My kids love chicken nuggets. It's one of those things that is a go-to when it comes to fast food, or quick meals. But there is no need to pay a corporation to make "dinosaur-shaped chicken for my kids. Making our own homemade chicken nuggets is easy, and the kids love to make them. In fact, as I prepared this post, my 4-year-old daughter saw the images and said, "Yummy! Messy! Can we make those again?"
The secret of chicken nuggets is to start with good chicken. A simple a simple breading with generous amounts of salt and pepper makes it extra succulent. After I quickly brown the chicken in oil, I then finish the chicken by baking it for a short time in the oven.
The cut of chicken is immaterial: chicken breast, chicken thighs (my favorite), and chicken tenderloins all work well. Just make sure it is good chicken, and take the time to salt and pepper it generously.
The dredging station is the kid's favorite. Although one can use tongs to move the batches of chicken bites, it is much easier to simply use clean hands to move them from one bowl to the next. Make sure to shake the excess off after each bowl. Nevertheless, your fingers will get messy in the breading!
I did not get a picture of our messy chicken breading hands. Since we were working with raw chicken and hot oil in a frying pan, I did not want to let my concentration be distracted from assisting my young sous chefs. I promise, though, that they enjoy this step!
I was in charge of the hot oil and oven steps. It does not take long to brown the chicken each time, but it does take time to do all of it. It is nice to me that I can then put the chicken in the oven for a moment while I clean up and get ready to serve the rest of the food.
On this particular night, Raisin made mashed potatoes to go with our supper. Broccoli was a nice addition as well. This made our meal much improved over a restaurant chicken nugget option!
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