This easy gluten-free chicken nuggets recipe makes crispy, tender nuggets your whole family will love! These homemade nuggets are flavored with ranch flavors and parmesan cheese, and you can cook them in the air fryer or oven.
You will love that these are made with simple ingredients and ready in minutes. These air fryer gluten-free chicken nuggets are perfect for busy nights, picky eaters, or anytime you’re craving healthier nuggets at home.
❤️ Sandi’s Summary
1. Crispy on the outside, tender and juicy inside — thanks to a creamy ranch marinade!
2. Picky eater-friendly — even picky eaters love the ranch flavor.
3. Better than store-bought! — there are no mystery ingredients here!
4. Use what you have – chicken breast or thigh meat.
7. [👉 Jump to Recipe]
Getting your kids in the kitchen so they learn to cook can be very empowering. Here are some delicious Gluten-Free Recipes for Kids. They may also love these Chicken Air Fryer Foil Packets because they get to choose their own seasoning and vegetables!
Definitely will be making these again. They are so good and so easy.
Deona, blog comment
Even my selective eating non-gf husband likes them.
If you are trying to decide on what air fryer to get, I have a great list of the best air fryers for gluten-free. I include a great pros and cons list for each model. If you love using your air fryer as much as I do, check out all of my Gluten-Free Air Fryer Recipes.
Allergen Information:
This delicious homemade air fryer nuggets recipe is:
- gluten-free
- egg-free
- nut-free
- soy-free
- Make it dairy-free by using dairy-free ranch dressing and nutritional yeast.
Ingredient Notes:
For the full list of ingredients and amounts, please go to the recipe card below.
- Chicken Breasts – This recipe can use any boneless or bone-in chicken cut, cut into nugget-sized pieces.
- Gluten Free Bread Crumbs or Panko – There are several brands, including Ian’s and Alexia. I find it is a lot cheaper to make my own homemade gluten free bread crumbs.
- Ranch Dressing – Hidden Valley, LiteHouse, and Newman’s Own all offer gluten-free options. Use my Gluten Free Ranch Dressing to make it from scratch!
- Parmesan Cheese – I like to use grated, not shredded.
- Salt – Use sea salt or kosher salt.
- Cooking Oil – You should spray your nuggets with oil. I don’t recommend olive oil. Use avocado oil or another high-smoking-point oil. Read more about what oils to use in the air fryer.
My family loves chicken because it is easy to use in dinner recipes. I have tons of delicious Gluten-Free Chicken Recipes on the blog for you to explore.
Tips For Success
1. Preheat your air fryer for 3-5 minutes to get your nuggets extra crispy on the outside.
2. You can meal prep this for the next day by letting the chicken marinate in the ranch dressing the day before.
How To Make Gluten-Free Chicken Nuggets (Step by Step)
Note From The Kitchen: This recipe brought back a lot of memories while I was testing. It’s simple, but it holds a lot of comfort. My picky eater went through a chicken nugget phase, and I sure wish I had thought to use ranch dressing all of those years ago!
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Step 1: Prep the chicken. Place the raw chicken on a clean cutting board. Use a sharp knife to cut your boneless, skinless chicken breasts into 1-inch nugget-shaped pieces.
🔑 Sandi says: Use a dishwasher-safe cutting board for easy sanitizing.
Step 2: Marinate the chicken. Toss chicken pieces in ranch dressing until fully coated. This secret ingredient keeps these nuggets moist on the inside! To keep this recipe egg-free, I use the ranch dressing to get the bread crumbs to stick.
Step 3: Let the flavors soak in. Cover and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes to let the flavor soak in. You will be surprised at how much the ranch flavor in these Hidden Valley ranch chicken nuggets absorbs into the chicken!
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Step 4: Prepare the coating. Add the gluten-free bread crumbs or panko to a shallow dish and mix in the grated parmesan cheese.
Step 5: Coat the chicken. Put a piece of chicken into the bread crumbs and toss to coat. Repeat until all of the chicken is coated in the coating mixture.
Step 6: Prepare the air fryer. Spray your air fryer basket with light oil. Arrange nuggets in a single layer without touching. If the nuggets are touching, they can stick together during the cooking process.
Step 7: Cook the nuggets. In the air fryer, cook at 400º F for 10 minutes. (The Cook time will vary based on the nugget size. The internal temperature should reach 165°F.)
🔑 Sandi’s Tip: If needed, cook in batches for the most crispiness.
Step 8: Remove the cooked ranch chicken nuggets and repeat until all the chicken pieces are cooked. A meat thermometer can verify that the chicken is done when its internal temperature is 165º F. Serve hot.
Oven-Baked Gluten-Free Chicken Nuggets
- Bake for 15–20 minutes until golden and the internal temperature reaches 165°F.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Follow the same marinating and breading instructions as the air fryer method.
- Arrange nuggets on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Keep them spaced apart.
- Lightly spray the gluten-free chicken nuggets with oil.
Serve With:
- Sriracha sauce for a spicy kick!
- French fries
- Air fryer green beans
- BBQ Sauce or your favorite dipping sauces.
- Sweet potato fries
If you love crispy, you may also want to try my crispy gluten free air fryer mushrooms recipe.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Yes! Heat 2 tablespoons of light oil in a skillet over medium heat. Fry nuggets for 4–6 minutes per side, depending on size, until golden and 165°F inside.
Preheat your air fryer, spray the nuggets with oil, and avoid overcrowding the basket. If baking these in the oven, a light oil mist is key for a golden crisp.
Absolutely! The ooked nuggets can be frozen in a freezer-safe bag for up to 4 months. To re-crisp, they should be reheated in the air fryer at 350°F for 5–8 minutes.
These ranch nuggets will keep up to 4 days in an airtight container or up to 4 months in the freezer.
More Gluten Free Chicken Recipes:
- Gluten Free Chicken Pot Pie
- Crispy Gluten Free Fried Chicken
- Roasted Herb Chicken
- Gluten Free Chicken and Waffles
Love This Recipe?
💬 Did you make this recipe? Drop a comment below, and let me know how it turned out! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Please include which flour blend you used. This will help others know this recipe is delicious. Thank you!
Gluten Free Chicken Nuggets
Equipment
- Mixing bowl
Ingredients
- 1 pound chicken breasts raw
- ⅓ cup ranch dressing * see note
- ⅓ cup gluten free bread crumbs * see note
- ¼ cup parmesan cheese grated
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Instructions
- If you are baking these in an oven, preheat your oven to 375º F. See the Notes section for oven directions.
- Cut 1 pound chicken breasts into chicken chunks and put into a mixing bowl.
- Pour 1/3 cup ranch dressing over the chicken and mix to coat the chicken evenly.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow the chicken to marinate for at least 15 minutes. You can cover them and put them into the refrigerator overnight if you plan to meal prep these for the next day.
- Preheat your air fryer to 400º F.
- Add 1/3 cup gluten free bread crumbs and 1/4 cup parmesan cheese to a bowl and mix well.
- Put 4-5 chicken chunks into the bread crumb mixture and toss to coat them evenly with bread crumbs.
- Spray the air fryer basket with cooking oil (do not use olive oil!) and add coated chicken to the basket. Make sure to have space between each nugget so air can circulate around each one. This will help make your nuggets crispier.
- Spray the top of the nuggets with oil and cook for 10 minutes.
- Remove the basket when they are done and check the internal temperature of the largest nuggets to ensure they are 165º F.
- Enjoy!!
Notes
- Ian’s and Alexia both make great gluten free bread crumbs. It is also easy (and cheaper) to make your own gluten free bread crumbs from scratch.
- There are several brands of ranch dressing that are gluten free. I use Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing in this recipe, but LiteHouse and Newman’s Own are also delicious.
- You can use boneless chicken thighs if you have those on-hand. And if you want to get creative, chicken wings!
SPECIAL NOTE
Please know that every gluten free flour blend has a different starch to grain ratio. If you use a blend I didn’t test, my rule of thumb is to add more flour if your dough or batter is wet and add more liquid if the dough or batter is too dry!
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the actual nutritional information with the products and brands you are using with your preferred nutritional calculator.
This post was updated from an older March 2021 post with more detailed directions.
Definitely will be making these again. They are so good and so easy. Even my selective eating non-gf husband likes them.
I am so glad everyone loved them. I saw you mention in Facebook that you used crushed crackers. I love this idea!
Made these tonight my son has been missing his spicy fried chicken. I subbed out just over half the breadcrumbs with his favorite spicy cheetos. So good and tender. I used the air fryer in my oven so did 2 big batches. I did forget to spray the bottom of my air fryer rack so had to flip them and broil just a minute to get the bottom crispy. These were a hit! So glad I made extra
Oooh, I love spicy. I can’t wait to try this. Thank you so much, Cyd :-).
My kids love them too, even my picky eater. Thanks for coming back to let me know 🙂
What a great idea to coat the chicken in ranch dressing, it added some great flavor. Made these in the oven and they came out delicious.
I am really glad you loved it! Thank you.
This recipe sounds easy and delicious! I love your GF recipes.
Thank you so much!
I made these for my niece and she absolutely loved them! Thank you so much for the recipe.
I am really glad. And it was so thoughtful of you to make some for her so she could enjoy them.
Can these be made dairy free? Would nutritional yeast be a substitute for parmesan?
Hi Bethany, You can make them dairy free, but I have not tested nutritional yeast in this recipe. If you try it, please let me know how it turned out.
Great recipe for two people!
Have you tried using just the ranch dressing powder?
I have found that I love this on many things. Just wondering if it would work in this recipe. Thanks
I am really glad you enjoyed it, Shelby. I haven’t tested ranch powder. Part of using the regular dressing is the moisture helps to hold the panko coating in place.
I am so glad everyone loved them. They are pretty addictive 🙂
Yummy! I loved having these gluten free chicken nuggets. The Parmesan is a secret ingredient that brings terrific flavor. And so easy to make in the air fryer! Thanks!
I am so glad you all enjoyed them Lisa 🙂
I am so glad you all liked them 🙂