Baked Chicken Nuggets

Chicken nuggets that are still perfectly golden, full of flavor and deliciously crisp without being fried, say what!? These chicken nuggets are utterly amazing. They are the best chicken nuggets I've ever had, and I couldn't believe they were healthy! I love how healthier things can actually taste better than their less healthy opponent. This recipe is true proof of that. This is another Pinterest find (I did change up a few things), it is one of my new favorite recipes. It's quick, it's incredibly easy and it's a crowd pleaser. Chicken nuggets aren't just for kids, adults and kids alike will immediately fall in love with these baked chicken nuggets after just one bite. Enjoy!

Baked Chicken Nuggets
Yields about 2 - 3 servings


Ingredients:
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2 medium), diced into bite size pieces
1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs, white or wheat (I used white)
1/4 cup Panko bread crumbs
3 Tbsp finely grated Parmesan cheese*
1/2 tsp dried parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Olive Oil Spray


Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray a shallow 13 x 9 baking dish (I used a small cookie sheet) generously with olive oil spray. Pour 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil into a small mixing bowl. In a separate mixing bowl whisk together Italian seasoned bread crumbs, Panko bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, parsley, salt and pepper. Place chicken pieces into olive oil and toss chicken to evenly coat. Drop oil coated chicken, working with about 5 pieces at a time, into bread crumb mixture and coat each side (I kind of pressed the pieces into the bread crumbs to get more to stick). Place all of the coated chicken pieces onto oil coated baking sheet then sprinkle remaining bread crumb mixture over chicken pieces. Spray top of chicken pieces with olive oil spray. Bake in center of preheated oven for 10 minutes, then remove from oven, rotate chicken pieces to opposite side and bake an additional 5 minutes (I moved the oven rack up a few and broiled mine during the last about 1.5 minutes to get a more golden crust, if doing this DO NOT walk away from the oven, keep a very close eye on it). Serve warm with ketchup, barbecue sauce or honey mustard for dipping, if desired. 


*this is one recipe I pulled out the Kraft pre-grated Parmesan cheese in the shaker bottle. Just be sure to break up any clumps before whisking it in. They add an ingredient to keep the cheese from caking but mine always ends up caking together into little clumps anyway. You could use freshly grated Parmesan as well. Update 6/7/12: someone mentioned in a comment below that the freshly grated Parmesan was better than the pre-grated Parmesan, I trust that opinion because fresh is always better but if you're in a rush the pre-grated powdered stuff works okay too.


Recipe Source: adapted from skinnytaste.com