Baked Chicken Nuggets, the healthy ones

Who doesn’t like Chicken Nuggets? I mean there are people that don’t, but it’s one of those food that is not depended on age, background or social class. Kids especially love them, and why wouldn’t they considering its a finger food that’s tasty easy to chew,  and its taste can be transformed completely by the dipping sauce one chooses to use.

Still when most of us think of chicken nuggets today we think of the fast food version that give them a bad name. Truth to be told MacDonald’s’ nuggets contain only about 50% of actual chicken, and the rest is just fillers. Add the fact that they are also deep fried and it’s hard to find a reason to eat them except for the fact that they’re tasty. This is why I decided to make my own Chicken Nuggets, that are not only 100% Chicken, but they’re also baked and not fried.

I noticed that most baked chicken nuggets recipes call for bite sized pieces instead of minced or ground chicken.  These will make chicken pieces or mini chicken strips rather than nuggets so I decided to try my own recipe.  Plus the meat is don’t going to dry up as much.

To make the chicken nuggets you will need one pound of minced or ground chicken. If you don’t have a meat grinder don’t worry all you need is a food processor or just a kitchen knife. If you’re using a food processor just cut up the meat into small pieces and blitz until the texture reminds you of a ground meat. On the other hand if you don’t have one or don’t feel like using one you can mince the meat with a kitchen knife. For this recipe I did just that and it took me about five minutes to complete. All you do is cut the chicken into small pieces, and start chopping it up finer and finer until you get the desired consistency. It’s almost like mincing a garlic or an onion.

After you have your chicken mince place it in a bowl and add 2 tablespoons of water, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder, 1/4 teaspoon of onion powder, and some ground pepper. But you don’t have does ingredients or prefer a different flavor just add whatever you want. For example add some heat with a cayenne pepper or go fancy with fresh chopped parsley. It’s good to let the meat rest in the fridge for about an hour to combine, but it’s not necessary.

Start preheating the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit

Now to shape the nuggets all you have to do is make a small ball and squash it.  You should end up with around 16 to 18 chicken nuggets but that number is not set in stone. Just make sure they are not over 1/2 an inch thick. Now grab 3 shallow bowls or similar containers and in one put half a coup of flour, second a cut of Panko Japanese breadcrumbs (you can use your own or Italian, but panko will make it crispier), and into the last one beat one egg. Now just take each nugget and coat it in flour, then dip into the egg and finally cover it with the bread crumbs, repeat the same with the rest. Once all are done put them on a baking pan, preferably on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes.

Serve  these healthy chicken nuggets with whatever sauce you like, and enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 pound of minced or ground chicken
1 cup of flour
2 cups of Panko breadcrumbs
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
pepper

Quick Direction.
1. Ground, blitz, or hand chop the meat.
2. Combine and either let it rest for an hour in the fridge or continue.
3. Shape the nuggets and coat in flour, egg and breadcrumbs in that order.
4. Bake them for 20 minutes in a 400 Fahrenheit preheated oven
5. Enjoy with favorite dipping sauce