Extra-Crispy Baked Popcorn Chicken Bites. {with Blue Diamond Almonds}
So addicting-ly crispy, baked gluten free chicken nugget! Dunked in buffalo sauce then baked with Blue Diamond Smokehouse Almonds, oat flour, and cornmeal. And served with a sticky sweet, two ingredient Buffalo sauce.
We are so excited to be partnering with blue diamond almonds again this year. Blue diamond almonds is one of our favorite brands, I love their environment friendly mindset and of course their amazing (and highly addicting) almonds.
Today we are taking their smokehouse almonds to a new level and using them as apart of our chicken bite coating. These chicken bites are unbelievably crispy and believe it or not they are gluten-free and baked not fried!
I originally thought of making chicken tenders, but I am so glad I went with bite size, because popcorn chicken is even more delicious than chicken tenders. Not only can you pop the entire bite into your mouth one at a time, but the small pieces are more tender and more easily soak up the egg bath (no need to marinate!) and the bites have more surface area for crispy breading.
The chicken breading only has three steps it starts out with an oat flour coating and then it gets dunked in an egg mixture, and finally coated with the almonds and cornmeal mixture. The smokehouse almonds give the most amazing explosion of flavor – a little smoke, a little tangy, a lot of delicious. But, if you don’t have Smokehouse almonds available, you could use plain almonds and add your own spices – like BBQ!
After the chicken has been coated, it gets baked and broiled the oven until crispy perfection.
The chicken is super delicious on its own but the buffalo sauce we made totally puts this chicken over the top… There are only two ingredients(really three, but who counts water as an ingredient?!) : Buffalo sauce and brown sugar. You can also add lime juice for a little extra zest, but that is optional.
These buffalo bites are perfect for any occasion: the tastiest baked snack, the hero appetizer at game day or any party, or add some veggies on the side and you have yourself a meal – my kind of meal, my family’s kind of meal and most definitely your kids kind of meal.
These chicken bites are also perfect for the big game right around the corner. I assure you that these chicken bites will be the hit of the party. Perfectly pop-able and allergy friendly!
If you give these chicken bites a try, please let us know! Leave a comment or tag your picture #layersofhappinessblog on Instagram! When we see everyone enjoying out recipes it always makes our day. 🙂

Ingredients:
Directions:
This post is sponsored by Blue Diamond Almonds. For more Game Changing Snacks, visit Blue Diamond Almonds on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Thank you for working with me Blue Diamond Almonds!
Yum! Popcorn chicken with buffalo sauce sounds so delicious. I love that these use almonds and are gluten-free 🙂
Thanks Keri! 🙂
Bite size is always the way to go and I love that you used almonds to amp up the crunch factor!
Thanks Julie!! 🙂
I love Blue Diamond! They have so many awesome almond flavors! These chicken bites look so crispy and delicious! And I bet they taste amazing dipped into that sauce 🙂
Thanks Isadora – they do 🙂
Gah! Ask me how much I love these little gems of bites! Seriously in love! I can just imagine grabbing each little stick and dipping them and then eating them until I can’t eat any more. Totally pinning!
Thanks Kristi! 🙂
These chicken bites look so perfectly golden brown and crispy, and I love the sound of the oat flour and almond coating! Brilliant idea, and pinned. 🙂
oh my goodness these look SO good! Love that they’re baked, not fried! Pinned 😀
Love the name of your brownies Erica…very cute!
Oh my goodness could this chicken be any more stunning?! I am seriously in love with how golden and crispy the coating on these little bites look! Absolutely drool-worthy and perfect for game-day! 😉 Pinned!
Thanks Sarah – enjoy your game day this coming weekend! We love game day food 🙂
Nothing like bite-sized munchies for game day! And the combination of ingredients along with the kick of the buffalo sauce is perfect! Pinned!
Thanks Annie! 🙂
I bet these are amazing with the smokehouse almonds!! Genius.
🙂 Or any flavored almonds really! So much easier than adding the spices myself. 🙂