What’s in a chicken nugget? I don’t even want to look at the ingredients of processed nuggets to see if there is anything that I can pronounce but I doubt there are many natural ingredients listed. In an effort to find a healthier alternative I found Weelicious Lunches.
Easy, healthy, and fun lunch ideas for every age! Once kids walk out the door for school, all bets are off. Will your son toss the nutritious food you’ve included and jump right to the treats? Will your daughter trade her sandwich for her best friend’s prepackaged meal? Determined to improve what kids eat both at school and on the go, weelicious.com founder Catherine McCord offers innovative solutions for quick, delicious, easy-to-make, kid-friendly lunch box meals that little ones and their older siblings won’t be tempted to swap. Filled with lots of great menu planning ideas; tips, tricks, and reusable product suggestions to make lunch fun; inspiring color photographs, advice on dealing with food allergies and so-called picky eaters; and more than 160 tried and true recipes, Weelicious Lunches takes, lunchtime planning from hassle to joy!
We usually bake a whole chicken a few times a month and never end up eating the entire thing. Instead of leaving the leftovers in the fridge to spoil (yep, leftovers don’t get eaten much here), I decided to try duplicating Catherine’s recipe for Easy Chicken Nuggets. It only took me about 30 minutes from start to finish…and that included the time that I fought with our Magic Bullet, blender and mixer trying to find the right “food processor” substitute. If you don’t have a food processor I would stick with the mixer, it was super easy!
Ingredients: 1 lb boneless/skinless chicken, 1/2 cup mashed potatoes, seasoning of choice (garlic and pepper is all I used), 3/4 cup panko bread crumbs, 1 tbs Parmesan cheese, cooking spray.
Recipe (copied with permission from Weelicious Lunches):
- Preheat the over to 375F.
- Place the chicken, mashed potatoes, and seasoning in a food processor and pulse until smooth and combined.
- In a shallow bowl or plate, combine the bread crumbs and Parmesan.
- With moistened hands, roll 1 tbs of chicken mixture between your palms and flatten into a “nugget” shape.
- Gently press the nugget into the bread crumb mixture to coat.
- Transfer to a lightly sprayed or greased cooling rack on a baking sheet lined with foil.
- Lightly spray nuggets with cooking spray.
- Bake for 20 minutes, or until crispy outside and cooked throughout.
- Serve hot with honey mustard, ketchup, or Veg-Wee Dip (using Stonyfield Greek Yogurt).
Note: If you want the nuggets to be golden brown, place them under the broiler for an additional 2 minutes after cooking.
To freeze: After step 5, place the chicken nuggets on a sheet tray and freeze for 30 minutes. Transfer to a storage container and freeze for up to 4 months. To bake, do not defrost; just add 3-5 minutes to the baking time.
I sent them with Lil’ B to school the next day for lunch and she ate every single bite!! I even nibbled on a few myself at lunchtime. We have about 30 nuggets in the freezer ready to go! I didn’t measure out the chicken – just took the leftovers and added one potato (mashed) with some milk and butter.
Weelicious Lunches is packed with over 300 pages of easy to make, fun, creative, and healthy lunch ideas for kids (and adults). It is a perfect book for my bento addiction and I can’t wait to make a few more recipes! You can find the book on Amazon (affiliate link) here: Weelicious Lunches (Enhanced Edition): Think Outside the Lunch Box with More Than 160 Happier Meals. It’s currently available for pre-order with a release date of Oct. 22nd.
You can enter to win a copy compliments of Weelicious and Stonyfield by completing the Rafflecopter steps below! Giveaway ends on Oct. 21st. Good luck!
Disclosure: Stonyfield and Weelicious provided me a copy of Weelicious Lunches and some coupons for the purpose of this review. Recipe printed with permission.
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We’ve stopped eating processed chicken nuggets at home, and I usually just flatten out chicken tenders then dip them in flour, egg, then Panko. I never even thought about making “nuggets” with a food processor. Great idea!
okay this is so bad.. but ill confess.. ashton loves chicken nuggets and thats one of the foods he will eat so my hubs always gets them for him… 6of out 10 times he will eat them. After reading a recent article, I have vowed to never buy him chicken nuggets so I will now make them myself 🙂 thank you calley.. okay confession over.
Pollyanna Valenzuela recently posted..Wordless Wednesday – Ashton at 22 months
Not very often because the kids don’t like them, and they don’t seem like MEAT! It’s one of those things that we just don’t ‘do’ very often because of it. My kids would rather have grilled or roasted! It would be something nice to have in the freezer, though! I’m not sure , maybe some lunchbox things I hadn’t considered before…
Jill S recently posted..A year ago…
My DS loves chicken nuggets I only give him chicken tenders :/
We’d pretty much banished processed/frozen chicken until I had the second baby and needed quick and easy dinners for hubby to make. My 5 year old does tend to get chicken nuggets when we hit the drive-thru which fortunately isn’t too often.
Sarah recently posted..eBook Bundle of the Week – Bible Studies for Kids
I’ve found a few brands that totally don’t skeeze me out – Applegate farms makes me feel more safe, though who really knows? My kids LOVE them and I don’t always have the energy to do the full thing on my own!
Jenn Lissak recently posted..Disney on Ice presents Let’s Celebrate!
My kids love them, but after reading some recent articles, I do not think I can stomach them any more. I think I would rather just make my own.
I have 4 young boys. Need quick and easy ideas that are healthy. Have gotten in a rut lately.
We haven’t in the longest time! so i guess 1-3 times a year. Would love to see what other recipes are in here…. maybe some mac n cheese, which is another fav!
Cinella recently posted..Sprouts Weekly Deals – 10/2 – 10/9
We don’t buy proccessed chicken nuggets. Would love to find a soup recipe in the cookbook.
We don’t eat processed stuff. I’ve never made chicken nuggets for my kids, but this recipe looks so easy! My 9yo loves to help me cook and this looks right up her alley!! Thanks for sharing!
Jenny recently posted..October 8
Ughhhh admittedly, I eat processed frozen chicken nuggets pretty often. When they are on sale at the grocery store, I buy a couple of bags and then just eat them whenever I feel like. It’s an awful habit, but it’s just so easy! LOL
Even though I don’t have children, I’m hoping to find some inspiration in the book, should I win. 🙂
Jennifer B recently posted..Cru Cellars: Where Wine Wednesday Woos
We are vegetarians so we don’t ever eat chicken nuggets, but this recipe looks super easy to make.
We eat processed chicken nuggets atleast 4 times a month. I’d love to find some great breakfast recipes, especially blueberry muffins for my oldest.
We eat chicken nuggets maybe once a month. I would love some healthier breakfast recipes.
My daughter will only eat chicken, no other kind of meat, and prefers it in nugget form but we only let her have it as a treat or at a restaurant, try not too have it too often. Thankfully, she’ll also eat shredded rotisserie chicken. Looking forward to trying this recipe.
We actually only eat processed nuggets about once or twice a month, if that. The only time we do is if it’s fast food and we rarely eat that.
With my granddaughter living with us, we eat chicken nuggets everyday. I’d like to find different and healthier chicken nuggets or items like chicken nuggets.
I have been eyeing this book for some time and would absolutely LOVe to win it!
we rarely eat chicken nuggets unless i make them. my son actually doesn’t like them anyways. i want a good dip recipe to get my son to like carrots.
We only eat processed chicken once in a blue moon. I am looking forward to finding some new lunch recipes for my kids! We love salads!
so, do I cook the chicken before mixing w. the mashed potatoes? Thank you
Yes Barbara. Cook the chicken before you mix it all up.