Ramen Chicken Nuggets: College & Childhood Foods Combined

Your favorite childhood food and the thing you ate far too often in college have finally come together: ramen chicken nuggets. Feeling nostalgic? This mash-up gives chicken nuggets an instant-noodle jacket, which sounds like the sort of meal you might invent while staring into a cupboard and avoiding an assignment.

You can make your own using the recipe from Oh, Bite It! The important detail is that the noodles become the coating. These are bite-size pieces of chicken wearing crushed ramen, rather than a bowl of soup with some nuggets bobbing around in it. We’ll get to that deeply unofficial alternative in a minute.

The Ramen Goes on the Outside

Oh, Bite It!’s version starts with chicken tenders cut into chunks. The coating uses flour, eggs and crushed, uncooked chicken-flavored ramen, with a little oil before baking. You keep the seasoning sachet separate while crushing the noodles, then use some of it to season the coated chicken.

That distinction is the whole appeal. The ramen isn’t being softened into the familiar tangle at the bottom of a bowl. It supplies an irregular, noodle-covered exterior instead. The dish still reads as a chicken nugget, but the coating gives away what happened to the packet in your cupboard.

Baked Nuggets, with a Thermometer Check

The original recipe bakes the coated pieces on a sheet pan and suggests approximately 25–30 minutes, with a little more ramen seasoning at the end if wanted. Follow the linked recipe for its quantities and oven instructions; this is an overview of the idea, not a tested adaptation.

The clock alone cannot tell you whether chicken is done. USDA guidance calls for poultry to reach an internal temperature of 165°F (74°C), checked with a food thermometer. A golden noodle crust is a visual cue for the coating, not a substitute for checking the meat inside.

A Throwback to the 2014 Food Mash-up era

Oh, Bite It! published the recipe on July 6, 2014. Foodbeast covered ramen-crusted chicken nuggets on July 9 and credited the same recipe. So this is a particular food-blog creation worth revisiting, rather than a newly discovered way to combine dinner with your old study habits.

What About the Drive-Through Version?

Or go to Micky D’s, buy some nuggets, drive ’em home, boil up some ramen and toss those suckers in there. Voilà! Not even remotely the same thing. You’ve made nuggets with noodles, which may satisfy the nostalgia, but skips the part where the ramen becomes the crust.

Sounds pretty tasty if you ask me. If you didn’t ask me, well, I don’t blame you. Just kind of running my mouth over here! I mean fingers. I’m running my fingers.

If you make the homemade version and have leftovers, USDA recommends prompt refrigeration: within two hours, or one hour when the temperature is above 90°F (32°C). Keep the refrigerator at 40°F (4°C) or below and use refrigerated leftovers within three to four days. Childhood nostalgia can wait; the chicken should go in the fridge.