Keto Chicken Nuggets (air fryer)

For a quick and delicious keto snack you can make in the air fryer try these keto chicken nuggets. You can make these with just a few ingredients including canned chicken other common foods you have in your pantry. A delicious low carb snack, appetizer or dinner that everyone will love. Each nugget has just 0.2g net carbs and 28 calories.

You might also like these breaded keto chicken nuggets in the air fryer.

I’ve been wanting to make this recipe for a long time, especially in my air fryer. This delicious keto chicken nuggets recipe has similar flavors to my keto Italian dip but just more meat centric.

What I like about them other than the delicious flavor are that you can use canned chicken which is often in our pantry to make buffalo chicken dip. And that they make a great keto snack or even appetizer for a party. Especially for those on a low carb diet.

The air fryer creates a crispy outside and flavorful meaty inside. They are great with dipping sauces and they don’t use breadcrumbs, pork rinds, almond flour, regular wheat flour or any kind of coating. So they are gluten free too as well as family friendly!

Recipe ingredients I used and substitutions.

The simple ingredients I used was canned chicken breast, shredded mozzarella cheese, egg, garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning, salt and black pepper.

Canned Chicken
I don’t really love this product but I do like it for buffalo chicken dip and I use it sometimes when I’m in a pinch for my soup recipes. When you mix it with the cheese and spices it gives it a lot of flavor and will have the texture of nuggets.

However you can use leftover chicken or rotisserie chicken just as long as it’s already cooked.

Mozzarella Cheese and Egg
I like the shredded mozzarella cheese because when it melts it keeps the nuggets together. You could use other cheeses but they might not keep them together as well. The egg is a binder and should be used as well.

If you are allergic to eggs you can try a flax egg but it might affect the taste. Also you could eliminate it too but it will not stick together as well but it works. I’ve accidentally forgot it once and they were still ok but a bit more fragile.

Spices
I like to use garlic powder, onion powder and Italian seasoning in my nuggets but you can play around with the spices if you want. Any seasoning that goes well with chicken would work. I suggest you first make this recipe and if you want to change it up next time you will know what would work well.

How to make keto chicken nuggets in the air fryer.

Step 1: Drain the canned chicken and place in a food processor. Add the mozzarella cheese and spices. Pulse a few times to mix and chop everything up. Make sure not process it too much. Then spoon into a mixing bowl and add the beaten egg until everything is well combined.

Originally I didn’t make this in the food processor and just mixed everything in a. big bowl. However the chicken is kind of stringy as is the cheese. I liked it better when it was chopped up more but yo don’t have to use the food processor if you don’t want to.

Below you can see the difference between the food processor and just making in the bowl.

Step 2: Spray the air fryer basket with cooking spray. Take about a tablespoon of the chicken mixture and use your hands to form into a nugget shape. Place the chicken pieces in the air fryer basket. Continue with all of the mixture.

You may have to do these in batches depending on the size of your air fryer.

Step 3: Set the baking temperature to 350°F and cook the chicken nuggets for 12-15 minutes until golden brown. Let them cool a few minutes before taking out of the air fryer. Cooking time may vary. 

Step 4: Plate up the keto nuggets and eat them as a low carb snack or even as a meal. You can eat them as is, with your favorite dipping sauce or your favorite condiment. Below I have a selection of low carb dip recipes to try.

Store leftover nuggets in an airtight container. Please scroll down to view the printable recipe card.

To make these in an oven.

For this method, preheat oven to 375°F and spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Place the uncooked nuggets on the baking tray and bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

To make these on the stove top.

For this method, get out a large skillet. Use enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan and heat up to medium high heat. Add the keto nuggets and then turn the heat down to medium heat and start frying them.

Once they start browning, turn them over and try to get them to brown on all sides. When done transfer to a plate covered with paper towels to absorb the excess oil. Let cool then serve.

What to serve with these air fryer nuggets.

If you wanted to eat these as a meal, I would serve with these keto tater tots or if you don’t care about carbs try these air fryer diced potatoes. Add a steamed veggie and green salad and call it a meal.

Keto dipping sauce for these homemade chicken nuggets.

Check out these easy and delicious recipes for dipping sauces that you can use with this dish. The use only a few basic ingredients and will add another layer of flavor. I used one of my favorite sauces – the sriracha aioli because I like the heat and creaminess of it. 

• keto creamy sriracha aioli sauce
• low carb bbq sauce
• low carb honey mustard sauce
• dairy free homemade ranch dressing
•  avocado lime dipping sauce
• tomato bacon jam
•  jalapeno aioli 
• buffalo aioli recipe

Well I hope you give these air fryer keto chicken nuggets a chance one of these days when you are in the mood for keto snack or even main dish. They are fun to eat and full of flavor. My family loves them and I hope yours does too. Enjoy!

The nutritional information for 1 keto friendly nugget is 28 calories / 1.1g fat / 0.2g carbs / 2.9g protein = 0.2g net carbs

Check out all my keto chicken recipes and air fryer recipes.