Chicken nuggets… the name just conjures up images of unhealthy, greasy, ‘junk’ food, doesn’t it?
But chicken nuggets don’t HAVE to be unhealthy – with a few modifications, a standard recipe for chicken nuggets can produce a wonderfully tasty and nutritious finger food for your baby!
Our recipe calls for baking the nuggets instead of frying them.
Another thing that makes this recipe so good for tiny diners is the fact that the chicken breast is chopped – most homemade chicken nuggets require you to cut a chicken breast into pieces and coat it with breadcrumbs. But a whole piece of chicken may be difficult for your baby to cope with, particularly if he doesn’t have any teeth!
Chopping the chicken makes each mouthful very manageable for your little one – and the sweet potato used to bind the little pieces adds a few extra nutrients, too!
To Make Healthy Baked Chicken Nuggets You Will Need…
1 skinless, boneless chicken breast
around 2 tbsp cooked, mashed sweet potato
1-2 tbsp natural yogurt
1-2 oz (1/4 to 1/2 cup) dry breadcrumbs
1 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
little pinch dried basil leaves
little pinch dried thyme
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees deg F (200 deg C).
Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray.
Chop the chicken breast into little pieces (if using frozen chicken, try chopping it before it’s fully thawed – it’s much easier! Make sure it’s thawed before you mix it with the other ingredients, though).
Mix the chopped chicken with enough mashed sweet potato for you to be able to form the chicken into nugget-sized balls (don’t use too much sweet potato, or the ‘nuggets’ will be squishy and hard to coat with breadcrumbs).
The number of balls will vary depending on the size of the chicken breast – we got 7 out of ours.
Place the chicken/sweet potato balls in the natural yogurt, stirring to coat. Set aside.
Mix the bread crumbs, cheese, basil, and thyme in a bowl.
Using your fingers, place each chicken ball in the mixture and gently turn it until it is well coated.
Put the coated nuggets onto the foil and spray lightly with oil. Place them in the oven.
Bake for 10 minutes then carefully turn the pieces over.
Bake for another 10 to 15 minutes, until golden.
Check that the chicken is cooked through, before cooling and serving.
Serve as they are, or with a dip. Applesauce goes with these baked chicken nuggets amazingly well!
If you want to freeze some for future use, we recommend doing so BEFORE baking. They are much nicer if ‘baked to order’!
More chicken baby food recipes
Getting started with baby finger foods
Healthy Baked Chicken Nuggets
Healthy Baked Chicken Nuggets made with chopped chicken breast and sweet potato - your baby will love them!
Ingredients
- 1 skinless, boneless chicken breast
- around 2 tbsp cooked, mashed sweet potato
- 1-2 tbsp natural yogurt
- 1-2 oz (1/4 to 1/2 cup) dry breadcrumbs
- 1 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
- little pinch dried basil leaves
- little pinch dried thyme
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees deg F (200 deg C).
- Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray.
- Chop the chicken breast into little pieces (if using frozen chicken, try chopping it before it’s fully thawed – it’s much easier! Make sure it’s thawed before you mix it with the other ingredients, though).
- Mix the chopped chicken with enough mashed sweet potato for you to be able to form the chicken into nugget-sized balls (don’t use too much sweet potato, or the ‘nuggets’ will be squishy and hard to coat with breadcrumbs). The number of balls will vary depending on the size of the chicken breast – we got 7 out of ours.
- Place the chicken/sweet potato balls in the natural yogurt, stirring to coat. Set aside.
- Mix the bread crumbs, cheese, basil, and thyme in a bowl.
- Using your fingers, place each chicken ball in the mixture and gently turn it until it is well coated.
- Put the coated nuggets onto the foil and spray lightly with oil. Place them in the oven.
- Bake for 10 minutes then carefully turn the pieces over.
- Bake for another 10 to 15 minutes, until golden.
- Check that the chicken is cooked through, before cooling and serving.
Notes
Serve just as they are, or with a dip. Applesauce goes with these baked chicken nuggets amazingly well!
If you want to freeze some for future use, we recommend doing so BEFORE baking. They are much nicer if ‘baked to order’!
Kathy
Sunday 24th of March 2013
How lomg would you cook from frozen?
Dave
Wednesday 30th of June 2010
and how old would this receipe be for?
Christine
Thursday 1st of July 2010
It's hard to give a precise age - whilst the ingredients are safe from 6-7 months, this is a finger food recipe for confident biters/chewers, and this really depends on developmental ability rather than age. Our little ones enjoyed meals like this from around 9 months - others may be ready earlier, whereas some babies are not ready until much later. Sorry to be vague, but the best thing with finger foods is to use your discretion and ensure that your baby copes well with softer, melt in the mouth foods before moving on to firmer textures.