Mexican Chicken Bites

What child doesn’t love a chicken nugget? These nuggets are deliciously golden and crunchy on the outside and soft and juicy on the inside with a mouth watering smoky flavour. Just try stopping at one! The best thing about this recipe is that you actually have two meals in one. Serve these chicken bites for a family dinner with salad, veg and some home made oven fries, or make taco boats with sides of gaucamole and sour cream and bbq’d corn. 

You can either send the chicken bites as they are to school, or make them into a wrap.

Ingredients:

Tex-Mex Spice mix:

2 tsp smoky paprika

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper (these chicken bites are very mild but your child is absolutely spice averse leave this out)

1/4 tsp dried oregano

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl.

Chicken Bites

500g chicken mince

1 egg

salt for seasoning

1  and 1/2 cups of Panko bread crumbs

Olive oil

For rolling:

plain flour

3 beaten eggs

Directions:

Line an oven tray with baking paper. Heat oven to 200 ℃. 

Mix the Tex-Mex spice mix with 1 & 1/2  cups of Panko bread crumbs. Generously coat a frying pan with olive oil (around 2 Tbs) and set over medium heat. Add the panko spice mix and gently heat until starting to turn golden brown (just a few minutes) stirring continuously. Set aside to cool.

Add chicken mince and egg to a bowl and season well with salt. Using your hands mix the egg through the chicken mince and shape into small nugget sized pieces. The mixture will feel quite wet. Place on a tray lined with baking paper or plate and refrigerate for 10 mins (this makes them easier to work with for the next step).

Remove nuggets from fridge and roll in plain flour then dip into the beaten egg mixture and coat with the Panko spice mix. 

Place on an oven tray and cook at 200℃ for 10mins. Turn and cook for a further 10 mins or until golden and crunchy on the outside and cooked through.

Makes 18 pieces

To Serve:

Chipotle Mayonnaise - add 1 Tbs of chipotle sauce to 1/2 cup of mayonnaise

wraps and salad of choice.