Easy Chicken Nuggets
Okay, here’s a true story: Kailee always wants chicken nuggets, and I’m sure if you have children, you can relate, too! As a mom, I am still trying to help her make healthier and better choices. So, I started searching for an easy way to teach her how to make healthier chicken nuggets. We found it over on Weelicious for baking nuggets in an oven. We adapted the cooking directions to be easier and to cook in our new Air Fryer.
So, what are the ingredients?
Ingredients:
1 pound ground chicken
1/4 cup old-fashioned oats (also known as five-minute oats)
1/4 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup Panko breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
TIP: I measured out the spices, and then put them together in a ramekin. We found this was a more natural way for Kailee to measure and add the spices to the recipe.
Step 1: Add ground chicken to the food processor
Steps 2-4: Add oatmeal, spices, and salt to the food processor and chop until ingredients are thoroughly combined. ( steps based on video)
Step 5: Place bread crumbs and parmesan cheese in a pie dish or shallow dish and stir to combine.
Step 6: Using a 1″ tablespoon cookie dough scoop, scoop out the chicken mixture.
Step 7: Drop chicken mixture in bread crumbs and parmesan cheese to coat. While rolling, start to shape into a nugget shape.
Step 8: Place nuggets on a cooling rack. Place the cooling rack over a foil-lined baking sheet.
Step: 9 Lightly spray nuggets with cooking spray. Add to the Air Fryer basket to cook.
Step 10: Bake in Air Fryer for 9 minutes. Note: we did not wait for the Air Fryer to preheat, and we did not turn the chicken nuggets halfway through cooking time. Because of these actions, we cut the cooking time down to 9 minutes.
Fun Fact: Do you know who invented Chicken Nuggets?
No, it wasn’t McDonald’s, but close. It was a food scientist named Robert Baker from Cornell University who invented them in the 1970s. Then, in the early 1980s, McDonald’s “trialed” them, which means they kind-of launched them early to test market them. In 1983, they launched the McNugget worldwide and they became a hit.
Okay, so we wanted to mention that you can also cook it in a conventional oven: 375 degrees for 15 minutes. We did try that, but we had to keep putting on the broiler in order to get them to be crispy and brown the way we like them. Then, we thought we would try the air fryer. ( this is the one we bought). We’re relatively new to it and this is only our third time using it. This is how I’m doing it, but I thought it would be easy for Kailee.
My goal is always to try to make sure she can, at some point, cook with a companion, or cook by herself, and know what she’s cooking. We have to make things that’ll be easier for her.
Remember: if you do not have an air fryer you can cook them in the oven at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. And, if they’re not as brown as you like them, you can put them under the broiler for two minutes.
