Need Chicken Nugget Recommendations

Try Trader Joe's chicken nuggets and cod fingers. I read a review that said they were some of the healthiest and tastiest convenience foods for kids. My kids agree!

My children really preferred mushy food at that age. It might not be the chicken but the fact that they have to chew so much. My kids, now 15 and 17 are great eaters now, although it took perserverence to keep them off processed foods, food dye and too much sugar.
Good Luck

Try nuggets without the breadding or melted cheese. I talked to my child's pediatrician and they indicated that cheese is considered protein as well. Mac and cheese? is another suggestion.

I make homemade chicken nuggets and my son and other kids like this recipe...

3-4 skinless breasts- sliced
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup Italian bread crumbs
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 cup melted butter or margarine (I use butter)

Preheat oven to 400. Combine all dry ingredients. Toss sliced chicken into butter and then into crumb mixture. Bake 20 min if freezing. If eating them right away, cook 20-30 min until done. If I am freezing them- I try to slice them thick so they won't be dry when I put them in the oven. I don't defrost them- just pop them into the oven for 20-30 min.

I make these every couple months and pu them in the freezer. I get a big pack of chicken breasts and make a bunch to freeze. So easy and you know what your child is eating. I personally like butter but you can use margarine.

good luck

K.

Don't worry about him not wanting to eat chicken nuggets, he obviously has good taste. I don't think chicken nuggets are too good for children. He seems to like chicken so give him real chicken. Give him unprocessed food and see how he likes it. He will start to eat a more varied diet as he gets older.
My grandson would only eat chicken and then every meat was chicken to him. If he is of normal weight and health don't worry about him. Although at nine my Grandson will still only eat peas and green beans. However at school he eats many things he won't eat at home. (He is at school in France so gets a healthier diet.)

Tyson breaded chicken nuggets are great! That's all my kids will eat. I have founf they like the Fun Nuggets shapes best as well as the Dinosaur shapes.

My soon to be two son is the same way. He is not a big meat eater and I am a vegetarian so I dont push meat on him. Yet when we go out to eat he eats it. I dont think its the food you give him at home. Just try to make sure he gets his protein from another source. I am a vegetarian but my kids and their dad arent but they try my food. They love my quorn chik'n nuggets. Its in the freezer aisle in either grocery stores or natural stores. Quorn products dont have soy in it just incase he has a soy allergy. They taste like the real thing. you can also buy uncooked chicken breast already cut in slices or you can cut yourself, buy some breading and try making your own.

Hi J.,

I have a 16 month old with the same problem. She is incredibly picky and it is very frustrating. I found that the chicken nuggets she likes are the Perdue chicken nuggets you get at the grocery store. Also, she likes the chicken nuggets from Wendys. The chicken nuggets from Perdue (if you live in Maryland) are located with the refrigerated chicken and you just put two chicken nuggets in the microwave for 20 seconds. She has been able to eat at the most three. But most of the time she only eats two. I also found she enjoys rice, any kind of rice, so I get the 1 minute brown rice cups and heat one up for a minute and then the chicken nuggets for 20 seconds. And I feel satisfied that she has eaten a healthy meal. My problem then is getting her to eat other things. The other day she ate mash potatoes... before she didn't like mash potatoes, so we are making progress. My Pediatrician says it takes a while for them to get a taste of food, so to not get discourage and keep trying it. I also read that when you give your toddler something new to eat and they try it, to make a big deal of it... we start aplauding and smiling, I also try it with her and make yummy noises, this seems to work at times. You may want to try this as well.

Good luck, you are doing great!!

I'd recommend the book called "Super Baby Food" by Ruth Beth Yaron. Excellent ideas for toddlers... and reassurance about picky eaters! Best of luck to you.

Dr. Sears has a good book on nutrition for kids and there are helpful sections in his book, "The Baby Book." I put bits of turkey or chicken or ham (try to find nitrate free or cook it yourself) into the grilled cheese or a quesadilla (same as grilled cheese but you use a tortilla and can serve it in wedges or slices of rolled up tortilla. For babies and toddlers, I added pureed veggies too.

Serving sizes for toddlers are very small. Good luck!

My daughter (now 2.5) has always liked the Purdue Dino Nuggets. I buy the HUGE bag at Costco. You may also think about trying ketchup. My daughter will eat just about anything if she can dip it in ketchup.

All of the Target brand (Market Pantry) chicken nuggets and strips are soooo good, my kids love them. They taste like restaurant quality. Good luck!

Hi J.~
The only meat my picky eater will willingly eat is Perdue chicken nuggets. They are refrigerated and take 10 minutes in a 425 degree oven. He won't even eat fast food chicken, but he loves the fries, of course! ;) This has been going on for 2 years... he's 4. He also loves yogurt, which is another good source of protein. Have you tried green beans or something like that? There is lots of protein in dark green veggies. That's where vegitarians get it, mostly, I think.
Bottom line is, I wouldn't worry about it. I actually had my pediatrician do a blood test to see if he's getting the nutrition he needs and she said he's doing fine. As long as what he eats is good for him, he can eat the same thing every day. I also give him Ritz Bits peanut butter crackers... he loves them, but won't eat a PB & J! or even a plain peanut butter sandwich. Ritz Bits are the same nutrition as a pb sandwich! Works for us... and he gets a little extra protein.
Good luck. I'm also hoping his taste expands, but I'm not worried about it anymore.

Hello J.! I have 3 young kids and know all too well what your going through... I have a great receipt for chicken nuggets that is really easy to make and all my kids love it! I take boneless skinless chicken breast and either cut them into stripes to make chicken fingers or i cut them into pieces to make nuggets, whatever you desire... fill a ziplock freezer bag with some tortilla chips (whatever brand you like...) and use a wooden spoon to smash them into really fine pieces. dip chicken in egg and than roll through ground tortilla chips, lay on a cookie sheet and bake in oven until golden brown... i usually drizzle a little olive oil on the cookie sheet first... and there you have 'healthy' chicken nuggets!! my kids love this with potato wedges that i bake in the oven along with the chicken nuggets! add a little salt and pepper and dip in some catchup... enjoy!! hope that helps a little...

nickie

My kids love Tysons Chicken nuggets and/or strips. It is real chicken (white) meat. They have a great flavor. My little ones have been picky as well. In fact, my 4 year old just expanded her meat eating. Good Luck!

My kids seem to enjoy the tyson nuggets over the Banquet (too spicy) they also come in dinosaur shapes so we play a game of guess the dino part before each bite. (I always guess bottom which they find hysterically funny) When my guy was little, he liked peanut butter on toast as a protein substitute. Have you tried fish sticks?

Chicken nuggets and chicken tenders are two different products. Tenders are much healthier and are not as processed as the nuggets. Perdue has a great product you can get in the refrigerated section. Also Morningstar has veggie nuggets which are great and will also give him some veggie protein. Good Luck!

My DD is still accepting whole foods at 11 months, but I know I may have to cross that bridge in the future, ;) so my advice would be to find:

Whichever brand you end up getting try and get:

--free-range organic (i.e. no antibiotics or growth hormones
--trans fat free (zero grams trans fat can mean that there is less than .5 grams of transfat PER SERVING, so you can still get transfats in these items. Make sure the ingredients list doesn't contain a "partially hydrogenated oil" of any kind and that will mean it's trans fat free
--Make sure the ingredients list doesn't contain high fructose corn syrup

You may also want to try taking your own chicken and sauteeing them in quite a bit of olive oil--maybe the chicken you prepare at home is dry? Also--children grow up quite well as vegetarians--don't panic about her getting chicken if she's getting other protein.

good luck!

The only nuggets my kids will eat are dinonuggets. I think they are Purdue but I'm not sure. They sell huge bags of them at Costco but I know you can get them elsewhere.

My kids love Tysons chicken nuggets. To me they seem less spicy than some others, plus no fillers and 0g trans fat.
Good luck!

It could also be how you're cooking them. My nephew is picky and won't eat chicken nuggets if they are from BK or Micky D's. However, when he comes to my house he'll devour what ever amount I give him. His Dad, Grandpa and I all use Tysons. The difference? They bake the nuggets in the oven. I zap them in the microwave. You could also try the fun shapes, and don't forget the different dipping sauces!
M.

Hi J.. Obviously none of us know what the reason is behind the boycott... ; - }

However - while you're trying it out, and he hasn't decided on one type - I did find Tyson (I believe, or else Perdue) has a 100% natural, 20% + less breading...at Costco. It's far less expensive and the all natural, less junk is a great plus. Also, my kids love the Perdue "fresh" dinosaur nuggets sold in the fridge case, near hot dogs and deli meats. They also do a whole grain version - - maybe he'll go for those!

Tysons chicken nuggets or tenders are excellent! My daughter loves them and always has!

Empire Kosher chicken nuggets. If you don't live in an area with a lot of Jewish people, then you can usualy get it at Costco in the isle where they have other frozen chicken nuggets. It comes in big bags and I put it in the freezer. If you can't find these, then I have also had (and so has my toddler) Ian's organic nuggets (in the organic freezer in my grocery store) but they are not quite as yummy. But you can always dip them in a bit of organic ketchup for him (it's minues the high fructose corn syrup and other bad stuff) and that should work with anything he doesn't like (veggies and such). Good luck

Like many of the other moms, when I don't have time to make chicken from scratch, I prefer the Tyson products. The crispy chicken strips are made from "real" chicken breasts and far surpass most other "nugget" products--including those made by Tyson themselves.

Have ever tried grilled chicken strips rather than the fried products? You might be surprised at his reaction. My daughters also loved fish at his age. As long as he is getting some protein, I wouldn't worry that he isn't eating much meat. He might be healthier in the long run!

If there is a Trader Joe's near you, they have good chicken nuggets (I think they are called Chicken Drummettes) in the frozen section. Before finding those, I would buy the ones from Health is Wealth, which Giant carries. Good luck!

My daughter will eat chicken tenders or grilled chicken breast, but won't touch chicken nuggets.

At home, she just eats chicken breast cooked in the pan or grilled outside.

Your son may just prefer the more tender, more juicy meat over the over-processed nuggets.

My son likes Morningstar Farms Chik 'n nuggets. They are veggie nuggets and have soy protein. I pop 2 in the microwave for 45 sec. and serve them w/ a fruit. Easy dinner!

Seriously, I'd have to say that it is NOT the chicken itself, but the situation, the restaurant environment. Really. One of my daughters is totally like that, as well. A word of encouragement- it took her a good two years, but I would not even call her picky now at this point. Hang in there, keep offering the foods, it does-eventually- pay off.

Also an idea - she would actually end up eating more when less was offered (she specifically had a chicken nugget issue, too). For example, if I gave her four nuggets, she'd have about two bites... if I gave her two nuggets she would sometimes have a whole nugget! gee! imagine THAT! hahaha.