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freshly made sourdough chicken minis

Sourdough Chicken Minis (Better Than Chick-Fil-A)

Molly LaFontaine
Dare I say these sourdough chicken minis are better than Chick-fil-A's?! They're sweet, savory, and the perfect bite to eat any time of day!
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Fermenting & Proofing 15 hours
Total Time 15 hours 40 minutes
Course Appetizer
Cuisine Sourdough
Servings 8 chicken minis

Ingredients
  

Chicken

  • 1 large boneless skinless chicken breast (or 2 small)
  • 2 tsp avocado oil (only if pan-frying)

Chicken Marinade

  • 1/4 cup buttermilk (or regular milk)
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp hot sauce

Chicken Breading

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp chili powder (salt-free)
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Sourdough Rolls

  • 1/4 cup fed sourdough starter (fed 4-12 hours before using)
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup water
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 Tbsp melted butter (salted)
  • 3 tsp raw honey

Roll Topping

  • 2 tsp honey
  • 2 Tbsp melted butter (salted)

Instructions
 

Make Dough

  • In a mixing bowl, combine fed starter, water, honey, melted butter, and salt until combined.
  • Add in the flour and mix until combined. It will be shaggy, so use your hands to finish combining it into a dough ball until all the flour is incorporated. (If your dough isn’t coming together, add in 1-2 tablespoons of water to help).
  • Turn the dough out on the counter and knead for 3 minutes by hand or with a bread hook on an electric mixer. (If needed add a dusting of flour if the dough is sticky).
  • Place dough back in the bowl and cover loosely with a towel or lid.
  • Let the dough bulk ferment in a non-drafty place at room temperature for 12 hours. It should double in size and have visible bubbles in the dough.
  • Once bulk fermentation is completed, uncover the dough, punch it down to deflate gas bubbles, and turn it out on the counter (no flour is needed).

Shape Rolls

  • Line the bottom of a round cake pan with parchment paper.
  • Slice dough into 8 pieces
  • Roll each piece into a ball
  • Place one dough ball in the center of the pan then line the others around it so that they’re all touching. This should create a circle.
  • Cover the pan and let rolls rise for 3 hours on the counter at room temperature.

Prep Chicken

  • Cut chicken breast into 8 chunks.
  • In a bowl whisk together the marinade ingredients.
  • Place chicken chunks in marinade. Let sit for 30 minutes to 1 hour in the fridge.

Bake Rolls

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit then bake for 18-20 minutes (they should be golden brown)
  • In a small bowl combine the topping (honey and melted butter). When the rolls come out of the oven, brush the tops with honey butter.

Cook Chicken

  • In a frying pan, heat avocado oil over medium heat or preheat the oven to 425.
  • Mix together the breading ingredients in a medium sized bowl.
  • Get chicken out of the fridge and dredge each piece of chicken by letting excess marinade drip off, then dip it in the breading mix. Then repeat by dipping it back in the marinade and once again in the breading mix.
  • Place each breaded piece of chicken on a plate if pan-frying or on a parchment-lined sheet pan if oven-frying them.
  • Once you've breaded each piece of chicken, and the pan is hot or the oven is preheated, begin cooking.
  • FOR OVEN-FRIED: Bake chicken for 10 minutes then flip and bake another 10 minutes until chicken is fully cooked and crunchy.
  • FOR PAN-FRIED: Cook chicken for 5 minutes in the oiled pan over medium heat, then flip. Cook an additional 5 minutes or until fully cooked through. (Turn heat to low medium if the pan starts to smoke.)

Assemble Chicken Minis

  • When chicken is cooked and rolls are baked, cut each roll in half, 3/4 of the way through. Place a chicken piece in and repeat until all the chicken and rolls are used up! Enjoy!

Notes

If you want to use a different roll you can
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