Recipe - Chicken Nuggets

After watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution series, I renewed my commitment to making as much of Charlie's food from scratch as possible. Until a few weeks ago we bought the Earth's Best chicken nuggets for him. When I saw the chicken nugget sequence on Jamie's show, I decided that there would be no more processed nuggets in our freezer. No matter how organic or natural a product claims to be, nothing gives you a more transparent ingredient list than making them for yourself in your own kitchen.

Chicken Nuggets

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast (you can use any kind of chicken meat, just trim it appropriately so there's no extra "stuff" in your nuggets)

1 cup bread crumbs (I had stale bread lying around so I whirled it in the processor)

1 egg

Seasoning of your choice (we decided to go with an Italian-ish theme this time around, so we put basil, oregano, and garlic)

More bread crumbs, for coating

Olive oil, for browning


1. Combine chicken, egg, bread crumbs, and seasonings in food processor until well blended. If the mixture is too dry, add some milk. If the mixture is too wet, add more bread crumbs.

2. Shape the chicken mixture into nuggets - we found that spoons worked well for this, similar to how you would shape chocolate chip cookies.

3. Roll the nuggets in the bread crumbs to coat. We found that there was no need to dip them in egg or flour, the crumbs stuck pretty well to the chicken.





4. Add a small amount of olive oil to a pan and lightly brown the nuggets on both sides.



5. Bake the nuggets at 400F for 10-15 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 165F.



6. These come out of the oven pretty hot, so let them cool before you dig in.




The best thing about this recipe is that the nuggets freeze and re-heat very well. It's an easy thing to grab out of the freezer to throw in his lunch for daycare.