HELLOOOO MY SWEET PEACHES !!

I’ve been so SO excited to share this recipe with you guys.

These nuggets will ROCK. YOUR. WORLD. They are so much better than the oil-drenched chicken nuggets from McDonalds.

According to this study lead by Lead Cahill, frequent fried food consumption was significantly associated with risk of incident type 2 diabetes and moderately with incidence of coronary artery disease.

…& GUESS WHAT? Those 4 nuggets and the small fry immersed in fried oil are included in that risk. But, I mean, they still taste really good…

Perhaps that is why I’ve hopped on the air fryer bandwagon.

It’s my new toy.

I was skeptical to pull the trigger and buy the Air Fryer because it is somewhat of an investment and it will take up space in the itty bitty kitchen. My curiosity led me to research this product a little bit more and this is what I learned about air fryers:

AIR FRYER DEETS:

Air fryers require NO oil. The rapid air technology is a technique that uses the hot circulating air to give your food a crispy texture without the excess fat.
- I’m a huge micro-manager and want to control anything that I drink and eat so being able to control the amount of fat I add – or don’t add – is a huge perk. ( TY for your patience @bartenders & @waiters <3 ).
- NOTE: I prefer to drizzle a bit of avo oil on mine because it provides more moisture. Avocado oil has smoke point at 520°F which makes it ideal for (air) frying and sautéing. Extra virgin olive oil has a smoke point around 320°F. Smoke point is the point at which the oil starts to break down. Oils with a higher smoke point are better for frying while lower smoke points work well in salads and dips. My preferred brand of avo oil is Chosen Foods.
There is no need to preheat – I REALLY enjoy the air fryer for that reason. It’s so efficient because it doesn’t take any time to preheat and it bakes – err fries – so much quicker than an oven. The timer beeps 5x to let you know when the food is ready and turns off after about 20 seconds – so if you pop in the shower and forget that you have some nugs frying, you WON’T BURN THE APARTMENT DOWN!!
You can set the temperature anywhere from 170°-400°F and cook 1-30 minutes… It’s perf for the girl who wants to play around with the air fryer in the kitchen. ( ME !! )
DON’T WORRY if you don’t want to experiment, this Air Fryer includes 50 recipes for guidance!

After testing different nugget recipes with my Blush GoWISE Air Fryer, I came up with a winner. My goal was to make a high fiber, high protein recipe. High fiber was my focus because chicken nuggets are often breaded with all purpose flour which provides absolutely no nutritional value…

When I interned at F-Factor, I learned a little tip from Tanya Zuckerbrot – swap out the flour for pulverized GG crackers.

YES – these are very high fiber crackers and they don’t have any flavor. They key is to pulverize the GG crackers and add seasonings. The GG’s don’t provide any flavor value, but they do give you a texture that resembles a breaded crust. To make it taste like a chicken nugget, all you need to do is add your own seasonings!

TIP: Pulverize a few bags of GG crackers ahead of time and store them in an air tight container in your pantry instead of bread crumbs. This cuts down on preparation time and clean up next time you want to use GG crumbs.

RECIPE:

10 ounces of skinless uncooked chicken
1/4 cup pulverized GG crackers
1/4 cup almond flour
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
2 T parmesan cheese
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
black pepper & salt to taste
2 eggs
avocado oil

DIRECTIONS:

Spray air fryer with cooking spray to prevent sticking.
Cut the chicken to your desired chicken nugget size.
In a medium bowl, crack and whisk your eggs.
In a separate bowl, mix the pulverized GG crackers, almond flour, nutritional yeast, parmesan cheese, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, and salt.
Coat the chicken in eggs and then drench in the dry mixture. Place in air fryer and repeat with all other chicken.
Drizzle avocado oil on the chicken nuggets. Heat the nuggets for 10-12 minutes in the air fryer at 360°F. Flip half way if desired.

Before you buy your own air fryer, make sure you get the Blush color. If you lack cabinets to store your air fryer like me, you don’t have to worry about hiding it because the blush air fryer adds a cute aesthetic to your kitchen. 😉

OH – and one serving is three ounces – I use my food scale to weight out my protein, but that is another blog post in itself…

I hope you enjoy chicken nugs as much as I do!! While I still enjoy my nuggets dowsed in ketchup, I swap out the french fries for a 5 ounce glass of cabernet… that makes it an adult meal – RIGHT?! 😉

xx hails

References:

Leah E Cahill, An Pan, Stephanie E Chiuve, Qi Sun, Walter C Willett, Frank B Hu, Eric B Rimm; Fried-food consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease: a prospective study in 2 cohorts of US women and men, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Volume 100, Issue 2, 1 August 2014, Pages 667–675, https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.114.084129

Moore, M. (2017, May 19). All About Oils. Retrieved from https://foodandnutrition.org/january-february-2014/all-about-oils/