Realgood Foods Co Chicken Nuggets Recipe

Real Good Foods' chicken nuggets are pieces of chicken breast in a thin breading of chickpea flour and whey protein, with 23 grams of protein and 4 grams of net carbs in a serving. This copy turns a pound of chicken breast in egg, rolls it in chickpea flour with whey protein and spices, and cooks it in the air fryer for about ten minutes.

What is in Real Good chicken nuggets

Real Good Foods lists the ingredients of its Lightly Breaded Chicken Nugget Chunks: chicken breast with rib meat, water and chickpea flour, and then, at 2 percent or less each, salt, whey protein concentrate, baking soda, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, further spices and whole egg. The nuggets are fried in canola oil. There is no wheat flour and no breadcrumb in the list, which is where the low carbohydrate figure comes from: a 4-ounce serving has 180 calories and 5 grams of carbohydrate.

The copy uses the same coating. A quarter of the recipe comes to about 230 calories, 30 grams of protein and 5 grams of carbohydrate by USDA figures. MakeFoodLovely is not connected with Real Good Foods.

Recipe

Lightly Breaded Chicken Nuggets

A reconstruction of Real Good Foods' lightly breaded chicken nuggets — chicken breast in a thin coating of chickpea flour, whey protein, egg and spices, cooked in the air fryer. Four servings.

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Prep

15 min

Cook

11 min

Total

31 min

Serves

4

Cuisine

American

Ingredients

• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 1/3 cup chickpea flour
• 2 tablespoons unflavored whey protein powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 tablespoon avocado oil

Instructions

1. Cut the chicken into 1 1/4-inch pieces and pat them dry.
2. Whisk the chickpea flour, the whey protein, the salt, the paprika, the garlic powder, the onion powder, the pepper and the baking soda in a shallow dish. Beat the egg with the water in a bowl.
3. Turn the chicken in the egg. Lift the pieces out a few at a time, let the excess drip off and roll them in the flour mixture until thinly coated. Set them on a rack for 5 minutes.
4. Heat the air fryer to 390°F. Brush the basket and the nuggets with the oil, lay the nuggets in one layer and cook for 9 to 11 minutes, turning once, until golden and 165°F inside. Cook in two batches if the basket is small.
5. In the oven instead: bake on an oiled rack set over a baking sheet at 425°F for 14 to 16 minutes, turning once.

Nutrition

Calories:

230

Calculated from the ingredient quantities above using the USDA FoodData Central database, then divided by the number of servings. It is an estimate and will vary with the exact products you use.

Are Real Good chicken nuggets fully cooked?

No. The company's answer on its product pages is that its products are heat-treated but not fully cooked, and that they have to reach an internal temperature of 165°F. The directions differ by bag.

Product	Air fryer	Oven
Nuggets, 2.25-pound bag	330°F, 12 minutes, 15 to 17 nuggets, flipped halfway	400°F, 17 to 20 minutes, 17 to 19 nuggets
No Seed Oil nuggets	350°F, 7 to 9 minutes, 6 to 8 nuggets, flipped halfway	400°F, 11 to 13 minutes, 6 to 8 nuggets

Both are cooked from frozen, in one layer and without overlapping, and rest for a minute. The No Seed Oil nuggets are cooked in beef tallow in place of canola oil and have 220 calories and 21 grams of protein in six pieces.

Chickpea flour and whey in place of breadcrumbs

Chickpea flour browns and crisps without gluten, and it tastes of beans when raw and of nothing in particular once cooked. Whey protein dries the coating and helps it brown. The quarter teaspoon of baking soda does the same: it makes the surface slightly alkaline, and an alkaline surface colours sooner.

Unflavored whey is the one to use. Vanilla protein powder is sweetened.

A thin coat that stays on

• Dry chicken, wet egg, dry flour. Chicken that is wet from the package sheds its coating in the air fryer.
• Five minutes on a rack. The flour takes up the egg and turns from powder to paste, which holds.
• Oil on the outside. Without it, chickpea flour stays pale and dusty. A tablespoon brushed or sprayed over a pound of chicken is enough.
• One layer. Stacked nuggets steam.

Dips, and other nuggets

For a dip without sugar, stir 3 tablespoons of mayonnaise with 1 tablespoon of mustard and 1 teaspoon of lemon juice. The Fire Ranch sauce and the Bell Sauce on this site go with nuggets too.

Nuggets with a breading of wheat flour are the Popeyes chicken nuggets. For a fully cooked frozen nugget and its heating times, see the Perdue chicken nuggets page.