Baked Chicken Nuggets with Sweet and Sour Sauce

Fried chicken may not be on the menu too often if you like to keep an eye on your calories, but you can get a pretty close substitute with this flavorful baked version.  Served with an easy homemade sweet 'n sour sauce that'll knock your socks off, even the pickiest eaters will have trouble resisting.

I made this dish using things that I already had available in my pantry.  I had a need for a can of drained crushed pineapple for another recipe, so I saved the juice and used it in the sauce.  The bread crumbs were created from some leftover croutons from the salads we ate last week.  I was especially pleased with the tangy flavor of the sauce - it definitely kicked things up a notch from dipping the nuggets into ketchup or bottled BBQ sauce.  Nothing wrong with that of course, you can use whatever sauce you'd like!

Baked Chicken Nuggets with Sweet and Sour Sauce

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• Total Time: 30 mins
• Yield: 4 1x

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Ingredients

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• FOR CHICKEN:
• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into chunks
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons skim milk
• ¾ cup bread crumbs*
• 2 tablespoons grated parmesan
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• Pinch of cayenne
• Freshly ground black pepper and sea salt to taste
• Cooking spray
• FOR SAUCE:
• 1 cup pineapple juice
• ⅓ cup water
• 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• ½ cup demerara sugar (regular brown sugar is fine)
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch

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Instructions

1. FOR CHICKEN:
2. Preheat oven to 400F. Coat a cookie sheet with cooking spray.
3. In a bowl, whisk together milk and egg
4. In another bowl, stir together bread crumbs, parmesan, thyme, cayenne, salt, and pepper
5. One by one, coat chicken pieces first in the egg mixture, and then in the bread crumb mixture.
6. Place pieces on cookie sheet and lightly spritz the chicken with cooking spray.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until crispy and baked through.
8. FOR SAUCE:
9. Mix together all ingredients in a sauce pan.
10. Cook on medium heat, whisking constantly to prevent lumps, until hot and thick

Notes

There are several ways you can get bread crumbs. 1. Use store bought.
2. Bake leftover sliced bread in the oven until dry, then place in a ziploc bag and crush.
3. Use leftover salad croutons - crush in ziploc bag.

• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 4oz chicken with ¼ of sauce recipe
• Calories: 250

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