Learn how to cook air fried chicken nuggets from frozen with the Instant Pot Duo Crisp + Air Fryer or in a regular Instant Pot with the accessory air fryer lid. Crispy outside and tender inside, these nuggets are served with a delicious honey mustard sauce. They are super quick to make and great for a fuss-free dinner, lunch, game night or finger food when guests come over.
Frozen Chicken Nuggets - Air Fryer Method
Keeping a stash of frozen chicken nuggets in the freezer makes it easy to whip up a quick meal for the family or to nibble on with friends. Kids love them too, and you can add a healthy vegetable side dish to serve up a balanced meal.
Cooking chicken nuggets in an air fryer is very quick and in this recipe, we will show you how to do it using the Instant Pot Duo Crisp or a regular model with an air fryer lid. You can use similar timings for standalone air fryers as well.
You don't need to add extra oil and can cook the frozen chicken nuggets straight from the freezer. They will be done in 10-12 minutes depending on size. While they are cooking, you can whip up our honey mustard sauce and a quick salad, vegetables, and boil some pasta noodles or quinoa.
What To Serve With Chicken Nuggets
You really can't have chicken nuggets without a dipping sauce! A chicken nugget is pretty versatile and can take on many flavors. While there is nothing wrong with using regular ketchup or mayo for dipping, it's worthwhile spending a few extra minutes whisking together something a little special.
- Mix a little minced garlic to make aioli
- Whisk Sriracha hot sauce or sweet chili sauce into mayonnaise
- Go classic with smokey BBQ or our honey mustard dipping sauce
- Try herby zesty chimichurri or tomato salsa for something refreshing
Chicken nuggets are often served as finger food but they are great to build a meal on. From mashed potatoes or pasta noodles to regular rice or quinoa, adding a healthy carbohydrate is always a good start. Finish up with your favorite salad or cooked vegetables to complete the dish. In the summer, coleslaw or potato salad are great companions to chicken nuggets.
Ingredients You Will Need
Here is what you need to make this recipe.
- Chicken nuggets: There are so many brands of frozen chicken nuggets with different sizes and thicknesses, which will affect cooking time (by 1-2 minutes). We always look for a higher percentage of chicken meat in the nuggets, which you tend to get with organic or free-range brands.
- However, you might prefer a more processed, softer nugget texture, which is also fine. The good thing about air frying is that you can start with the base cooking time and then test one of the nuggets for readiness. If they need to get crispier, you can add a few minutes to the cooking time.
For honey mustard sauce: This is a very easy dipping sauce that goes well with chicken. You will need regular mayonnaise, wholegrain mustard, honey and a little hot sauce, which can be omitted if you must avoid spice. You can always make a larger portion and store it in the fridge for sandwiches.
How To Cook Frozen Chicken Nuggets In Air Fryer
You will find the full recipe with ingredients and nutritional breakdown in the recipe card below. Here are some handy step-by-step photos of how to cook frozen chicken nuggets in the air fryer. You can use a 6-quart Instant Pot with an additional Air Fryer lid, basket and broil tray OR the Instant Pot Duo Crisp + Air Fryer model (which is what we used). Feel free to adapt our recipe to your own air fryer model, timings would be quite similar.
First of all, there are a few factors that might affect the cooking of frozen nuggets. They vary in size, thickness, meat percentage and thickness. It's always best to not overcrowd the basket/tray but we cooked our nuggets overlapping each other slightly and it still worked well as long as you flip them over halfway through. If you need to make a large portion of nuggets, cook them in two batches.
- Step 1. Insert the air fryer basket inside the Instant Pot. Arrange frozen chicken nuggets on the bottom of the basket in one layer (no extra oil is necessary) and if you have extra nuggets, gently overlap them on top as a second layer (see photo below).
- Step 2. Place and secure the air fryer lid on top. Select Air Fryer function (this will be on top of the lid if it's an accessory Instant Pot air fryer lid, or on the front of the Instant Pot Duo Crisp). Set the temperature to maximum, which is 204 C / 399 F and adjust the time to 10 minutes for smaller nuggets and 12 minutes for thicker, larger nuggets (or somewhere in between, you can always increase the time or stop cooking earlier).
- Step 3. At around 7 minute mark, open the lid and place it on a safety mat. Use tongs to flip the nuggets or move them around the air fryer basket. Place the lid on top to continue air frying for the remaining time. Check again at the end and feel free to add 1-2 extra minutes if you like them extra crispy.
Repeat with another batch of nuggets. This might take quicker as the pot and the air fryer lid will be quite hot already. Shake out any burnt bits of chicken from the basket before adding a new batch of nuggets. If a BURN FOOD error comes up, reduce the heat by a few degrees and it should disappear.
Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce
Combine the sauce ingredients and whisk through until smooth. Taste to see if you like more heat, more kick from mustard or more honey. You can use some hot mustard in place of hot sauce or add a little ketchup for color. Toss potato wedges with rosemary, seasonings and olive oil. Use your hands to coat everything evenly. This sauce will keep in the fridge for 4-5 days in an airtight container.
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Full Recipe
Find the full list of ingredients, instructions, and a nutritional breakdown below. If you have questions or cook this recipe, please let us know in the comments, and make sure to rate this recipe so it’s easy for others to find.
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Instant Pot Air Fryer Chicken Nuggets (From Frozen)
Ingredients
- 24 frozen chicken nuggets 6 pieces per serve
For honey mustard sauce
- ⅓ cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard
- 1-2 teaspoons hot sauce or Sriracha
Instructions
- Insert the air fryer basket inside the Instant Pot. Arrange frozen chicken nuggets on the bottom of the basket in one layer (no extra oil is necessary) and if you have extra nuggets, gently overlap them on top as a second layer (see photo below).
- Place and secure the air fryer lid on top. Select Air Fryer function (this will be on top of the lid if it's an accessory Instant Pot air fryer lid, or on the front of the Instant Pot Duo Crisp). Set the temperature to maximum, which is 204 C / 399 F and adjust the time to 10 minutes for smaller nuggets and 12 minutes for thicker, larger nuggets (or somewhere in between, you can always increase the time or stop cooking earlier).
- At around 7 minute mark, open the lid and place it on a safety mat. Use tongs to flip the nuggets or move them around the air fryer basket. Place the lid on top to continue air frying for the remaining time. Check again at the end and feel free to add 1-2 extra minutes if you like them extra crispy.
- Repeat with the second batch of nuggets, you will find that this will be quicker as the pot and the air fryer lid are already hot. If there are any burnt bits of chicken in the basket, shake it out. If BURN FOOD error comes up, reduce the heat from 204 to 200 and it should disappear.
- Make the sauce. Combine the sauce ingredients and whisk through until smooth. Taste to see if you like more heat, more kick from mustard or more honey. You can use some hot mustard in place of hot sauce or add a little ketchup for color. Toss potato wedges with rosemary, seasonings and olive oil. Use your hands to coat everything evenly. This sauce will keep in the fridge for 4-5 days in an airtight container.
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