I decided to treat the boys to some (healthy – sssssh!) junk food last week and you should have seen (and heard!) the reaction when I told them we were making chicken fingers… This is one of the dishes the boys absolutely adore when it’s served at lunch (our lunch version is made with flax seeds and whole wheat breadcrumbs and it’s actually pretty good) so I figured why not teach them how easy it is to make at home with very few ingredients.
We made a couple of changes to the recipe – I forgot the garlic and lemon (teaching up until 15 minutes before club starts will do that to your memory…) and we didn’t have a food processor so the boys had to cut the parsley and crumb the crackers by hand. I used a LOT more parsley than the recipe suggested as I love the colour it gives to the finished nuggets – not to mention it’s super healthy, right? I served them with home fries made from tiny red potatoes, quartered, par-boiled and fried….
Pretty simple instructions: we cut the chicken into bite sized nuggets..
I cut the potatoes for the boys as they needed to get boiling quickly so we would have time to fry them…
We had some fun with the parsley… 
And used our hands to crumb the crackers. Yes, there was mention of the Magic Bullet but I made them work for their snack this week! 
Carefully prepared the egg to dip the chicken into…
And then it was a bit of a batter-fest free-for-all. (Actually the boys were super organised and worked in a production line. Very efficient!)
They handed me the breaded nuggets to fry…
We used a large casserole dish. Even though it’s not ideal, I liked it as it meant the spattering hot oil didn’t go all over me (or the boys!). Will remember this next time…
The boys could barely contain their excitement when they saw the fries…
And then the nuggets… oh my!!
And they waited patiently as I portioned them out…
Result?
Well I ate the few that I brought home for my dinner. And I am not a nugget fan. But these were THAT good…
The boys were extremely enthusiastic about this recipe and many of them declared they would be making these again at home. Under adult supervision, obviously as, even though they are accomplished little chefs, cooking involving hot oil still needs an adult present.
Thanks Jamie – this was a huge hit!!!!
main courses | serves 2
This crumbing technique is so versatile – you can cook pork or even cod in exactly the same way. As there is butter in the crumb mixture, you can grill, fry, roast or bake the meat dry in the oven and it will go lovely and golden.
Ingredients
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 lemon
• 6 saltine crackers
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 4 sprigs of fresh Italian parsley
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 heaped tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 large egg, preferably free-range or organic
• 2 skinless chicken breast fillets, preferably free-range or organic
• olive oil
To prepare your chicken:
Peel the garlic and zest the lemon
Put your crackers into a food processor with the butter, garlic, parsley sprigs, lemon zest and a pinch of salt and pepper
Whiz until the mixture is very fine, then pour these crumbs on to a plate
Sprinkle the flour on to a second plate
Crack the egg into a small bowl and beat with a fork
Lightly score the underside of the chicken breasts
Put a square of plastic wrap over each one and bash a few times with the bottom of a pan until the breasts flatten out a bit
Dip the chicken into the flour until both sides are completely coated, then dip into the egg and finally into the flavored crumbs
Push the crumbs on to the chicken breasts so they stick – you want the meat to be totally coated
To cook your chicken:
You can either bake or fry the chicken • If baking, preheat your oven to its highest temperature (475˚), place your chicken on a sheet pan and cook for 15 minutes • If frying, put a frying pan on a medium heat, add a few good lugs of olive oil and cook the chicken breasts for 4 to 5 minutes on each side, until cooked through, golden and crisp
To serve your chicken:
Either serve the chicken breasts whole, or cut them into strips and pile them on a plate • Beautiful and simple served with a lemon wedge for squeezing over, and a tiny sprinkling of salt • Great with a lovely fresh salad or simply dressed veggies.
Disclosure: The gorgeous bamboo disposable serving dishes used for the end result was provided at no cost by RestaurantWare.com. If you would like to order your own bamboo tableware with 10% off, use the code eatlivetravelwrite at checkout.
In case you are wondering, yes, I made it through to Round 7 of Project Food Blog and am madly working on bringing a recipe to life through a video. Thank you all for your support and votes – look out for my video (my first! eeek!) sometime later this week!
** Did you know? Jamie Oliver is speaking in Toronto on November 18th. Thanks to The Art of Cooking, I am able to offer a discount to you, my readers, of $10 per ticket (more if you purchase more than 5 tickets). Click here for the special promotion code to be applied to your ticket price. Don’t miss this event – I saw Jamie speak last year and it was inspirational to say the least. It inspired me to start Les Petits Chefs, for one…
Gosh… I don’t mind snacking on that too! Can I be your student?
Now that would be fun!
Thanks again, Les Petits Chefs, for an extra nibble in the canteen at lunchtime: yum!
Sometimes you need to have a little fried action.
I’m not a nugget fan either but I think that’s mainly due to the fact that your standard nugget does not contain premium breast meat, but more the chicken equivalent of the unspeakables found in a Mrs Mac’s pie. These, on the other hand, do not. Very nice.
No unspeakables to be seen in these nuggets!
Awesome creative chicken nuggets that you don’t have to feel guilty about.
Well as long as you limit them to a once in a while treat..
Were they doing cooking clubs like this for boys when I was growing up? If so, how do I find myself one of those boys, now grown up in his early-late 30s?
(I’ll take 40s.)
Great program.
I know, right? These boys wives will thank me later on!
I love watching kids cook and the way you describe their excitement is fantastic! I HAVE to try these chicken fingers! Wow they look amazing: crunchy and so delicious. Great job!
Yes the cracker crumbs were new to me and they really worked!
YUM! I have often wondered if I should get a deep fryer to use with my students as a way to protect them from the hot splashes of oil. It certainly makes for special treats every now and again – especially when the kids can see that REAL ingredients go into making foods at home! Sounds like the kids had a great class
Now I’d like a snack.
I wondered about a deep fryer too but this worked out ok. And yes, it was a great treat!
Wonderful project for “les petit chefs”!!!
Have to admit I make a similar dish and it’s one of my husband’s favorites so I am sure the boys will be making this for years to come!!
Looking forward to your “cinematic” debut!!!
The boys are still talking about it!
This does look delicious, but could you really describe it as healthy? Both the components of the dish are fried. It’s probably better for you than KFC, but that’s about it.
No disrespect to you though – it’s well carried out, and I’m sure the boys enjoyed making it – I just have a few issues with it being described as healthy.
Ok, perhaps I should have highlighted the “real food” component of this dish. I meant that it’s healthy because there are identifiable pieces of meat etc.. in the nuggets. And (shallow) fried food is ok once in a while and I made sure to emphasize this to the boys as we were cooking. Moderation, in all things.
Thoroughly enjoyed this post. The recipe for the nuggets is great and one I’m going to try when my grand-daughter comes for her next sleep-over with us. She’ll enjoying preparing the nuggets for me to fry. Thank you!
Yes its as fun as it is delicious.
I LOVE FRIED CHICKEN!!!! and this healthy alternative sounds and looks fantastic! I’m going to make it this weekend! Thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome – hope you enjoyed!
They can make this for me any day! Particularly the potatoes… I can never resist a good spud!
Yes many of them had never seen potatoes cut like that!
Chicken nuggets made of actual chicken – what a novelty!
I hope you showed them the pink goo that makes up most fast-food nuggets, including ground up cartilidge and bone and lord knows what else…
No we didn’t but we talked about it!
I just love this project. It’s fantastic. Teaching them to cook will make them healthy, confident and save them money. You are awesome!
They are very confident in the kitchen – so proud of them!
wow this is so cool I bet they loved making these
They’re still talking about them!
These look super tasty. What a great idea to make them healthier.
Yes the cracker crumbs don’t absorb nearly as much of the oil.
after seeing a truly horrific video making the rounds on facebook recently showing how “chicken” nuggets served in ff rest are made, i vowed to never let the children eat them again. i will, however, totally try making these – they look so good! and while they are indeed fried, they are at least real food fried, and for any of us, that’s a great treat every once in a while. thanks for the recipe!
I think as long as you can identify all the ingredients, you are ok! And yes a once in a while treat!
That is one lovely meal! I’m not a big fan of frying, but that seems like it was totally worth it. I can imagine how excited the boys were!
There was MUCH excitement….
Great looking chicken nuggets! And nice tip re the deepfrying in a taller pot – will remember that one.
Yes, I was quite pleased to figure that one out!