Monday, February 13, 2012

Homemade Freezer Chicken Nuggets: 75% Savings!

If you like this kind of thing, also check out Homemade Chicken Broth and Homemade Frozen Hash Browns for more REAL convenient food!

Don't you love the trade-off between doing things yourself, inexpensively, and doing them quickly, but paying a whole lot more?  Take frozen chicken nuggets, for example.

My last trip to the freezer section revealed that I could purchase ready-made organic chicken nuggets for $16.00 a pound!  Yes, that's right, the 8 oz. package was $8.00.  

A few rows down, in the meat section, I found organic chicken thighs for $2.49 a pound.  Sold.


They are not packaged in a colorful bag, but these nuggets cost me about $3.00/lb, instead of $16.00!


Of course, since deboning chicken thighs is not my all-time favorite thing to do when I have some free time, I put off actually making the nuggets until the defrosted meat in my fridge really couldn't be ignored another day.

Then, using approximately the same method I used when I posted my original Freezer Nugget Recipe, I deboned the thighs, cut them into bite-sized pieces, breaded, and baked them.  They turned out quite a bit crispier this time, and just as delicious!


Ingredients:
  • Chicken of your choice, deboned, and cut into bite-sized pieces
  • Eggs (about 2 eggs per pound of chicken meat)
  • Flour of choice (I used rye this time, but next time I'm going to try out rice flour)
  • Breading Seasonings:  Salt, Pepper, Onion and Garlic Powder, whatever you feel like trying!  

Directions:
  1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
  2. Whisk eggs in small bowl.
  3. Mix flour and seasonings together in another small bowl.
  4. Working one at a time, or in batches (whatever works for you), dip each chicken piece in flour mixture, then egg, then flour mixture again.  Place on greased baking sheet.
  5. When baking sheet is full, bake for 20 minutes, flipping chicken nuggets over after 10 minutes.
  6. Cool, store, and reheat whenever you need a quick meal or snack!
Posted at Monday Mania and WFMW

8 comments:

  1. Good work!
    I imagine they probably taste better than the store-prepared nuggets as well! :)

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  2. Great idea, Danielle! I'm assuming it would work the same if I got boneless breasts? I can't really handle bones in meat (super ridiculous, I know I'm spoiled!).

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    Replies
    1. Oh yeah, any meat would work. I just got the thighs because they were such a good price. The bones are kind of a pain!

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  3. This is a common recipe for me to. I use coconut flour and drizzle some fat over them, but for a quick meal they can't be beat!

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    1. I wasn't sure how the coconut flour flavor would be accepted by my kids, but maybe I'll give that a try next time. Thanks for the good idea!

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  4. I love that you write "fully cooked" on the pkg! Have regretted not doing that in the past!
    Didn't know you can use rye flour for ck nuggets -- sounds good to me and strangely my local store stocks organic rye flour but not organic wheat flour.

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    Replies
    1. I have a feeling sleepless nights ahead will make me glad I wrote "fully cooked" on the bag, too. :) The rye flour is delicious on the nuggets - it gives them a little more of an interesting flavor.

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