I tried the tropical nuggets served only at Truett's Luau in Georgia and immediately understood why fans love them so much.
An order of tropical nuggets from Truett's Luau comes in a paper cup. Rachel Askinasi/Insider
On a recent road trip through three Southern cities (Charleston, South Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; and Atlanta), I stopped off to try the Hawaii-themed Chick-fil-A in Fayetteville, Georgia.
There is just one Truett's Luau location in the city located 40 minutes from Atlanta. The restaurant is said to channel the spirit and flavors of Hawaii, though experts told Insider there's nothing Hawaiian about it, from the decorations to what's on the menu.
Of the many menu items unique to this restaurant, the tropical nuggets seemed to be one of the most talked-about on TikTok, with much of the conversation touching on ways to re-create them at home. They are sweet, spicy, and saucy all at the same time, and cost $4.69 for an eight-piece order.
I've seen copycat recipes online, so I ordered nuggets and sauce from a Chick-fil-A in NYC to try making the fast-food dish myself.
I ordered a 5-piece nuggets box and both sauces. Rachel Askinasi/Insider
Between TikTok and YouTube, there's no shortage of tutorials for how to re-create these saucy nuggets. After watching the videos and tasting the original nuggets from the source myself, I landed on using a combination of the chain's Polynesian sauce and Sweet and Spicy Sriracha sauce.
The first step is to drizzle the sauce over the nuggets either in the box or in a large bowl.
I didn't want to overdo it, so I started slowly adding the sauces. Rachel Askinasi/Insider
I chose to leave the nuggets in the box they came in so that I could test out whether this could be done without access to other kitchen tools like bowls or tongs. Basically, I wanted to see if this was something I could do during an outdoor lunch break.
After seeing one video of someone getting sauce everywhere while using the box, I was careful to not overload the sauce on this first attempt, so I just drizzled a little from each packet.
Then, I closed the box and shook it gently to coat the chicken without making a huge mess.
You can shake the chicken in its box or use a bowl to toss ingredients together. Rachel Askinasi/Insider
I definitely didn't use enough sauce in this first attempt, and I could tell because there were some spots on the nuggets that still had breading exposed.
Before adding more, though, I tasted the sauce combination. It was a little sweeter than I remembered the tropical nuggets tasting, so I added just a little more Polynesian and emptied the remainder of the Sweet and Spicy Sriracha into the box in an effort to balance out the flavors and give it more spice.
After playing with different combinations of the sauces, I determined that it's the ratio that really counts here.
I thought mine looked pretty close to the real thing. Rachel Askinasi/Insider
Using 3/4 of a Polynesian packet and one whole Sweet and Spicy Sriracha packet on a five-piece serving of Chick-fil-A nuggets got me closest to what I remember the tropical nuggets in Georgia tasting and looking like.
There was an undertone of heat, visible pepper flakes, and a well-balanced sweetness to the dish with lots of saucy goodness to dip into.
While re-creating this dish to a T is great, the beauty of doing it yourself is you can choose your own adventure.
I'll probably do this again, and I might get more creative next time. Rachel Askinasi/Insider
I like that I could have added any flavors I wanted in any ratio. If I had the luxury of time and had wanted to get creative in my kitchen, I could have concocted a totally different flavor profile. Maybe hot honey, sweet and spicy buffalo, or spicy teriyaki — the possibilities are endless.
It's a simple concept, tossing the nuggets in lots of sauce, but I've never thought about it with Chick-fil-A or any other fast-food nugget before — I've always been a dipper.
For anyone looking to try the tropical nuggets for the first time, or for those of you who regularly visit the Fayetteville restaurant which is currently closed for renovations, following my ratio of Chick-fil-A's Sweet and Spicy Sriracha to Polynesian sauces will get you very, very close.
Thelife1 min read
