Get you a recipe that can do both:
- Sweet and salty
- Crunchy and juicy
- Snacky and meal preppy
This one checks all of those boxes, and more. These tender bites are completely covered in a crunchy BBQ crust creating the *chef’s kiss* balance of sweet and savory. The crisp outer shell embodies all the signature, mouth-watering flavors of barbeque: tangy, smoky, salty, and sweet. When those distinct notes come together with the juicy bites of chicken, the elusive umami flavor then comes into play. (Umami – meaning essence of deliciousness in Japanese – is described as having a meaty, savory taste.)
Serving as the ultimate (healthier, of course) comfort food, these BBQ Pecan Crusted Chicken Bites double as a fun and filling finger food or a multiuse protein to prep and pop into a number of meals. And they happen to be dairy-free and gluten-free!
These little, protein-packed BBQ bites can be made in an air-fryer or the oven. Either way, please do yourself a favor by practicing “mise en place” when making this recipe – a French culinary term meaning “putting in place” or “gather” which is referring to the setup prior to cooking. Taking a few minutes to prep and organize before getting started will make your life 50x easier:
- Trim the fat and cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces
- With a food processor or by hand, chop the pecans
- Put the flour in one bowl, egg whites in another, and pecan pieces + seasonings in a third bowl
- Place a sprayed wire cooling rack on top of a baking sheet (if you don’t have a rack, just spray the pan extremely well)
- Line everything up in this order – chicken, paper towels, flour, egg whites, pecans + seasonings, pan
BBQ Pecan Crusted Chicken Bites
Ingredients
- 1 lb. chicken breast boneless, skinless
- ¼ C almond flour*
- ¼ C liquid egg whites*
- 160 g pecans, finely chopped*
- 3 TBSP BBQ seasoning or rub*
- 1 ¼ tsp. stevia brown sugar*
- ½ tsp. sea salt
- ½ tsp. pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F – skip this step if you’re using an air-fryer
- Trim and dice the chicken into bite or nugget sized pieces
- Dry a chicken bite off by folding and pressing a paper towel over it
- Lightly roll the bite in flour until it’s evenly coated
- Dunk it in the egg whites
- Roll the bite in the crushed pecan + seasoning mix until every nook and cranny is covered, then place on the cooling rack
- Repeat until all of the chicken is breaded
- Put the baking sheet in the fridge for 20-30 minutes for the crust to set*
- Bake at 425°F for 25-30 minutes, flipping halfway OR air-fry at 375°F for 2.5-4 minutes on each side – the chicken is done when it reached an internal temperature of 165°F
Notes
- *Almond flour: although I’ve only used almond flour, other flours such as WW, AP, or GF should work fine too
- *Egg whites: ¼ C unsweetened applesauce or 1 whole egg can be used in place of egg whites, although liquid egg whites are the cleaner, far less messy option
- *Pecans: if you’re chopping the pecans with a food processor, you want the pecans to be finely chopped but not to the point that they’re a flour – you want there to be some chunks!
- *BBQ seasoning: I prefer a fine seasoning rather than a coarse one so the flavor is more evenly distributed, but any slightly sweet BBQ seasoning will do. You can also combine BBQ seasonings; I like to use 1 ½ TBSP Meat Church Honey Bacon BBQ and 1 ½ TBSP Traeger Molasses + Chili Pepper Beef Rub or Traeger Apple + Honey Pork and Poultry Rub
- *Stevia brown sugar: can also use regular brown sugar or date sugar
Despite my recipe collection stating otherwise, not every tooth of mine is sweet and I do enjoy coming up with savory recipes – I just have a strong affinity for sweeter ones, which my sweet-tooth-the-size-of-Texas husband never complains about. Though he did have something to say about these bites…
“It’s like my favorite food *pauses, eats another bite* it’s up there with steak”
“These. are. freaking. phenomenal.”
If you know my man, you know how monumental that is for anything to be even remotely comparable to steak.
So, fair warning: these crispy BBQ bites won’t last long (especially when served with BBQ or honey mustard), so you may want to double the batch or make the sister recipe, Taco Crusted Chicken Bites, as well!
If interested, the macronutrients are below. They are kept separate at the very end of each recipe blog so that this can remain a safe, positive space for all as not everyone wishes to see the nutritional information.
Macros:
The following macros are for the entire batch of chicken bites.
- Whole recipe, using almond flour: 37.1 C | 141.5 F | 170 P
- Whole recipe, using whole wheat flour: 48.1 C | 132.5 F | 166 P
If you’d like more specific macros, those can be calculated per bite or per ounce (weight is always the most accurate method for macros):
- Per bite, divide the macros of the whole recipe above by the # of bites made – while it’s not as accurate as the following option, this can serve as a general guideline for the macros as long as all the bites are relatively similar in size
- Per ounce, weigh the entire batch of cooked bites and divide the macros of the whole recipe by the total weight to get the macros per ounce (say if it weighs 20 ounces, divide the carbs, fat, and protein of the whole recipe each by 20)
The macros for recipes are also available on MyFitnessPal. Simply search the name of the recipe followed by “ – SUNutrition” (so for this recipe, search “BBQ Pecan Crusted Chicken Bites – SUNutrition”).
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