Homemade Dino Nuggets
Welp, it's 8PM on Halloween. I've had my hair set in pin curls all day so that I can pull off some kind of 1940s housewifey look for a party I'm going to, but I just realized that I URGENTLY need to be Janet Jackson in the "Miss You Much" video, aka I need to learn that choreo *immediately* and do it all over New York City tonight.
Unfortunately, I'm a fool who instead spent her time today making dino nuggets. I had some chicken breast in the fridge that I needed to use up. Perhaps it was all of the Halloween memories stimulated by cute kids in my building asking me for candy, but I decided to make dino-shaped chicken nuggets for lunch. Shockingly, I found a dino cookie cutter at the closest store to my house and thar she blows.
These are super fun to make as long as you're not skeeved out by pulverized chicken paste; I kind of loved it. Ok, enough of this. I have some dance moves to learn. Happy Halloween!!
Homemade Dino Nuggets
- 3 chicken breasts
- 1 cup water
- 1/4 cup oats
- 1/2 tsp granulated garlic
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
- 1 egg
- 3/4 cup bread crumbs
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
Cooking Directions
- Preheat oven to 425.
- Cut chicken breasts into 1-inch pieces. Place in a small saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 5-7 minutes, until chicken is just cooked. Turn off heat.
- In a blender or food processor, add oatmeal and pulse until oats are a coarse meal. To the oats, add in chicken, garlic, salt, pepper, paprika, cheese and one egg. Blend/pulse until chicken mixture becomes a paste and any large chicken chunks are broken up.
- Pack a handful of the chicken mixture into your dinosaur-shaped cookie cutter and then pop it out. Toss in breadcrumbs and then place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining chicken.
- At this point, you may wish to freeze some of the nuggets. Place in airtight container with wax paper in between nuggets to keep them from sticking to each other. Freeze for up to 3 months.
- If cooking immediately, brush each nugget with olive oil and then bake for 7 minutes. Remove from oven, flip nuggets, brush other side with olive oil and bake another 5 to 7 minutes, until breadcrumbs have begun to brown.
- Serve warm with honey mustard and ketchup!
