Every kid loves chicken nuggets, but it can be a challenge to find the right way of cooking them. Whether you like your crispy or soggy and rubbery in microwaved form, there are countless ways for kids these days to enjoy their favorite meal! That’s why we’ve come up with our solution: air fryer-fried frozen chicken nuggets. Now they’re just as satisfying when eaten warm from an oven instead of getting freezer burn on a plate that never sees use anyway.
My four-year-old son’s favorite nuggets are Kirkwood’s Dinosaur shaped nuggets. I am convinced that my four-year-old son’s favorite nuggets are from Kirkwood, and they’re the dinosaur-shaped ones. We get them in bulk at our local Aldi for about $6.99 per box, which is a great price considering these T-Rex, Triceratops, and Apatosaurus nuggets taste fantastic! They’re not only good but also more nutritious than other chicken nugs out there on the market today – which I’m sure you know can be rather high priced too!
Chicken nuggets heat up in about a minute in the microwave, which is quick, but the texture of most frozen-to-microwave goods disappoints me. So it’s well worth the extra twelve minutes to prepare them in the air fryer, which is still 9-12 minutes faster than baking them in the oven, not considering the time it takes to preheat your oven. Frozen chicken nuggets cooked in the air fryer will never disappoint.
An air fryer is a perfect way to save money on cooking and reheating food while providing your child with healthier, tastier meals. For example, you can use an air fryer to quickly cook leftover restaurant chicken nuggets without having them come out soggy or rubbery like they would in the microwave.
What’s In A Chicken Nugget?
Chicken nuggets may look appealing on the outside, with their golden fried batter, but what’s inside is far more disturbing. Chicken nuggets are made with white chicken meat that comes from the breast or pectoral muscles of the birds, and other chicken parts can be mixed in as well. Tendons, bones, nervous and connective tissues, and fat can all be ground up together before being shaped into those bite-sized pieces.
One study found that chicken nuggets contained more fat than meat, “along with… bone, nerve, and connective tissue.” Chicken nuggets are far from what you would call a healthy meal. Chicken nugget consumers are getting a lot less chicken than they think. Besides, chicken nuggets made from white breast meat contain only 43% poultry, while the rest is fat, skin, bone fragments, and possible chemical ingredients added for flavor.
Chicken nugget eaters may also be eating antibiotics which can cause dangerous reactions in humans. So, chicken nuggets are often treated with sodium phosphates which combine with water to make potent cleaning agents. Chicken-nugget eaters may also be consuming dangerous protein additives called trypsin inhibitors. Chicken and other poultry products regularly receive antibiotics as part of standard industry practice, meaning that the antibiotic residues found in chicken meat are far from an isolated incident. Also, chicken nuggets are also treated with salt solutions and ammonia, along with possible flavor enhancers to make them tastier.
Chicken nugget shoppers often have no way of knowing what has been added to obtain that golden crispy coating, and the nutritional contents of chicken nuggets may be misleading anyway. Besides, chicken is often labeled healthy because it is meat, but chicken is higher in fat than fish and salmon and higher in calories. Also, chicken nuggets are loaded with high levels of sodium and fat. Chicken is also often treated with artificial colorings, flavor enhancers, preservatives, antibiotics, and MSG.
Are Chicken Nuggets Bad For You?
The chicken nugget is a modern staple of the fast-food industry. But, once they are gone, I never see them again like french fries or onion rings, and that’s why I’ve put together this list to show you some recipes for making your healthy homemade version with ingredients you can find in any grocery store!
The taste of chicken nuggets is what has made them so popular, and people are willing to make a sacrifice for their favorite dish. However, with the rising rates of obesity in America today, many wonder whether it’s worth trading your health for these bite-sized pieces of food. One study found that just six bites contain over half the recommended amount of salt per day – too much salt can lead to high blood pressure and other potential illnesses such as diabetes or heart disease down the line, not to mention increase weight gain from all those extra calories!
Nuggets are usually fried in hydrogenated oils, which is no good because they contain high fat and sugar. So if you’re trying to eat healthily or avoid gaining weight, nuggets should be avoided as they cause a lot more harm than initially intended for consumption!
Nuggets can also be deep-fried in hydrogenated oil instead of being baked like most other foods that we cook nowadays. However, this type of frying will result in extra fats into your diet when eating them regularly; this could lead to long-term health problems such as heart disease and obesity due to increased intake levels over time.
Airfryer Frozen Chicken Nuggets
- Time to prepare: 5 minute
- Time to cook: 15 minutes
- Total time: 20 minutes
- Calories: 390 kcal/serving
Ingredients
- 10 nuggets of frozen chicken.
Instructions
- Preheat the air fryer at 360 degrees F for 10 minutes.
- Place frozen chicken nuggets in the air fryer basket and cover with an air fryer liner.
- Cook for 12 minutes at 360°F in an air fryer.
- About 10 minutes, shake or flip the chicken nuggets in the air-frying.
- Plate and serve with your favorite sauce.