soy free - gluten free - seed oil free!
I realized when my toddler was getting to be a bit bigger that she was a much more pleasant child after her naps if I had a sturdy snack prepared for her to eat immediately after she woke up. Thus, nap snacks were born! These sneaky veggie chicken nuggets are by far my favorite of the nap snacks I have devised so far, since it's clean, whole foods ingredients as well as being straight up delicious.
Ingredients:
1 whole large carrot
1 12.5oz can of chicken breast
1/4 brick of cheese
1 egg
garlic powder
onion powder
season salt
Gluten free bread crumbs
Instructions:
Start by shredding a carrot finely into a bowl with your cheese grater. (I use these carrots, so if you're using baby carrots, do a bunch.)
After your carrots are shredded, use the same cheese grater to shred about 1/4 of a block of cheese of your choice. I used a mild cheese like this one. This totals to about 1/4c of shredded cheese.
Using the lid of the can, squeeze and press out as much liquid as you can from a tin of canned chicken. I use this one from Aldi. You want as much of the liquid out as you can so they are not so soupy when you form them into patties.
Pour the chicken into the main bowl you are using and then crack in one egg.
Using a spatula, mix everything as well as you can so that you have a nice even mixture.
Using a cookie scoop, or a regular spoon works fine too, scoop out and roll the mixture into balls. I press mine in my hands before shaping to get out as much of the "juice" as I can since the shredded carrot has a lot of liquid with it.
After you have formed them into little balls, toss them around gently in the gluten free bread crumbs to evenly coat them all. As you place them onto a cookie sheet, press them flat into little nugget shapes so they cook evenly.
Cooking instructions are as follows and differ depending upon your method. I have tested this recipe a bunch and found that the air fryer results in the best crunch, but you can also use a regular oven and pan-fry them as well.
For air fryer:
Fry at 400F for 7 minutes on one side, then flip and do 5 more minutes at the same temperature. For convection oven:
Bake on a greased cookie sheet (I used bacon grease to coat mine) at 400F for 12 minutes on the first side. Flip them, and then bake another 7 minutes. Keep an eye on them to make sure they are not burning, since everyone's ovens are different.
For pan frying:
Simply place the patties into a greased pan and fry until golden brown on each side.
Enjoy with a side of chipotle ranch for a nice dip!
I used chatgpt to calculate the macros on this, so take them with a grain of salt, but according to that here they are:
Protein: 59.5g
Fat: 21.1g
Carbohydrates: 23.5g
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