Kids in the Kitchen: Chicken Nuggets

True confession from the Wisconsin test kitchen. Sometimes we feed our daughter Sawyer Happy Meals from McDonalds. I know, it's shameful. We pride ourselves on cooking at home and eating an organic sustainable diet. But every once in a while, we give into the siren song of the golden arches. Go ahead- judge away.

But, the way she scarfs down those strange, disgusting little chicken nuggets got us wondering... could we make chicken nuggets at home that she'd like as much as McDonalds? In a word... yes. And bonus: they're healthier, lower in sodium and made from actual chicken.

Cool Dads Chicken Nuggets

1lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup bread crumbs*
2T parmesan cheese
2 egg whites

**A note on the bread crumbs. Here in the Wisconsin test kitchen, we're extremely thrifty. We make our own breadcrumbs and keep them in the freezer to use for meatloaf, breadings, etc. So, we used a cup of these plain bread crumbs and mixed them with a few dashes of seasoning salt, Penzy's Sunny Paris seasoning, and 2T Parmesan cheese. Store bought bread crumbs will work just as well- just combine them with the 2T of Parmesan cheese.

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees and coat a 9"x13" pan with non-stick cook spray.

Cut chicken breasts into roughly 1" pieces.

Crack eggs, and put egg whites in a separate bowl

Pour bread crumbs  and cheese into a ziplock bag.

Recruit help from your tiny kitchen helper.

Initially, Sawyer was NOT into the cooking process. But once I showed her how to dunk the chicken pieces into the egg white and then place them in the bag of bread crumbs-  and shake to cover them in crumbs- she was all about it. In fact, she ended up making ALL of the chicken nuggets for dinner that night! She was so proud of the fact she made dinner, she couldn't wait to tell her Daddy all about it when he got home from work that night.

So, to review: dunk raw chicken pieces in egg white- and put them in the bag with the bread crumbs. Shake the bag in order to get the chicken pieces completely covered in bread crumbs (listening to Luke Bryan's Country Girl (Shake It For Me) is recommended, but completely optional for this step). Remove the chicken pieces from the bread crumb bag, and place them in the baking dish.

Bake them at 400 degrees for 14 minutes, turning them over halfway through the cooking process.

The final result?

Sawyer's feedback was, "These are even better than the ones at McDonalds!" And she promptly ate seven chicken nuggets. The fact she got to help make dinner all by herself was a huge factor in how successful the meal was. There you have it... chicken nuggets so easy a five year old can make them.

Recipe courtesy of Taste of Home

This is what Cool Dads Cook is all about- providing you with healthy recipes your kids will eat, and will love to help prepare. We can't wait to share some of our favorite holiday recipes with you next week!

Stay Cool,
The Cool Dads Crew