Stuffed & Baked Cheesy Chicken Nuggets

Stuffed & Baked Cheesy Chicken Nuggets

Ingredients for Chicken Nuggets

1. Chicken breast   1 lb cut into 2" pieces

2. Mozzarella cheese strings   2 cut into small cubes

3. Non stick baking/cooking oil spray

4. Panko bread crumbs 1 cup

5. Powdered mozzarella cheese 5 tbsp

6. Garlic powder 1/2 tsp

7. Dried parsley & oregano 1/4 tsp 

8. Salt 

9. Pepper

10. Eggs 2 large beaten well

11. All purpose flour 5 tbsp

Ingredients for the Yogurt Dip

1. Yogurt  1/3 cup

2. Salt

3. Pepper

4. Juice of half a lemon

5. Honey Mustard Sauce 3 tbsp 

6. Garlic cloves minced/crushed 4

7. Parsley 3 tsp 

8. Coriander leaves(optional) 11/2 tsp

Method Of Preparation (Method 1)

1. Preheat ur oven to 400 degree Celsius.

2. Place parchment paper on a baking sheet.

3. Spread the panko breadcrumbs in a thin layer on the baking sheet & bake for 3-4 minutes or until lightly toasted. Do not let it burn. Keep an eye on the oven.

4. In the meantime wash the chicken nicely & pat it dry & cut it into 2" pieces. Coat the chicken well with salt & pepper. Make a vertical slit/cut(make a pocket)on one side of the chicken with a knife. The pocket needs to be big enough to insert the cheese cube. The cut should only be on one side so that the cheese remains inside the chicken & doesn't come out through the other side. Do this for all the pieces & keep it aside.

5. Once the crumbs are cooled, transfer it to a shallow bowl & add garlic powder, Parmesan cheese powder, dried parsley & olive oil & mix well. Keep it aside.

6. Place a wire rack on the baking sheet & coat the rack with non stick baking spray or place an aluminum foil on the baking sheet & coat it with non stick spray.

7. Take a big bowl & add flour to it. In another big bowl add well beaten eggs.  Make sure the bowl is big enough & there's enough space, only then u can put all the chicken pieces into it & coat them evenly.

8. If u don't have a big bowl, then divide the chicken pieces & flour & egg mixture into two batches. Put the first batch into the bowl with flour & coat it well in such a way that the flour gets evenly coated on the chicken & shake off all the excess flour from the chicken. There shouldn't be too much flour sticking on the chicken so make sure u shake off the excess flour. It is very important to pat dry the chicken before seasoning it with salt & pepper, if there's water on it, then the flour is going to stick to the chicken & will spoil the taste of the nuggets when baked.

9. Then drop these chicken into the egg mixture & coat them well. Shake off the excess egg drip.

10. Take one by one out of the egg mixture & coat the chicken one by one on the bread crumbs. Press them on the breadcrumbs so that it sticks well to the chicken & forms a nice coating.

11. Repeat the same procedure for the second batch of chicken(only if u have used a small bowl)(see #8)

12. Spray oil on the chicken.

13. Transfer them to the baking rack & bake for 15 minutes or until done(i.e, until they are no longer pink inside & they turn golden brown outside) at 425 degree F

14. When it is about 10 minutes, make sure to turn the sides.

15. Bake for another 5 more minutes or till done.

16. If you missed the 3rd step(i.e, if u did not bake the panko crumbs for 3-4 minutes)(see above), then u may do this step mentioned below.

When its 13 minutes into baking, put the nuggets on the top rack & broil 

for 2 minutes till the crust turns golden brown. Keep an eye on the oven 

when u broil it. U don't want to have burnt nuggets. Skip this if u have missed the 3rd step.

17. Serve with yogurt dip or barbecue sauce or ranch.

Notes: 

1. Alternatively u can add flour in a big ziploc bag & add the chicken into it, close the bag & shake it well so that the flour gets coated on the chicken.

2. If u think that u cannot make a pocket with the knife & insert the cheese cube, then u may mince the chicken & then take a small lemon size chicken mince, wet your palm & flatten it on ur palm, place the cheese cube in the middle of the mixture & close it & shape it into a nugget.

3. The cheese cube should be small enough to fit into the pocket of chicken.

4. The chicken needs to be cut into thick pieces only then u will be able to make pockets & place the chicken in it. It is not possible to insert the cheese if u cut the chicken into thin pieces. So, buy the thick breast fillets & not the thin one.

5. Do not overbake the nuggets as they may turn out to become dry.

6. If you want ur nuggets to be really juicy & moist inside, then u need to marinate these chicken pieces in salted butter milk & hot sauce(optional) for a day or atleast overnight.

7. If u want fried nuggets, then u can deep fry them in a skillet.

If you don't want to coat the chicken with eggs & flour, there are alternative coating methods, I shall post that below. When you try out the first time, u may try all the different methods of coating & from the second time onwards u can do it the way u liked the most.

Method 2: 

Take a bowl & add 1 tbsp olive oil in it. Add the seasoned(salt & pepper) chicken pieces into it & coat them well in oil& then coat & press them on the panko bread crumbs. In this case, u need not mix the breadcrumbs with olive oil. Just mix it with garlic powder, dried parsley & Parmesan cheese powder & then follow the rest of the steps from step #12

Method 3: 

You can mince the chicken & wet ur Palm & place the minced meat on ur Palm & shape them into nuggets & coat these somewhat wet nuggets on the crumbs & press them so that the crumbs get nicely coated on the chicken. Then follow the same from step #12

Method 4: 

U can simply skip the flour & coat the chicken pieces only in egg mixture & then coat them directly with bread crumbs. U can replace eggs with 1/3 cup milk here if u wish to. Then follow the rest of the steps from #12

Method Of Preparation of Dip

Combine together yogurt, lemon, honey mustard sauce, parsley, coriander leaves  & season it with salt & pepper. 

Notes

You can replace yogurt with mayo & sour cream(21/2 tbsp each)