Fast food chicken nuggets are a popular fast food item most of us have grown up with. Many people continue to consume nuggets into adulthood and they also feed fast food nuggets to their children. Often, fast food chicken nuggets contain synthetic chemicals that are potentially harmful to our health (1). Furthermore, consumption of fast food including chicken nuggets, leads to obesity (2-4), cardiovascular disease (3,4), type 2 diabetes (3,4) as they are often deep fried and loaded with extra ingredients and calories (1). When we eat out we don't just get nuggets we also get fries and drinks that are cheap, accessible, and loaded with empty calories that make us gain weight (3, 4). Make health your top priority! Instead, keep your family healthy and lose weight with easy to make "Smart and Easy Health" chicken nuggets.
Ingredients
1. Organic pinto beans / or similar canned beans (1 can/15.5 oz./439 grams).
2. Organic bread crumbs* (1 cup, for the outer coating).
4. Organic ground chicken (16 oz./1 pound/454g/one packet).
5. Salt (1 teaspoon).
6. Organic eggs (2 large, for outer coating).
7. Garlic powder (1/2 teaspoon).
8. Onion powder (1/2 teaspoon).
*Use caution as some bread crumbs have seasoning which could make the nuggets saltier. Also, take note some bread crumbs have different colors.
Instructions (makes 20-25 nuggets)
1. Combine beans (strain beans to remove water), salt, garlic powder, onion powder into a food processor and blend until a homogeneous texture is achieved.
2. Combine the bean mixture with chicken in a bowl.
3. Rub hands with olive oil so that nuggets don't stick to your hands.
4. Use a spoon to make consistent portion sized nuggets.
5. Make nuggets with your hands.
6. Coat each nugget with egg.
7. After egg, coat each nugget with bread crumbs.
8. Place each nugget on parchment paper for baking (no oil needed!).
9. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
10. Bake nuggets for 20 minutes (Cooking times vary depending on your oven. Always check to ensure chicken is well done) .
Nutrition facts
Each nugget: (45 grams per nugget) = 62.5 calories, 1.125 grams of fiber, 6.375 grams of protein, 155 mg sodium, 1 gram of fat. 6.175 grams of carbohydrates.
Per gram: Calories per gram 1.38 calories/g, fiber per gram 0.03 g/g, protein per gram 0.14 g/g, sodium per gram 3.44 mg/g, fat per gram 0.02 g/g.
4 pc nuggets serving: (180 grams) = 250 calories, 4.5 grams of fiber, 25.5 grams of protein, 621 mg sodium, 4 grams of fat. 24.7 grams of carbohydrates.
Compare other nuggets
Let's do some math!
Let's say you go out every weekend to Wendy's for to treat your kids to chicken nuggets.
A typical 200 gram serving of chicken nuggets (about 4 pieces) is 600 calories. If there are 52 weeks per year and you do this once a week then you ingest 31,200 calories per year of fast food chicken nuggets.
If you start making your own "Smart & Easy" chicken nuggets once a week then you would consume 276 calories per week and 14,352 calories per year on home made nuggets.
You could save 31,200 - 14,352 = 16,848 calories per year. This is 5 pounds of weight loss per year just by making your own nuggets.
Let's go an an extra step and pretend you avoid a soft drink (300 calories) and fries (large 500 calories) each week you would lose an extra 12 pounds on top of that = 17 pound weight loss in a year!
"Make small intelligent lifestyle changes rather than engaging in fad diets to achieve meaningful health benefits and weight loss" - Dr. Hansra MD, @Smart and Easy Health
What's the bottom line?
Examine your diet and see what can you adjust to improve your health. Lifestyle changes through little changes make the real difference rather than fad diets. Remember: The little things add up to something big. The key to our Smart & Easy chicken nugget is boosting the nutrient and fiber content while lowering calories with adding beans. Beans also give the chicken a softer texture making it easier to chew (kid friendly!). Our nuggets have 50% beans which can lower your risk of heart disease (5-7), high blood pressure (5-7), stroke (5-7), diabetes (5-7), weight gain (7), and cholesterol (7,8). Beans are also a rich source of fiber, B vitamins, iron, copper, magnesium, manganese, zinc, and phosphorus (7). Last, beans are inexpensive so you will definitely save money!
The Smart and Easy Health chicken nugget recipe is simply an example of a larger concept of adding beneficial ingredients into your favorite foods to boost the nutrient value and decrease calories to not only lose weight but benefit your overall health. Explore other possible ways to improve your health without radically changing your diet at:
References
1. Every Fast Food Chicken Nugget—Ranked! Eat this not that. https://www.eatthis.com/fast-food-chicken-nuggets-ranked/#:~:text=Fast-food%20nuggets%20all%20start%20with%20chicken%2C%20but%20they,from%20sources%20far%20from%20any%20type%20of%20poultry. Accessed July 25th, 2020.
2. Alkerwi A, Crichton GE, Hébert JR. Consumption of ready-made meals and increased risk of obesity: findings from the Observation of Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Luxembourg (ORISCAV-LUX) study. Br J Nutr. 2015;113(2):270-277.
3. Stender S, Dyerberg J, Astrup A. Fast food: unfriendly and unhealthy. Int J Obes (Lond). 2007;31(6):887-890.
4. Mitchell NS, Catenacci VA, Wyatt HR, Hill JO. Obesity: overview of an epidemic. Psychiatr Clin North Am. 2011;34(4):717-732.
5. Hu FB. Plant-based foods and prevention of cardiovascular disease: an overview. Am J Clin Nutr 2003;78:5445–5515.
6. Orlich MJ, Fraser GE. Vegetarian diets in the Adventist Health Study 2: a review of initial published findings. Am J Clin Nutr 2014;100(Suppl. 1):353S–358S.
7. Polak R, Phillips EM, Campbell A. Legumes: Health BEnefit and Culinary Approaches to Increase Intake. Clin Diabetes. 2015 Oct;33(4):198-205.
8. Bazzano LA, Thompson AM, Tees MT, Nguyen CH, Winham DM. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2011 Feb; 21(2):94-103.
Disclaimer:
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This is an amazing recipe and so easy to follow. you obviously did tremendous research and this is a recipe that I'm definitely going to use to make these nuggets. This is a recipe that would be really great for children and teenagers too and anyone who wants great
taste and healthy nuggets!