PSA: Someone Has Reverse-Engineered McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets

Reverse engineering Macca’s famed McNuggets is not for the faint-hearted. One plucky member of Facebook’s “Homemade McDonalds” group took the challenge on head first — and has created her own version of The Nuggs that are so, so close to the original, she never has to visit Macca’s again. Here’s how you can make your own Chicken McNuggets at home.

Posted to both the Homemade McDonalds Facebook group and Instagram page as early as March this year, the homemade nuggs elevated themselves to some sort of mythic legend within the Homemade Maccas crowd. The Facebook group lists a tome of rules that homemade Maccas members must abide by – for instance, you “MUST SHOW BITE PHOTO!!!!” and “Posts that do not contain cooks must show a basic constructive discussion to a potential cook.” Whenever you post, you have to post both your ingredients and your rating/10.

So, Bernadette, with her entrepreneurial mindset and tastebuds yearning for a cheeky nugg, decided to make a homemade version of Macca’s Chicken McNuggets.

Here’s what Bernadette — an Aussie icon, now — used to replicate the nuggs at home:

• Flour
• Salt
• Vegeta stock
• Garlic Powder
• Onion Powder
• Pepper

She chucked all the ingredients in a zip-lock bag and threw her pieces of chicken breast in. She triple (TRIPLE!) coated the chicken with her bag of faux-Macca’s batter and also performed an ‘intermittent egg wash’ between coats. Between the second and third coat, she placed her nuggs in the freezer momentarily to “ensure crispness a la OG”. She rated her version a 9/10.

To be honest, I’d likely replace the flour with cornflour or cornstarch instead – which should get your nuggs a little more crispy.

Bernadette wasn’t done there though – she decided to go HAM. She decided to make Sweet n Sour sauce too!

Here’s the ingredients she used:

• Apricot Jam
• Garlic Powder
• Onion Powder
• Soy Sauce
• White Wine Vinegar
• Mustard
• Glucose Syrup
• Cornstarch

She used a hand held blitzer and ‘blitzed’ all those ingredients together and then ‘reduced over a gentle simmer’. She says that the taste was “so so so close to the original, dare I say it, perhaps even better” that she gave the sauce a 9/10.

Onya, Bernie.

You can see the Instagram post below:

View this post on Instagram

Another bar has been set. An unbelievable nugget cook from Bernadette, whom also brought you the apple pie™️ this my dudes is what home maccas is all about. This is how one reverse engineers #cooksomethingben #cooksomethingmitch : Last night I challenged myself to create what some in this group had attempted but never seemed to nail – the iconic 6 pack o’ nuggs and sweet and sour dipping sauce. Nuggs were made with chicken breast, triple coated in a zip lock bag of flour, salt, vegeta, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper with an intermittent egg wash. I also popped them in the freezer between the second and third coats to ensure crispiness a la OG. Fuck, these bad boys were so fucking good. Like I honestly don’t think I’ve ever made chicken this yum before. Ratings are: Taste: 9/10 – delish but took 1 point off for having too much flavour compared to the OG lol ???? Looks: 9/10 – size was perf, as was coating thickness, too much variation in the freckles of pepper on the coating meant that it wasn’t 100% deception Then, on to the sweet and sour sauce. I really didn’t think this was gonna be possible to replicate at home but I came pretty damn close. Made with apricot jam, garlic powder, onion powder, soy sauce, mustard, white wine vinegar, glucose syrup and cornstarch – blitzed and then reduced over a gentle simmer. You can see my sauce in both the original packaging in the second photo and on the upper nugg in the fourth. Ratings: Taste: 9/10 – so so so close to the original, dare I say it, perhaps even better. Made us both really dry in the mouth after though so lost points for thirst inducing qualities Looks: 8/10 – viscosity was not exact (a little too thick), and there were lil flecks of apricot that my poor hand held blitzer couldn’t smoosh up. Colour was perfect though. All in all, lots of success was had in the kitchen last night. There’s nothing like the feeling of almost nailing a nugg – I’m on top of the world today. I’m showing all my kids at school (I’m a high school teacher) and it’s giving me a new found cred ????

A post shared by H.M.M.™️ (@homemade_mcdonalds) on Mar 20, 2018 at 7:17am PDT

[referenced url=”https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2018/03/today-i-discovered-there-are-only-four-mcnugget-shapes-and-i-literally-cant-even/” thumb=”https://www.lifehacker.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2015/10/Nuggets-410×231.jpg” title=”Today I Discovered There Are Only Four McNugget Shapes And I Literally Can’t Even” excerpt=”Everybody loves a cheeky chicken McNugget now and again. Perhaps, even, multiple McNuggets. Today I learnt that, for all the McNuggets I’ve ever eaten in my life, McDonald’s only produces nuggets in four different shapes. The Bell, The Bow-Tie, The Boot and The Ball.

Mind. Blown.”]

This story has been updated since its original publication.