A chicken nugget is a chicken product made from either meat slurry or chicken breasts cut to shape, breaded or battered, then deep-fried or baked. Fast food restaurants typically fry their nuggets in vegetable oil, such as coconut oil.
The chicken nugget was invented in the 1950s by Robert C. Baker, a food science professor at Cornell University, and published as unpatented academic work. Dr. Baker's innovations made it possible to form chicken nuggets in any shape. McDonald's recipe for Chicken McNuggets was created on commission from McDonald's by Tyson Foods in 1979 and the product was sold beginning in 1980.
Some fast food restaurants have launched vegetarian alternatives. McDonald's served Garden McNuggets made of beans, Irish fast food chain R. Haecker's offers a veggie nugget meal made with beans and cabbage, and Swedish fast food restaurant Max Hamburgare offers a dish containing nuggets made of falafel.
Famous quotes containing the word chicken:
“Clogged and soft and sloppy eyes
Have lost the light that bites or terrifies.
There are no swans and swallows any more.
The people settled for chicken and shut the door.”
—Gwendolyn Brooks (b. 1917)