Keto Chicken Nuggets

Serves: 4

These nuggets are perfectly crispy and full of flavor!  The type and brand of pork rinds really does make a huge difference, I've not had great success with other brands.
They cook up easily in the Air Fryer which makes the outside crisp and keeps the inside tender.  The pickle juice tenderizes the chicken and adds so much flavor, don't skip this step!  

• 2 medium boneless/skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite size cubes

• 3/4-1 C. dill pickle juice (leftover from a jar of pickles)

• 1 egg, beaten*

• 2 Tbsp. sour cream*

• 5 oz (2-2.5 oz bags) Epic Provisions Sea Salt and Pepper pork rinds, crushed

• 1/2 C. almond flour

• 1/4 fine grated parmesan cheese (I prefer locatelli pecorino romano, but any will do)

• 1/2 tsp garlic powder

• 1/2 tsp onion powder

• 1/4 tsp smoked paprika

• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1/4 tsp. pepper

Add chicken cubes and pickle juice to a Ziploc bag and seal tightly, set in a bowl to ensure all chicken is submerged in juice.  Allow to marinate in the fridge at least 2 hours, but up to all day.

Crush the pork rinds as fine as you can, I use a mallet and a gallon Ziploc bag, but a food processor would make it quick work!  To the gallon bag, add almond flour, cheese and seasonings, shake around to combine well.  In a medium bowl, whisk together egg and sour cream.  Remove chicken from the pickle juice and squeeze it gently, then plop it all into the bowl with the egg mixture.  Mix it up to coat all the chicken pieces.  Take a chicken piece and gently tap it against the bowl to remove extra egg mixture, pop it into the bag of pork rind mixture, do this about 4 times, then toss it a bit to coat.  Repeat this until all the chicken is in the bag of pork rind mixture.  Bounce it around a bit to make sure all edges of the chicken pieces are coated.  At this point it's ready to cook, but in my opinion, it's worth the extra step of "double coating it".

*To double coat:  You'll want to mix up one more bowl of egg/sour cream mixture.  Gently remove each piece of coated chicken to a platter, there should be quite a bit of crumb mixture still in the bag.  Take each chicken piece, one at a time, dip into the egg mixture and then press into the remaining crumb mixture to coat a second time, set aside on platter and repeat with remaining pieces.

Heat up your air Fryer and spray the basket with oil.  Lightly spray the tops of your chicken pieces with a very light coating of olive oil.  Place them in the basket with about an inch of space between them and bake for 10-11 minutes (turning them over halfway through cooking time).  I had to cook mine in 3 batches.  To keep the cooked pieces warm and crispy remove them to a preheated oven at 250 degrees to a cooling rack set upon a flat cookie sheet.  This keeps them from getting soft on the bottom and ensure they stay nice and warm and crisp.

Enjoy with your favorite dipping sauce!