Pickle Brined Chicken Bites
These Pickle Brined Chicken Bites are bursting with bold dill pickle flavor and perfect for an easy weeknight meal. I’m definitely never throwing out my pickle juice again! I’m actually encouraging my family to eat pickles more often so we can make this more often. In addition to being downright delicious, you’re going to love how easy these are to make. Simply put your chicken pieces in pickle juice in the morning and it will be ready to cook at dinner time for a quick and tasty weeknight meal! I like to eat my chicken bites straight-up alongside some tasty side dishes, but they’re also great for meal prep, on a salad, or in a wrap. Not only are these Pickle Brined Chicken Bites easy, delicious, and versatile, each satisfying serving is just 245 calories or 1 WW Point on Weight Watchers! To view your current WW Points for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, click here!
My husband loved these and said they taste like “if Chick-Fil-A nuggets were naked,” which is high praise! I know CFA has grilled nuggets that are “naked,” but flavor-wise, I think these taste more like the original nuggets. I have a lot of different flavors of chicken bites on my blog, but these have quickly become one of my favorites! If you want to check out my other chicken bites flavors, I’ve made them Blackened, Chili Lime, Nashville Hot, Greek, Barbecue Rubbed, Lemon Pepper, Sticky Honey Coriander, and Everything seasoned. You’ll probably want to try them all!
Pickles
I love Claussen kosher dill pickles and in my opinion, nothing else compares. However, if you have a different brand of dill pickles on hand, definitely use what you have! I used the pickle juice left over after using all the pickles in a 20 ounce jar, which was about 1 ¼ cup. I did use a fine strainer to get all the floating ingredients out of the pickle juice before I poured it over the chicken.
How to Serve
These Pickle Brined Chicken Bites are great on their own and pair well with all types of side dishes. My family’s personal favorite is to serve them with roasted vegetables and seasoned rice (usually Rice-A-Roni because it’s my daughter’s favorite). You could also add a dipping sauce if you like! Ranch pairs really well with the pickle chicken flavor. I also make chicken bites pretty often to use for lunch on salads. I love to eat a salad for lunch, and it’s great to have chicken bites prepped and ready to throw on top! You could also serve these chicken bites wrapped in a tortilla or in a rice or grain bowl with veggies. This recipe is so versatile!
Cutting up the chicken
I often buy a big pack of boneless, skinless chicken breasts at the store and then use kitchen shears to trim them down to make 5-6 oz cutlets to use in recipes. Everything I cut off to make the cutlets gets cut into chunks to make chicken bites! It’s easy to weigh out 1 lb or 1.5 lb of chicken chunks and freeze them for later in a quart size freezer bag. That way, I always have some on hand! Buying the bulk packs of chicken breasts is cost-effective, and cutting them into cutlets and bites ensured I have what I need on hand when I go to make a recipe. I find that kitchen shears make this task go quicker and easier than using a knife, so I highly recommend using shears.
More tasty chicken recipes
Looking for more tasty, lightened up, chicken recipes? Check out my Blackened Chicken Bites, Nashville Hot Chicken Bites, Lemon Pepper Chicken Bites, Greek Chicken Bites, Barbecue Rubbed Chicken Bites, Apple and Brie Stuffed Chicken, Slow Cooker Chicken and Stuffing, Strawberry Balsamic Grilled Chicken, Ricotta Stuffed Chicken Bake, Lemon Garlic Chicken and Beans Skillet, Cream Cheese and Herb Stuffed Chicken, Tuscan Olive Chicken, Crispy Cheddar Chicken with Cream Sauce, Pimento Cheese Stuffed Chicken, Cream Cheese Stuffed Everything Chicken, and so many more in the Chicken category of my recipe index!
Pickle Brined Chicken Bites
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lbs raw boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into small bite-sized pieces
- 1 - 1 ½ cups pickle juice, (the leftover brine from a pickle jar – be sure to strain out any floating pieces before using)
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon dried dill weed
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Instructions
- Place the cut-up chicken pieces into a gallon zip-seal plastic bag or a shallow bowl. Pour the pickle juice over the chicken. Seal the bag or cover the bowl and place in the refrigerator for 6-8 hours to marinate.
- Place a colander in your sink and dump the chicken and pickle juice in to drain the chicken. Let it sit for a couple minutes to drain while you make your seasoning mix.
- In a small dish, stir together your seasoning mix: flour, parsley, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, dill weed, sugar, and paprika.
- Place the brined and drained chicken pieces into a mixing bowl. Add the seasoning mix to the chicken pieces. Stir the contents of the bowl until the chicken pieces are coated with the spices.
- Add the oil to a large sauté pan/walled skillet and bring over med-high heat. Once the oil is hot, add the chicken pieces (you don’t want to overcrowd the pan, so depending on the size of your skillet you may want to work in two batches instead of one) and stir to break them up and coat them in the oil. Cook the chicken for 6-8 minutes, stirring every couple minutes. Once the chicken is cooked through and a bit golden on the outside, remove from heat and serve.
Notes
245 calories, 2 g carbs, 0 g sugars, 8 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 39 g protein, 0 g fiber, 132 mg sodium (from myfitnesspal.com) Weight Watchers Points Plus:
6 per (4 ounce) serving (PP calculated using a Weight Watchers PointsPlus calculator and the nutrition info above)
My hubs made these for me exactly as written. They were incredible and I enjoyed every bite! Earlier this week I made your au gratin potato bake – every recipe of yours has been a winner. Thanks, Emily!!!