Cooking with children
Chicken nuggets with home-made potato wedges
- No unnecessary additives
- Adaptable for any age of helper
- Uses up crusty bread preventing food waste
- Can be prepared earlier in the day
This quick family tea is a firm favourite and the Chicken nuggets with home-made potato wedges recipe can be adapted to make with any age of family helper earlier in the day. By making it yourself, you know there are no unnecessary additives and you can opt for organic and free-range chicken and eggs.
Using up the last few slices of bread that are a bit too crusty for packed lunches is a great way to prevent food waste — see our article on Being Food Savvy for more hints and tips. If you have a small blender, just rip the slices up and blitz. Keep them in a box in the freezer for recipes like chicken burgers, meatballs and nuggets, just tip out the amount you need onto a fresh plate and put the box back for another day.
Serve with peas to get round the ‘brown food’ problem. Frozen peas are brilliant sources of vitamin C, folate and B1. Don’t be snobby about them! Peas are picked and frozen within hours, which locks in the nutrients. Don’t boil them though — the vitamin C will dissolve out into the water, just steam the amount you need. See our super quick recipes for mushy peas and home-made baked beans.
Method
-
1
Adults
Wash hands, put an apron on and get your workspace ready.
It’s really important you model this so it becomes second nature — there are some great linen aprons here. This recipe can be done at the kitchen table if it’s a better height. If planning to cook just before the meal, put the oven on to 180°c.
Sort out the ingredients first before inviting family helpers to join.
Montessori recommends making the activity as inviting as possible by weighing things out in advance for very young helpers and having them in small bowls or on separate plates. Using a step stool with a back to it will give you confidence your helper can join in safely.
-
2
Adults
Line two trays with foil and add a little oil.
You can get your child helper to spread this out with a pastry brush later.
-
3
Adults
Cut up the chicken into bite-size chunks
Always use ONE special board for doing this, to prevent bacteria spreading. In catering this is a red board and lots of shops sell them, but it could be any, as long as your family know which one to use for raw meat only. To save time, buy chicken tenders or chicken pieces so you don’t need to worry about this stage. Store the chicken at the bottom of the fridge until you’re ready to use it.
-
4
Adults
Lay out the tray, two plates and a small bowl
Flour → egg → breadcrumbs → tray. Set them up in a line so the production line flows in one direction.
-
5
Adults & Helpers
Collect your helpers!
Wash hands, aprons on.
-
6
Just Helpers
Crack the eggs into the small bowl
Helpers 3 yrs+ can whisk with a fork, although at first this is hard and will be more like stirring, but it’s good to get them involved.
-
7
Just Helpers
Shake the flour onto the first plate and the breadcrumbs onto the other.
With very little ones, you might do this all first. Add spices if using to the flour, the egg or the breadcrumbs (or all three!).
-
8
Adults & Helpers
Fetch your chicken from the fridge. Have the lined trays close at hand and get dipping!
Helpers become part of the production line: flour → egg → breadcrumbs → onto the tray
You will get really messy! When you have finished, scrape all the bits into the bin and wash hands thoroughly together. Wipe down work surfaces.
-
9
Adults
If cooking straight away, drizzle a little oil over the nuggets
This helps them crisp up; place them in the oven for 20 minutes. They should be 75°c in the middle when cooked — it really is worth investing in a temperature probe so you don’t need to guess (see our equipment guide for details). If you don’t have one, cut one through the middle: it should be white all the way through with no pink juice coming out. If they were quite big, you might need to put them back in for a while.
If you’re preparing them for later in the day, simply cover with foil that can be recycled (try to avoid cling film whenever possible) and put them in the bottom of the fridge until you’re ready to cook. The nuggets will take a little longer when cooked from the fridge — allow an extra five minutes.
To serve
Serve with garden peas, mushy peas, homemade ketchup or baked beans — recipes in our family favourites section.
You know how hungry your family are — depending on age, activity and time of day they may eat more or less. Government guidelines can be confusing because most portion guides talk about ‘cooked weight’ when you really need to know how much to start with! As a starting point, the average supermarket chicken fillet weighs about 150g raw — the middle of the suggested adult portion.
