This recipe was sponsored by Dairy Makes Sense.
Along with making some healthy life-changes for my family – we are slowy replacing some of the ‘bad’ foods that my kids have come to love and enjoy. The first exchange that I tackled was the Chicken Nugget.
My kids adore chicken nuggets – and being that we live 3 blocks from McDonalds and pass it on the way home every day, they often beg for nuggets. Not that we stop at McDonalds each time – but when we get home, the request of chicken nuggets doesn’t end. In the past we have simply thrown some Tyson nuggets in the oven.
I wanted that to change – I know that the store-bought frozen nuggets are still not the healthiest option for my kids.
In my previous experience with Let’s Dish (a meal making service – where I go and prepare freezer meals to bring home for easy preparation) our family has thoroughly enjoyed every breaded chicken that I’ve brought home. Our favorite was the chicken that was marinated in buttermilk. Buttermilk just seemed to soften up the chicken, and make it extra juicy and tender. Not to mention that Buttermilk has added protein, potassium, calcium and phosphorus (source)! So that’s where I started.
I created the baked buttermilk parmesan chicken nugget. My family enjoys these, and requests these more often now, than they ever did before!
Now – I don’t always have the time or patience to make the ingredients for these – so I learned from my freezer cooking experiences, and created extra, storing them in proper serving sizes in my freezer – so they’re ready to go any afternoon!
While I do have the actual recipe you can print below – I wanted to show you my process:
Baked Buttermilk Parmesan Chicken Nuggets
First – I cut up my chicken. I like to use semi-defrosted chicken, because it’s easier to cut!
Coat chicken with buttermilk
I use a bowl with a tight lid, and let my boys shake it up to coat thoroughly.
Then – I give the kids their next task: crushing the corn flakes. I put the corn flakes into a strong (freezer style) Ziploc, and let them jump on it!
Meanwhile, I mix up the rest of the ingredients – so when they’re done having their fun, I can just add the cornflakes to the mix.
Mix it all together – and divide it out. – Dividing the chicken, as well.
Coat the chicken with the breading, and place onto baking sheet. (This time I was thinking that maybe the chicken would be cooked better on top of the cooling rack, and be crispy on both sides – but it wasn’t. It was slightly soggy on the bottom, so I’d recommend placing directly onto the baking sheet or parchment paper.) Bake for 10-15 minutes – depending on size of nuggets.
Often times I also make these little veggie sticks (carrots and/or zucchini) alongside the chicken nuggets – they’re way better tasting then french fries – and my kids gobble them up. I’ll show that recipe another day!
The chicken nuggets are amazingly juicy and tender. The kids can’t get enough of them it seems – and I love them on my salads!
I hope you enjoy this recipe – I’ve got a more printer-friendly version below!
Baked Buttermilk Parmesan Chicken Nuggets
You’ll Need:
6 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast (2 medium breasts feed the 3 of us for lunch, so I usually start with 6)
1-2 C. Low-Fat Buttermilk
2 C. Corn Flakes
1 C. Panko Crispy Bread Crumbs
3/4 C.Shredded Parmesan
1/4 t. Salt
1/4 t. Pepper
1 t. Garlic Powder
1 t. Onion Powder
Directions:
Trim and cut chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces (you can also cut into tenders). Put into bowl and cover with buttermilk. This is best done several hours before hand, but also works to marinade for a short time while preparing the breading and pre-heating the oven.
Preheat oven to 400 Degrees F. Spray baking sheet with cooking spray, or line with parchment paper.
Crush Corn Flakes. Add all dry ingredients into a bowl, and mix well.
*This would be the time to divide breading and chicken into separate bags if you’re making some for future meals – about 1 1/4 cup for each 2 medium chicken breasts*
Coat chicken nugget pieces with breading, and lay on a baking sheet.
Bake for 10-15minutes, depending on size of nuggets. My little nuggets take about 10 minutes, strips would take closer to 15 minutes. Be sure chicken is thoroughly cooked before eating.
I would love to hear your great ideas for replacing common kids’ meals with a healthier version!
How does your family incorporate dairy into your healthy lifestyles?
Again, this recipe post was sponsored by the Dairy Makes Sense campaign – showcasing recipes that our family loves that incorporate dairy into our lives. All opinions are 100% my own, and in no way reflected by compensation.
These look sooo good – especially on that salad! Going to pin this for later. Thanks!
I know the kids would LOVE to crush up the corn flakes!
I am so going to have to try this! We love Chicken Nuggets
This sounds so yummy! I want to try this recipe. Thank you for sharing.
ive never made my own breading for chicken nuggets! awesome! look delicious and fun!
We make chicken nuggets at home and LOVE them…but next time I’m totally letting the kids stomp the crackers/flakes on the floor!
Chicken Nuggets are my kids favorite so I am always looking for new ways to make them at home. These look amazing!
Oh my gosh my daughter would think crushing things by jumping on them is awesome. What a fun way to include your son in your cooking.
Those look Delicious. We always get buttermilk for a recipe then don’t know what to do with the rest. Now we don’t have to worry about the rest of is going bad, we can make chicken nuggets.
they look really good! and i like that he was in the process of making them how fun!
These look delicious and so easy to make. Perfect for busy families.
This looks great, thank you!
I have all these ingredients on hand! And I’m sure my son would love to help out too! thanks for the recipe!
straight out of a five star restaurant! nice work !:)
I also enjoy making chicken nuggets for my family ~ they taste better and are so much better for you. My son loves pizza, so I found that was a good medium to incorporate more veggies into his diet when he was younger. If it is under cheese they seen not to mind as much! I would also puree veggies into sauces and stews and sloppy joes!!
Kids seem to eat better when they can help make the meal. I want to try this with mushrooms in place of the chicken.
One of ours demands chicken nuggets no matter what. Have to try these….I am sure he will love them.
These look really good and are so much healthier. The kids would have fun crushing up the corn flakes.
This looks like such a fun recipe and an even better idea to freeze them for quick lunches.
Just copied this and about to print. Have to do this one for the kids. Much better than the frozen nuggets
I love the idea of different textures with the corn flakes, bread crumbs, and Parmesan. Those would all add great flavor too.
Oh I love making my own nuggets! I hate the fast food ones..
I like to make my own chicken nuggets – I don’t have one set recipe, but I haven’t made them like this, and I can’t wait to try it!!! I don’t have any helpers to shake and stomp, so they might not come out as good!
Hey, you used to write fantastic, but the last few posts have been kinda boringK I miss your great writings. Past few posts are just a little out of track! come on!
you have a great weblog right here! would you wish to make some invite posts on my blog?
Hello. excellent job. I did not imagine this. This is a fantastic story. Thanks!
I’m still learning from you, while I’m making my way to the top as well. I absolutely liked reading all that is written on your blog.Keep the information coming. I enjoyed it!
Hello there, You’ve done a fantastic job. I will certainly digg it and personally suggest to my friends. I am confident they’ll be benefited from this website.
This is really interesting, You are a very skilled blogger. I have joined your feed and look forward to seeking more of your fantastic post. Also, I’ve shared your website in my social networks!
WONDERFUL Post.thanks for share..extra wait .. …
Heya! I just wanted to ask if you ever have any issues with hackers? My last blog (wordpress) was hacked and I ended up losing months of hard work due to no data backup. Do you have any solutions to stop hackers?
I have read some excellent stuff here. Definitely price bookmarking for revisiting. I surprise how so much attempt you put to create this type of fantastic informative site.
Great write-up, I am regular visitor of one?¦s site, maintain up the nice operate, and It’s going to be a regular visitor for a lengthy time.
A powerful share, I simply given this onto a colleague who was doing somewhat analysis on this. And he in reality bought me breakfast because I found it for him.. smile. So let me reword that: Thnx for the deal with! But yeah Thnkx for spending the time to debate this, I feel strongly about it and love reading more on this topic. If potential, as you turn into experience, would you thoughts updating your weblog with more particulars? It’s highly useful for me. Massive thumb up for this weblog put up!
An interesting dialogue is price comment. I believe that it’s best to write extra on this matter, it won’t be a taboo topic but generally people are not sufficient to speak on such topics. To the next. Cheers
I am not positive the place you’re getting your info, but great topic. I must spend some time studying much more or figuring out more. Thanks for fantastic information I was on the lookout for this info for my mission.
After study a few of the blog posts on your website now, and I truly like your way of blogging. I bookmarked it to my bookmark website list and will be checking back soon. Pls check out my web site as well and let me know what you think.
Thanks for sharing superb informations. Your web site is very cool. I am impressed by the details that you have on this website. It reveals how nicely you perceive this subject. Bookmarked this website page, will come back for more articles. You, my friend, ROCK! I found just the info I already searched all over the place and just couldn’t come across. What a perfect website.
I would like to thank you for the efforts you have put in writing this web site. I’m hoping the same high-grade blog post from you in the upcoming also. In fact your creative writing abilities has inspired me to get my own website now. Actually the blogging is spreading its wings fast. Your write up is a good example of it.
I?¦ll immediately seize your rss feed as I can not find your e-mail subscription link or e-newsletter service. Do you have any? Kindly allow me know in order that I may just subscribe. Thanks.
Hello, i feel that i saw you visited my weblog so i came to “return the desire”.I’m attempting to find things to improve my web site!I assume its good enough to make use of a few of your ideas!!
Heya are using WordPress for your site platform? I’m new to the blog world but I’m trying to get started and set up my own. Do you need any html coding knowledge to make your own blog? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Excellent web site. Lots of helpful info here. I am sending it to a few pals ans additionally sharing in delicious. And obviously, thank you in your effort!
This blog is definitely rather handy since I’m at the moment creating an internet floral website – although I am only starting out therefore it’s really fairly small, nothing like this site. Can link to a few of the posts here as they are quite. Thanks much. Zoey Olsen
I see something truly special in this web site.
hey there and thank you for your information – I’ve definitely picked up something new from right here. I did however expertise some technical issues using this site, since I experienced to reload the web site lots of times previous to I could get it to load properly. I had been wondering if your web hosting is OK? Not that I am complaining, but sluggish loading instances times will very frequently affect your placement in google and can damage your quality score if ads and marketing with Adwords. Well I am adding this RSS to my e-mail and can look out for much more of your respective fascinating content. Ensure that you update this again soon..