Posh Chicken Nuggets

When I was little we would go to a particular restaurant in France for my birthday and I could order whatever I wanted. Being fussy, this took the form of chicken nuggets, chips and fresh pasta. All handmade by the chef. Now that I’m grown and not so picky, these are still some of my favourite things.

This recipe is for posh chicken nuggets with a lemon and parsley crumb, but if you want to leave them out then that’s not a problem.

Having these in the freezer mean I can get my fast food hangover fix without having to leave the house and I know exactly what’s in them.

Oven at 180˚C

Can be scaled easily but these quantities are for 4 or 5 servings of chicken nuggets

Can be frozen

Time: 2 hours 30 minutes + marinating
Ingredients

3 chicken breasts

2 pots plain yogurt

Salt and pepper

Butter for cooking

FOR THE BREADCRUMBS

Panko or regular breadcrumbs

handful fresh parsley, finely chopped

1 lemon, zest only

20g parmesan, grated

Salt and pepper

Dice the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Coat the chicken in the yogurt and season with salt and pepper before leaving covered in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight. This step is not strictly necessary but will help to stop the chicken from drying out.

Make the breadcrumbs by mixing together the crumbs, parsley, lemon zest, parmesan, and seasoning. I recommend pulsing everything together in a food processor to achieve a fine crumb but be aware this will turn it green —  adding the diced parsley afterwards will avoid this.
Heat the oven to 180˚C.

Remove the pieces of chicken from the yogurt and coat in the breadcrumb mixture  — if you have lots of leftover breadcrumbs then double dip the chicken by coating in another layer of yogurt and then re-rolling in breadcrumbs.

Heat some butter in a frying pan and add the chicken pieces in batches, taking care not to overcrowd the pan. Fry for 2 minutes on each side until golden. Transfer the lightly fried chicken pieces to a baking tray. Repeat the process with the rest of the chicken. It is advisable to clean the pan between each batch to stop the butter from browning too much and turning the chicken a burnt colour.
Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

To freeze, cool the chicken nuggets and then place them spread out on a tray in the freezer for an hour, before transferring them to ziplock bags. Eat within 3 months. To cook from frozen simply bake for 15 minutes, checking they are piping hot throughout.