Baked Chicken Nuggets

Summer vacations are on! And I have a super-active growing child at home who needs to be kept busy. And who needs his favorite food which he likes to munch on! So before the vacations started I stocked up cheese sticks, nuts and some kid-friendly recipes! He loves most of his veggies and fruits except that I have to run after him if I want him to eat a banana. Usually when he has school, he is very hungry after coming home and eats his banana without any protest. But now that the vacations are on it is a different story altogether. So now I will be baking a lot of Whole-wheat Banana Muffins and looking for more kid-friendly recipes using banana for sure!

Today I made some Baked Chicken Nuggets. I will either serve these  for lunch (along with rice/pasta and veggies) or as a snack (along with some fruits). This was a pretty quick recipe and took me about 35 to 40 minutes from start to finish! So you can make these fresh each time or make ahead and freeze these in Ziploc Freezer bags for upto a week. 

Ingredients:

• Chicken Breast - 3
• Bread Crumbs - 6 tbsp (I used Italian Seasoned Bread Crumbs, if you are using plain, season it with some salt, pepper and paprika)
• Panko Crumbs - 2 tbsp
• Parmesan Cheese - 3 tbsp, shredded
• Butter - 2 tbsp, melted
• Oil - 3 tbsp
• Pepper - 1/2 tsp freshly crushed
• Salt to taste

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Cut the chicken breast into 1 1/2 inch pieces. Season with salt and pepper and set aside. 

Lightly spray or brush some oil on a cookie sheet.

Melt 2 tbsp of butter in a bowl. Pour in the 3 tbsp of oil and give it a quick whisk.

In another bowl, mix together the bread crumbs, panko crumbs and Parmesan cheese. 

Dunk the chicken pieces in the melted butter+oil mix and and shake off the excess. Then give these a quick dredge it in the bread crumbs mix. 

Place on the cookie sheet. Once again lightly brush or spray the top with oil or oil-butter mix.

Bake for about 10 minutes, turn and bake for another 5 minutes or so till they are cooked through. 

Serve with your favorite condiment.