Super Juicy Homemade Chicken Nuggets

After my last post on Double Chocolate Chunk Oat Cookies, a lot of friends wrote in saying they were surprised to find me blogging, especially because I was blogging as a mom and not a regular recipe developer. The reason is simple after being a mom I concentrate more on creating dishes which will please my child and help him appreciate varied flavours and ingredients and blogging is a platform to share my experiences and recipes with other enthusiastic moms who want to serve their kids nothing but the best. Today’s recipe is one of Nabeel’s favourite munching snack – Chicken Nuggets.

Nabeel, like most kids, had his first date with Chicken Nuggets at a local Mc Donald’s outlet. He loves chicken in any form and it was no surprise that he gobbled down the nuggets the very first time he saw them. I then tried the frozen nugget varieties which were convenient and delicious. Slowly, all you could find was packs of nuggets in my freezer which vanished in days. This, however, got me worried.

Given all the preservatives and additives that go into a frozen food packet I was not too happy serving the same to Nabeel. That’s when I decided to make homemade nuggets which could be frozen over a period of time and something I could serve my child without any guilt. Thankfully, it was a successful attempt and well accepted by Nabeel’s palate. The nuggets have made my life so easy, they make a great snack on the go or an after school snack. I once tossed them in a sweet sauce along with veggies and created a nice stir fry which bowled Nabeel over. Baking them is also a good idea, however, I don’t bother much as fried food in moderation for such young kids is ok to consume.

My recipe of Homemade Chicken Nuggets is very simple, requiring minimal ingredients and can be fried or baked. They can be frozen up to 20 to 25 days (that’s the maximum my nuggets last so can’t guarantee beyond that J ). You can also add different flavours to the nuggets; have included the details as part of the steps. Besides, make sure to read the tips given in the method which will help you make juicy and crunchy nuggets.

Super Juicy Homemade Chicken Nuggets

Ingredients

• Skinless Boneless Chicken Breasts – 1/2 kilogram
• Eggs – 2 nos
• All purpose flour (Maida ) – 250 grams (approx)
• Bread Slices – 8 to 10 nos (approx)
• Salt – as required

Method

Step 1 – Clean and wash the chicken breasts. Cut them into strips or small chunks. Try cutting against the grain of the meat to get juicy nuggets. Refer to the picture below for a better idea.

Step 2 – Marinate the chicken with liberal amount of salt. You may add pepper, if the child likes it. Leave the chicken to marinate for a good 8 hours in the refrigerator.

Step 3 – Meanwhile, grind the bread slices to get fine breadcrumbs. It is advised to use bread that has is not very fresh. I recommend leaving the bread slices in the open for a few hours for them to dry out. This ensures the nuggets don’t stick together when frozen and also dry breadcrumbs tend to soak less oil on frying.

This is the stage to add flavours; you may grind the bread with garlic, parmesan cheese or chilli flakes as per your preference. Bread coating is the last on the nuggets and the first layer to touch your tongue so whatever flavours you want to use it has to be in the breadcrumbs.

Step 4 – Once the chicken is marinated, it’s time to coat it.  Take 3 wide bowls and place the flour, beaten egg and breadcrumbs respectively. Line the bowls in the same order on your counter. Take note here, this is a very important step and if you follow my guidelines it will be a faster and less messy process.

Pick the nuggets, one at a time, with your left hand and coat it with flour. With the same hand place the nugget in the egg bowl, ensuring your fingers don’t dip in the egg. Now using your right hand coat the nugget in egg. Remove and place the nugget in next bowl of breadcrumbs making sure no breadcrumbs stick to the right hand fingers. Use the left hand to coat the nugget with breadcrumbs and then place it on a dry plate. Follow the same method for coating all the nuggets; reserving one hand(left) for dry coating and one hand( right) for wet coating.

Step 5 – Store the nuggets in a dry freezer container or fry them right away. When you want to fry the frozen nuggets make sure you remove the box 10 minutes before frying time.

Coated Chicken Nuggets

The nuggets are best served with a sauce but considering they are so moist you don’t feel the sauce missing. Nabeel enjoys them without any dips just on their own.

Deep Fried Nuggets

Happy Munching and please like my page on Facebook

Till then, love being a mommy!