Air Fryer Keto Chicken Nuggets: The Easiest Version

Introduction

This post is Sponsored by Perdue Farms. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thanks for supporting the brands that make this site possible!

When we first shared this recipe, my parents had just given Dylan and me an air fryer for Christmas. We were late to the air-fryer party — but the first thing we knew we wanted out of it was chicken nuggets, and the first batch was good enough that we kept working on it until the recipe was this one.

Because the problem with a drive-thru nugget was never the chicken. It is the breading — a flour coating is where the carbohydrate sits, and swapping it is most of what this recipe does.

Crushed pork rinds and parmesan is the swap we make here. What you are left with is chunks of real chicken with a crisp coating, cooked in an air fryer rather than a pot of oil.

The Breading Is Not Almond Flour

Worth knowing, because a lot of keto breading uses almond flour and this one does not. Pork rinds and parmesan do the whole job. If you are new to cooking with them, Are Pork Rinds Keto? covers what to look for on the bag and how fine to crush them.

That means the recipe itself brings no nuts to the table. It does not mean the finished nuggets are safe for a nut allergy — pork rinds and parmesan are packaged products, and their labels are what tell you whether they were made on shared equipment. Read both, and if the allergy is serious, treat the label rather than this page as the authority.

The Chicken

We used Perdue Farms diced chicken breast, which Perdue describes as raised without antibiotics, cage free and fed an all-vegetarian diet. It arrives already trimmed and cubed, which removes the least enjoyable part of making nuggets — dicing raw chicken and then cleaning the board.

Perdue sent us their medium organic bundle to try, and they ship direct to consumers now, across chicken, beef, pork and lamb. Current pricing and any promo codes are on their site — browse the store through our link, or see everything they ship direct.

The One Thing to Get Right

Do not crowd the basket. Layer the coated chicken evenly, and work in batches if your air fryer is small — packed too tightly, the nuggets steam instead of crisping, which defeats the point of the coating.

Shake or flip them halfway so both sides get color, and take them to 165°F internal on a thermometer rather than by eye.

What to Dip Them In

Any sugar-free sauce you like. This keto blue cheese dip is a good one to start with.

If you want more to do with a pack of chicken, there are Keto Buffalo Chicken Tenders and Keto Stuffed Bell Peppers too, and on the sweeter side our Mixed Berry Keto Cobbler.

For a side, try our keto mac and cheese, made with shirataki noodles instead of regular pasta.

For bite-sized chicken with a sauce instead of a dip, our Keto Sesame Chicken coats the pieces in xanthan gum rather than a breading and finishes them in a skillet with a ginger and soy sauce.

Leftovers

Cooked chicken, so treat it like cooked chicken: into the refrigerator in an airtight container, and used within three to four days.

When you reheat them, take them back to 165°F on a thermometer.

How well the coating survives a reheat is a different question, and one we have not tested. It crisps well the first time; beyond that we cannot tell you.

Have you tried this recipe or any other recipe on the blog? Please rate it below and let us know what you think in the comments! We love hearing from you!

You can also share it on Instagram and use the hashtag #buttertogetherkitchen so we can see what you make.

Enjoy!