup flour
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. paprika
• 3 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp. butter

Directions: In a large bowl or zip-top bag, combine chicken cubes and Tabasco sauce.  Let marinate for at least 1 hour, then drain.  In a shallow bowl or pan, combine flour, salt and papkrika.  Add chicken, and toss until well coated.  Heat oil and butter in a large nonstick skilled over medium-high heat.  Add chicken, stirring frequently, until golden and cooked through.  With a slotted spoon, remove chicken to plate and cover to keep warm.

Picky Apple Notes:

• I like to serve this with apples, carrots, and blue cheese dressing for dipping.
• This recipe is always a big hit whenever I make it for parties and company.  I prepared five pounds like this for a party the week before my son was born, and it all got eaten quickly.  However, it is pretty time consuming to cook it in big batches….not to mention that you and your house will smell like a fast food restaurant when you’re done, so plan accordingly.
• If you do happen to wind up with any leftovers of the chicken, it makes a great buffalo chicken salad for lunch the next day.