Chicken Nuggets with Hidden Veggies

A healthy chicken nugget recipe to rival frozen versions? Yes please! Cutting up a chicken breast and crumbing the cubes pretty easy and a very healthy alternative to the frozen nuggets – but the texture is a bit different. So here’s a different version to try.

It starts with chicken mince, which is often on special and you may even have a pack in the freezer waiting for a good recipe. To help with that soft texture required of a good nugget, we add in some blitzed beans and cauliflower. The veggies also help to stop the nuggets from drying out. Multi-purpose, nutritious and functional.

Being white, the beans and cauliflower can’t be seen so these healthy nuggets won’t be pulled apart by fussy eaters.

Hiding vegetables from kids does nothing to help them learn to be healthy, brave eaters. But if you’ve got a fussy eater, it gives them extra nutrients and it puts your mind at ease that they are getting some goodness while you work on exposing them to a wide variety of foods that may or may not get eaten.

Suitable for all ages, why not try them as finger food with a tomato relish for your summer entertaining too? I’ve kept this recipe simple, with fussy eaters in mind. If you’ve got more adventurous souls at your table, add a few tablespoons of parmesan and a teaspoon of dried italian herbs to the breadcrumbs.

Chicken Nuggets with Hidden Veggies

Makes 24
Filling is suitable to freeze. At the end of step 5, put any unused mix in a ziplock bag and freeze until needed. Defrost overnight in the fridge and continue from step 2.

Ingredients

500g chicken mince
1/2 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 cup steamed cauliflower (fresh or frozen)
400g can cannellini beans, drained (or 1 + 1/4 cup of soaked beans)
1 teaspoon paprika
Pepper
2 eggs
1 cup breadcrumbs*
Spray oil

How to

1. In a food processor, blitz the chicken, onion, garlic, cauliflower, beans and a little pepper. If you’ve got the luxury of time, put the mixture in the fridge for a few hours. It just makes it easier to work with as the mix is a bit sticky.
2. Preheat oven to 180C.
3. Whisk the eggs in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl, mix the breadcrumbs with the paprika.
4. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
5. Take a spoonful of the mixture at a time and dip it into the egg mix and then drop into the breadcrumbs to coat. They will be a bit squishy but you can reshape them with the breadcrumbs on if you need to. Place on a baking tray with space around each and repeat.
6. Give the tray of nuggets a light spray with olive oil and put into the oven for 15 minutes. You will know when they are cooked by cutting into them and the nugget is firm in the middle.

*I save the crusty ends of a whole grain loaf and blitz them in the food processor. Then I store them in a ziplock bag in the freezer. You can also make them from fresh sliced bread by drying out 4 slices of bread in a 150C for 10-12 minutes, and then processing into crumbs.

Sarah Moore is a Registered Nutritionist in Perth, Western Australia. She offers group education sessions and private consultations which include guided grocery shops and kitchen clear-outs. She specialises in weight loss, family nutrition and switching to a whole foods approach.