(Lighter) “Chicken” Nuggets

Lighter Chicken Nuggets!

Hi guys! Welcome to the first recipe of my blog! Seeing as how the Super Bowl happened this last weekend, I thought it would be fitting to kick things off with a super delicious “chicken” nuggets recipe that I made for the big day! This recipe was perfect for the day of, but obviously football isn’t a prerequisite to making these delicious wings 😉

This recipe has been refined a couple of times. It consists of vital wheat gluten as the “meaty” texture. I actually attempted the recipe before, but the wheat gluten mixture ballooned out and the final result just looked like bread rolls instead of chicken nuggets (lol).

I admit this recipe does take a while, about 1.5 hours. But don’t take any short cuts, because that was what landed me in trouble last time. I skipped step 5 below and directly put the wings into the oven and they ballooned out and lost their texture and shape.

Traditionally, you would need to coat and deep fry these wings, but I decided to take a lighter approach to them and bake them instead! If you would like to deep fry them, do it instead of step 7!

Ingredients (for about 10 giant nuggets):

1 cup vital wheat gluten (I used Bob’s Red Mill)

3/4 cups any vegetable broth

1 more cup vegetable broth

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 tablespoon chicken or poultry seasoning

2 eggs, beaten, for the egg wash (use egg substitute if you’re vegan!)

1/2 cup flour

1 cup breadcrumbs

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper

Franks Red Hot Buffalo Sauce, for tossing

Instructions:

1. Mix together the vital wheat gluten, onion powder, poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper and mix together well. Make sure you smell the mixture and adjust the seasonings according to what flavors you like most. I didn’t put enough poultry seasoning in my initial mixture, so I will be sure to fix that next time!
2. Gradually mix in the 3/4 cup broth into the mixture and knead it until it is evenly spread, without chunks of dry mixture in the middle. Knead the dough until it is not sticking to your hands.
3. Shape the dough! I rolled my dough into a cylinder and cut cross sections, but you can do whatever shapes you want! Keep in mind that the pieces will slightly expand in the oven.
4. Put your chicken pieces into a semi-deep baking dish and pour one cup of broth over it until all the pieces are coated.
5. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour at 350 degrees, keeping an eye on them intermittently to make sure they are holding their shape. If you did not pour enough broth over the mixture, the pieces might balloon out.
6. Next, prepare your egg wash and dip each piece in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs and place on a lined baking sheet.
7. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.
8. Toss nuggets in buffalo sauce and enjoy!!

I would love to hear how this recipe works out for you! Please leave me some comments below and see you again soon!