Homemade chicken nuggets - success!

Today was the day I decided to undertake the making of homemade chicken nuggets! I had looked through a few recipes for homemade chicken nuggets the last day or so, and in the end, kind of created my own version based off of those.

I gathered my ingredients first.

Organic chicken breast tenders, store bought breadcrumbs, panko breadcrumbs, homemade breadcrumbs, an egg, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning.

My original plan was to use the breadcrumbs I had in my cupboard. Once I opened them, I realized there wasn't much left in the can. I decided to make my own breadcrumbs.

It is times like these I wish I had a food processor, but my blender worked just fine. I threw in a couple pieces of bread, and pulsed it for awhile. They seemed pretty moist, so I put two more pieces of bread in the toaster, and put that in the blender too. I wish I had thought of that from the get go! They weren't as crunchy or dried out as "real" breadcrumbs, but they worked better than the "wet" bread. But I threw it all in there.

 After I cut up the chicken tenders into bite sized chicken nugget pieces, I cracked an egg into a bowl, and stirred it up a bit.

I had taken my store bought (or 'boughten' as Grandma always said! I think I was about 20 before I realized that was not a brand name.) breadcrumbs and dumped them into a bowl with my homemade bread crumbs. I seasoned it with a little salt and pepper, and some Italian seasoning. I wasn't too sure this was necessarily the flavor I was going for, but the "boughten" breadcrumbs  were Italian, so I just went with it. I added some Panko to that bowl as well, but in the end put some in a separate bowl too, and they still stuck pretty well after the first coating of breadcrumbs.

It ended up being a little chicken assembly line! First dip the chicken into the egg...

And then right into the breadcrumbs.

I had decided beforehand that I would freeze them before cooking them, and then just pull them out of the freezer and pop them into the oven when we wanted some. To prevent them from freezing together into one big clump, I laid them out on a cookie sheet, and stuck that into the freezer for an hour or two.

After that, I put them into four different baggies and popped them back into the freezer. When it was time for supper, I pulled out five pieces and put them on my baking stone, in a 350 degree oven for around 20 minutes.

They didn't get as golden brown as I would've hoped, but they were done. They were so moist on the inside, and nice and crunchy on the outside from the Panko. In hindsight, I would season them a little more, and maybe a little differently. If it wasn't for the breadcrumbs I had, I wouldn't have gone with the Italian seasoning, but it wasn't bad. Next time I will probably throw some seasoning salt in the mix for some extra flavor.

They were a big hit with my girl, though! She can be SO picky, I was dreading even giving them to her, in case she rejected them. But she loved them! I was so glad. And as a mom, it felt so good to be giving her something made from fresh, wholesome, mostly organic food!

Apologies for the open mouth shot!

This took a little time to do, but the end result was so worth it!

Homemade Chicken Nuggets:
     Ingredients:
          Chicken tenders
          Breadcrumbs
          Panko Breadcrumbs
          One egg
          Seasonings of choice

1. Rinse chicken tenders, cut into bite size or nugget sized pieces.
2. Crack egg into bowl, stir with fork.
3. Put breadcrumbs into bowl, add seasonings and mix.
4. Put Panko breadcrumbs into separate bowl.
5. Dip chicken into egg, into breadcrumbs, and then into Panko.
6. Lay on cookie sheet.
7. Put cookie sheet into freezer for an hour or two, then transfer to freezer bags and put back into freezer.

When ready to eat, put nuggets onto baking sheet into a preheated 350 degree oven for around 20 minutes. Nuggets are done when white all the way thru the middle.