Homemade Chicken Nuggets {Recipe}

I don’t know about you, but at my house it feels like a constant struggle to get my kids to eat healthy. Now my husband says I’m a bit on the picky side when it comes to the food my kids eat, but now-a-days I think you have to be. It’s way to easy to think you’re eating something healthy and then you look at the ingredients and see not-so-good-for-you added {and unnecessary might I add} ingredients that companies add in to make foods taste better or even have an “addictive” taste. So I strive constantly to feed my kids healthy foods, put veggies on their plate at most meals, avoid foods that have not-so-healthy ingredients, and make as much homemade as possible (a challenge when life get’s busy that’s for sure!). Even if they don’t always eat what I make I at least encourage them to try it and by consistently doing so know that someday they will eat more variety and more veggies….so if that’s you too, hang in there!

Now onto one of my favorite, or I should say my kids favorite recipes “Homemade Chicken Nuggets”, yes they are gluten free, but be sure you double check the ingredients in panko because most now have “wheat” as the first ingredient! yikes! Panko should be made of rice, a great option if you’re household is gluten-free or you just want to minimize the amount of wheat your kids eat {for some, wheat is the root of much inflammation in the body and other’s may just notice they feel better when they cut wheat out or at least minimize their wheat intake}. The gluten-free topic leaves a lot for discussion so I’ll stop at that.

This recipe makes a lot of chicken nuggets (or you can make chicken tenders to save time). I recommend making this large recipe and then you freeze most of them in individual dinner servings for your little one(s).

Ingredients:

• 3-3 1/2 pounds of free-range chicken breast or tenders (preferably organic), tenders will save you time if you don’t want to cut up the chicken breasts into small nuggets.
• 1 cup Greek yogurt
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2-2 1/2 cups of panko (remember if you want gluten-free to double check the ingredients that there is NO wheat)
• 2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1-2 teaspoons black pepper
• optional: season with other spices as you prefer

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and you will need 2-4 baking or cookie sheets, plus I like to place parchment paper on top so the chicken doesn’t stick {makes life a lot easier}.
2. In a medium size bowl, add the Greek yogurt and honey and mix together.
3. Cut up the chicken into smaller pieces, about 2 bite pieces (this may take a while, that’s why I also suggest getting the chicken tenders and making chicken tenders to save on time), and add them to the yogurt as you go.
4. Once all the chicken is cut up, stir in with the yogurt to cover all the chicken.
5. In a medium bowl add the panko, sea salt, pepper and any other spices you might want to add, mix together.
6. Add a portion of the chicken mixture to the panko mixture. I recommend about 1/3 at a time.
7. Cover each piece of chicken with the panko mix then place on the baking sheet. Place chicken close together but not touching so you can cook the entire recipe on about 4 baking sheets.
8. 
9. Place in the oven for about 15 minutes then with tongues quickly turn each over and continue to bake for 15 minutes until they start to brown.
10. Remove and let cool a bit before serving.
11. Let the rest of the chicken nuggets (or tenders) cool, then portion into individual meals servings in freezer ziplocs or glass containers so they are ready for quick and easy meals down the road.
12. When reheating I recommend heating in the oven at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or until warm, or in a toaster oven so they turn crispy again.
13. Serve with organic ketchup, if desired. Enjoy!