As a father of three, with the eldest currently eleven, I've spent so much money on chicken nuggets in the past ten years I ought to own stock in Tyson. If there were such a thing as kid chow, I'm sure this is pretty much the form it would take. Add a side of ketchup and, between that and the chicken and the breading, and a side of carrot sticks or diced fruit, it can take the semblance of a well-rounded meal.
But only if done properly. There's not much in the way of fiber and minerals in standard chicken nuggets. Plus, they are fried, which is really not the greatest thing nutritionally. I first looked at already available alternatives to the mainstream. I found a line of baked nuggets, but they tasted a little odd to me, and the munchkin for whom they were purchased turned her nose up at them. A very attractive alternative as far as I am concerned is the Quorn nugget. I think they have great flavor, and sure are crunchy if cooked in the oven. But the texture of the mycoprotein tipped Miss O off, and Quorn also ended up in the reject pile. Dismayed by the fat and salt content of even some of the alternatives, I finally resolved to produce a healthy nugget any parent would be proud to serve, and any kid would be happy to guzzle down in lieu of the packaged ones.
I'm happy to say an excellent bit of inspiration was already out there on the internet, just waiting for me to stumble (google) upon it: a recipe for "healthy nuggets" on Cooks.com. The concept is brilliant: dredge pieces of chicken in yogurt, then roll in crushed corn stuffing mix. Couldn't be simpler. Ours needed some salt, pepper and garlic powder added to the breading though. Just stick in a 350 degree oven and wait til they are slightly browned, fifteen minutes. They have to be taken out halfway through and turned over.
We decided to experiment with the substrate. Which would be better, naked nuggets on parchment, or on a sheet lightly sprayed with cooking spray? So we tried both. In the end, the sheet with the cooking spray allowed the nuggets to be peeled up without breading loss; however, the parchment nuggets were crunchier. so some tweaking still needs to be done.
Did it pass the kid test? I think so. She ate a "giant" nugget, as she called it, without out batting an eye. I see this as a tremendous success. Although sounds like next time they seem to be smaller, not so giant-sized.
