Top Notch eats for Kiddie Winks

A girlfriend of mine got rather a shock when she saw the MSG article I posted and the ingredients listed, so it set us on a hunt for some healthy chicken nuggets for her kiddie winks. Here's what we found...

Bottom Line

Bottom line, it’s rather difficult to find healthy pre-made chicken nuggets. I have looked at a variety of brands and none really cut the mustard. Ultimately the best option I found was:

Applegate Nuggets (their ‘naturals’ or ‘organic’ lines) = That said I am not totally in love with the ingredient list, but IF you have to get store bought these are what I'd opt for.

*Even in writing this article, I had a second recommendation but when I really looked at the ingredients, I couldn't in good faith recommend them, so I removed them from the list.

The best and healthiest recommendation I can provide are two options:

Straight Chx = get the kids into chicken, just straight old delicious chicken…you can hook ‘em with fun sauce they get to dip it in like a peanut butter sauce (just PB + a little water or soy sauce) or (BBQ sauce) *chicken only has one healthy ingredient - chx!
Homemade = it is actually crazy easy to make delicious chicken nuggets in a batch on a sat/sunday and then you have in tupperwares for the whole week *do it once and then you will have it down pat. Below are 3 great recipes that have just 4/5 ingredients and take 15 mins to prep tops! 1 is even a cauliflower nugget recipe, and then I share my own super simple recipe further below :)

Simple Chicken Nugget Recipe:

Ingredients:

1LB organic chx breasts
1-2C of panko (lighter version of breadcrumbs)/crushed peanuts/sesame seeds/crushed tortilla chips/cereal even
2/3 eggs

Directions

Get 3 trays/tupperwares to lay out as a prep station
Cut up breasts into smaller pieces with scissors and put in first tray
Crack and mix eggs and put in second tray
Put 1-2C of breading (panko/peanuts/sesame etc) in third tray
Preheat oven to 350f and get out a tray to cook chicken nuggets on and spray with cooking spray of your choice
Now literally go down the line with a piece of chicken, dip in egg, dip in breadcrumbs then put onto oven tray
Once you've done this with all the pieces of chicken, put tray into oven and bake for 10-20 mins until crispy brown and cooked through

*Pull out a piece around 15 mins, slice into it, and see if it is cooked all the way through. If not cook longer *my oven is teeny tiny NYC style so normally it's just 10-15 mins but depends on your oven.

Twist - To Make Super Kid Friendly

Ground Chicken = You can buy ground chicken instead of chx breast or pop cooked chicken in the magimix, this softer texture makes it more appealing for kids (it is more similar to the store bought/McDonald's kind)
Chicken Poppers = You can shape nuggets into mini meatballs/chicken popper size, and follow the directions as stated above

Twist - to Make Adult Friendly

Appetizer = You can serve these nuggests as poppers/regular nuggests w/ a dipping sauce ~ BBQ, ketchup, mustard, guac, salsa
Pizza/Pasta = You can also shape them into mini meatballs and put on a pizza or in a pasta dish

Conclusion

Do let me know if you find a healthy pre-made/store bought chicken nuggets that you think would be a good option, as I always love discovering new healthy eats that are convenient!