Chicken Nuggets

Posted on Dec 3rd 2009 1:00PM by Tanya Zuckerbrot

Filed Under: Recipe Rehab with Tanya Zuckerbrot, Nutrition & Supplements

When I was growing up chicken nuggets were never something that were homemade. They came in brightly colored boxes next to the toy in a fast food meal or were frozen processed morsels served in the school cafeteria. Nevertheless, I loved them. I loved that they were something you could eat with your fingers and I loved the little buckets of sweet and sour sauce that were just the right size for dipping.

Now these tasty chicken tidbits may be a child's dream, but knowing that they are heavily salted, battered and deep fried, makes them a choice moms want to avoid. Many processed nuggets contain flavor enhancers such as monosodium glutamate. Monosodium glutamate, or MSG, has been approved by the FDA as "generally recognized as safe" for amounts used in cooking; however, numerous anecdotal reports have suggested that some people may have reactions such as headaches, sweating, numbness around the mouth, rapid heartbeat, and/or nausea. Just to be on the safe side, this is one additive that I would rather steer clear of. And if that doesn't convince you, remember that deep frying the nuggets transforms naturally lean chicken into a meal heavily laden with 17 g saturated fat!

Fortunately chicken nuggets don't have to come from the frozen food section of your supermarket; you can make them in your own kitchen with the added benefit of fiber and calcium supplementing the lean protein. I used whole wheat bread crumbs instead of traditional batter and I've enhanced the flavor with garlic powder and Parmesan cheese. By baking the recipe, I've cut the fat content down to a minimum. Try dipping them in all-natural honey (mix with equal parts hot water for ease with dipping and lower calorie content) or salsa instead of the traditional sweet and sour sauce or ketchup. Your kids will love these finger-friendly nuggets and you will love the fact that you know they are healthy.

Ingredients:

canola oil spray
1 pound boneless chicken tenders
3-4 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
1 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray baking sheet with canola oil and set aside. Beat the egg whites in a shallow bowl and set aside. Mix Parmesan cheese with the bread crumbs and pour onto a plate.
Cut chicken into nugget sized pieces. Mix the pepper and garlic powder with the flour in a zipper sealed plastic bag and then add the chicken. Shake to coat.
One at a time, dip the chicken pieces in the egg white and then roll in the breadcrumbs.
Place the nuggets on prepared baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes, turning once halfway through cooking time.

Serves: 4

Nutrition Content (per serving):

195 calories, 3 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 19 g carbohydrates, 3 g fiber, 23 g protein, 277 mg sodium, 70 mg calcium

Looking for more kid favorites? Check out my Macaroni and Cheese rehab!

Readers, I would love to hear from you! Please send me your most favorite fattening recipes that need a RECIPE REHAB! Everything from your mom's meatloaf to your kid's favorite dessert -- let me lighten it up.

Celebrity dietitian and motivational life coach Tanya Zuckerbrot, author of www.ffactordiet.com and founder of www.skinnyandthecity.com, has helped thousands of people lose weight and keep it off with her program. Her philosophy? Tanya believes you should never sacrifice taste, even when you're eating healthy foods. Have a recipe in need of rehab? Send us an e-mail at reciperehab [AT] thatsfit [DOT] com.

6 Comment

Tags: chicken, chicken fingers, chicken nuggets, fiber, frozen food, ingredients, monosodium glutamate, tanya-zuckerbrot, whole wheat

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Ann 12-03-2009 @ 5:15PM

"reactions such as headaches, sweating, numbness around the mouth, rapid heartbeat, and/or nausea."

How do they know the nuggets actually caused these symptoms... could be anything including paranoid people who just think it was the nuggets or whatever they ate and had some anxiety which cause those exact symptoms. When are these people gonna realize that we ALREADY KNOW fast food has a million grams of fat per serving? Seriously, who on this earth doesn't know fast food is fat food? If ya eat it everyday, then it's probably gonna kill you. But eating it a little here and there... we're not gonna die from it. Thanks for the recipe, although it doesn't sound very good. But the point is, we sometimes DON"T want to cook and a trip to Mc D's or wherever works for me. I would prefer that they wouldn't put all this crap in our food and don't understand why they do sometimes, but when I'm tired, don't feel good or simply don't have the time one day... give me the nuggets already cooked and handed to me in a bag without even having to get out of my car... thank you very much!

Ty 12-03-2009 @ 11:09PM

I get all of those with the exception of the numb mouth, in addition acid stomach, diarrhea and muscle cramps. The latter two go away if I have large quantities of salt, think the body is misusing MSG as salt leading to the weird reaction. As for cheese, regular Parmesan no reaction, no reaction with seaweed (sushi rolls) which is supposed to contain relatively high amounts. I think comes down to naturally occurring MSG vs the "chemically identical" type created in a lab. No, I don't eat things knowing it's in them and worry, I have a reaction and check after the fact. Although I will occasionally have a can of beefaroni or something similar which give a mild reaction if I don't eat much with it, but a couple times I had no reaction so I checked the can. It was made at another plant than the stuff that is usually for sale here and did not contain MSG.

Ann 12-04-2009 @ 12:44AM

I have never had reactions like that or know anyone who ever has other than when I have anxiety attacks and I get the numb mouth from that too... it's really annoying, be glad you don't get that one lol. But thanks for the info... I guess some people are just more sensitive to it than others. And not that I don't believe anyone else ever has the reactions, but I think it's probably fewer people than most or I just live under a rock and don't see it. But a lot of times, people involved with these studies get hypersensitive to "reactions" because they are told to note any adverse reactions. The anxiety from thinking something "could" happen can actually cause it to happen. A lot of it can be hype. But seriously... salt helps with the muscle cramps? I get those really bad from something else... wonder if that would help me. But I have high blood pressure... shoot!! Still might try it when it's bad and eat some bananas to bring the blood pressure down... bananas work great for that btw if you ever have any probs with blood pressure.

HG in MN 12-03-2009 @ 5:22PM

I agree whole heartedly that homemade, baked chicken nuggets and strips are healthier than the processed ones. Yes, you're avoiding all the preservatives, and the "mystery" ingredients that get blended into the mix when the meat is chopped and reformed. However, I take issue here with condeming MSG (which, granted, is something I don't have on my spice self at home,) then enhancing the flavor of the whole wheat coating with parmesian cheese. Monosodium Glutimate is a naturally occuring substance that is found in many foods already, one of those foods being cheese, and is particularly concentrated in hard cheeses like parmesian. I'd use this recipe in a heartbeat, but not because I'm trying to avoid MSG...because MSG will be in there, even if I'm not shaking on the Accent!

u262f 12-03-2009 @ 6:41PM

Sugar and salt also occurs naturally in very many foods, but it doesn't mean that sugar and salt doesn't become problematic. Humans don't work very well at extremes. When people extract and distill out the chemicals from their natural contexts, concentrate them, and then put it on lots of foods where it has no business being, things get thrown off balance, and these things make us sick because we get too much of them, and we get them without all the surrounding material that were supposed to be balancing out and counteracting the problematic parts.

So, whole fruit is good for you. The sugars in whole fruits are bound up in various vitamins to help your body and fiber to help let you know when you stop eating. When we start messing with it, it starts getting worse and worse. Taking off the skin and removing the fiber also removes the safety valve that helps us feel full and satisfied. Cooking it down into juice destroys many of the nutrients. Extracting out the water also removes a safety valve that helps us feel full. So, even though they're naturally occurring, these extracted sugars cause problems even though whole fruit is good for you.

Likewise with MSG. I don't think cheese is very healthy myself (just like fruit juice isn't as healthy as whole fruit), but it's still better than the extracted powder form of MSG. As we do more to extract and distill these tasty chemicals, things get thrown more out of balance, and the further along that road we go, the more likely it is that a larger number of people will get sick from it.