Lean Food Recipes: Five Herb Chicken Nuggets

How to turn Nuggets into a Michelin restaurant dish

I never thought I’d be writing about recipes in my sporty walking blog! 🙂

Still, I am a mom and I like to cook. What I don’t like are long, time-consuming recipes – complicated dishes that take ages to prepare and won’t be eaten by everyone in the family.

This dish takes 30 minutes to make, and looks and tastes like a Michelin-starred restaurant meal.

Quick and delicious meals only

Usually I spend less than an hour in the kitchen. The end result should be quick, healthy and delicious.

My Five Herb Chicken Nugget recipe is among my favorite main courses: I can serve it for any occasion, from formal dinners with my parents-in-law to birthday parties to ordinary family lunches.

This flavorful chicken treat is a true delight for the eyes and the nose: savor the aroma of herbs and soft juicy chicken.

Spices, leaves and herbs make a big difference

The reason I bake with fresh leaves, spices and tomatoes is to give the dish an intense flavor. Cherry tomatoes have an acid juice in which chicken is happy to soak. Never use large slices or ordinary tomatoes: they have too much juice and the nuggets will get too wet. Fresh leek leaves produce some moisture, too, which helps the spices (like pepper pods) to open its aroma.

This dish looks absolutely amazing when you put that large bowl on the table: yellowish nuggets, white parsley roots, green herbs, black pepper pods and red cherry tomatoes. A colorful mosaic!

And best of all, the herbs are easy to remove, so even the pickiest kids will love it!

How to make Five Herb Chicken Nuggets

This dish takes 30 minutes to prepare and the ingredients are:

• 1 egg
• salt and pepper
• 2 1/2 cups white breadcrumbs, crushed
• 1 1/4 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into small pieces
• 1/4 cup sunflower oil

Herbs for baking

• dill
• leek (green stems)
• parsley root (sliced)
• thyme (you can use sage or rosemary)
• celery leaves or parsley (chopped)
• garlic (optional)
• 10-15 cherry tomatoes (cut in half)
• black pepper

Recipe
In a bowl, lightly beat the egg. Season with salt and pepper. Place the breadcrumbs in a second bowl.
Heat the oil in a skillet over a medium heat.
Dip the chicken pieces into the egg, then coat them in the breadcrumbs. Add the chicken to the hot skillet and cook, turning just twice, until brown. This should take about 3-4 minutes.
Heat the oven to 400°F.

Baking
Take a large heat-resistant bowl. Put one layer of leek inside. Place one layer of chicken, seasoned with the rest of the herbs, tomatoes, garlic and pepper on top.
Repeat: Leek, chicken, with the herbs and tomatoes, etc. on top.
Usually I have 3-4 layers.
Cover the bowl and bake for around 20 to 25 minutes or until the chicken is tender and the aroma of herbs fills your kitchen.

Enjoy!

Feel free to use your own herbs

Feel free to use any fresh herbs you like: sage or coriander taste great on chicken, too. Rosemary and majoram are stronger, but also very good (don’t go overboard though!). Thyme is very mild and complements chicken well. So whatever you can find in your supermarket is fine!

The main idea is to get an intense aroma from the chicken. So be generous with the herbs and spices: I season a lot with black pepper, sometimes I add dried coriander seeds or dried juniper berries.