My kids love chicken nuggets. They eat them like they’re going out of style. Except with one caveat. They don’t like McDonald’s chicken nuggets. In fact, the last time we gave them McDonald’s chicken nuggets on a road trip, they cried. Not that we were upset or anything – we rarely eat fast food.
Turns out they like REAL chicken nuggets.
I have tried making nuggets a million ways, but this is the easiest, tastiest and healthiest recipe. As you will see, you only need 3 ingredients. THREE. When I made these last, I cut them into strips, so you will notice in the picture that they’re not shaped like a nugget. But since my kids aren’t familiar with the Ronald McDonald kind, they really don’t care what shape they come in. My 4-year old likes to dip them in a side of ketchup, but you could make your own honey-mustard sauce (equal parts honey and mustard) or give your kiddos a side of BBQ sauce. My hubby and I prefer to serve these nuggets with pre-cut organic french cut fries that I buy in the frozen section in the grocery store. Kind of feels like a ‘fast food’ meal, but without the saturated fat, sodium, and upset bellies afterwards.
The best part about this recipe is that the entire family will enjoy this one, and it really takes a minimal amount of effort. And since you aren’t frying these, there’s nothing soggy about them! I used to fry mine in olive oil, but they always either burned or were soggy. YUCK!
Also, if your busiest time of the day is dinner time (like in my house), you can make this ahead of time! I make them in the morning, cover ‘em with aluminum foil or saran wrap and place them in my refrigerator until later in the day, when I just pop them in the oven.
For this recipe, you will also need a cookie cooling rack and a cookie sheet to be placed underneath the cookie cooling rack.
Guiltless Chicken Nuggets
Ingredients:
Boneless, skinless breasts of chicken, cut into strips or small pieces
2 eggs, beaten, in bowl
Bread crumbs, on large plate (I use organic panko bread crumbs)
Instructions:
Place strips of raw chicken into bowl with beaten egg. Using a fork (or you can use your clean hands, which is what I usually do), cover chicken with egg, letting the extra egg drip off of the chicken and then place chicken strip in bread crumbs. Cover chicken strip with bread crumbs.
Place chicken strips on top of cookie cooling rack, which should be placed directly on top of a cookie sheet.
Bake chicken at 350 degrees for 12-20 minutes, depending on your oven AND the thickness of the chicken strips. Check chicken after 12 minutes to see if they need more cooking time by cutting a thick piece in half with a knife. Once the pink is gone, the chicken is fully cooked.
Enjoy!
-Do your kids like chicken nuggets?
-Do you think you’ll try these?
