Chicken Nuggets w/ Fresh Jalapeño

Ingredients: organic free-range chicken, day-old Tuscan Italian sliced bread, dried basil, dried oregano, fresh garlic cloves, kosher salt, black pepper, jalapeño

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Absolutely no ground-up chicken byproduct to be found in these nuggets! I believe the key here is my fresh breadcrumb mixture; trust me, once you make your own breadcrumbs, you'll never buy the Progresso canned ones again. All you need is a food processor and it's soo simple. 

I just tore pieces of my sliced bread and put it directly into the food processor with a dash of the dried herbs and a roughly chopped garlic clove. I put in a good pinch of salt and just gave it a whirl. I ground it up very finely - keep in mind fresh breadcrumbs have considerably more moisture in them (which is why you shouldn't use fresh bread). They are lighter and flakier, almost like panko breadcrumbs. 

I sliced up some boneless chicken thighs but you of course could use chicken breasts for this as well. I seasoned the chicken bits with salt and pepper and buried them directly into the breadcrumbs - no milk, no eggs, nothing. 

Lay them gently in very hot canola oil and let them brown before flipping over the pieces - make sure you don't stir them around in the oil; let them sit there and fry away. Oh, and another handy tip for some added flavor, throw in about 2 fresh garlic cloves in the oil first before frying the chicken; remove them before adding the chicken. 

In order to prevent any dry nuggets, remove them from the oil about 1 1/2 mins after flipping. Make sure you also cut your chicken in similar size pieces or slices, that way you can ensure a more even cooking process.

I served them with a fresh piece of jalapeño pepper and dipped them in some dijon mustard I had handy. Soooo much better than the mystery meat nuggets they have at fast food joints and your kids will love these (and they'll have fun with the breadcrumb part, too - just make sure they stay away from the oil!).