Taste Test: Frozen Chicken Nuggets

Chicken nuggets in almost any form beyond homemade are a much-demonized convenience food. It’s difficult to call which presentation of convenience is more polarizing: the drive-thru chicken nuggets or the box of store-bought, frozen chicken nuggets. Truthfully, I once held the same distain for both and swore up and down that my future kids would never eat mass-produced nuggets. Ah, how little we know about parenting before we are parents.

Life with two kids and two working parents has given me a heavy dose of reality. Now, I realize that frozen nuggets can equate to an easy meal that all of my family will enjoy. We aren’t eating them every night (or even every week), but I wanted to be sure that when we did, the frozen nuggets were ones I could comfortably feed my family when I need to pull off a miracle meal.

Chicken nuggets are adored for their balance of tender, meaty texture to crisp, crunchy exterior with a pleasantly greasy and salty satisfaction. You’d be hard-pressed to find a 5-year-old who would turn down a single nugget we tasted. But I was looking for nuggets that hit a sweet spot of quality (meaning a short ingredient list), cost, and ease of preparation. We judged these qualities on a scale of 10.

I did some field research by asking other parents, friends, and colleagues for their preferred brands and landed on six brands that were nationally available. We baked a dozen of each brand following their package instructions. Here’s what we learned.

While my family doesn’t eat a gluten-free diet, these nuggets were suggested by no less than three gluten-free families. The bright-yellow hue of these nuggets was a negative for me, but delighted the kids. (Ian’s uses cornflake flour coating that is flavored with garlic and onion powder.) These chicken nuggets are also egg-free. The coating was flavorful and nicely crispy after just 15 short minutes in a 400°F oven, but the interior texture was quite spongy.

Overall rating: 7/10

This was the first nugget we tested despite zero recommendations. We’ve enjoyed other Applegate products, including their hot dogs and pepperoni, so this seemed like a no-brainer. The nuggets were the smallest of any brand that we tasted. The coating was flavorful, but failed to get really crispy even in a 425°F oven. The chicken was spongy and somewhat grainy.

Overall rating: 6/10

Price $3.79 for 16 ounces (about 36 nuggets)

With kids, you automatically win bonus points for having a “fun” shape. However these were the most disappointing of the brands tested. Overall the Trader Joe’s Drummellas were dry without a distinct flavor. Ella (my 5-year-old) said, “I would eat these, if only I had to.” Ouch.

Overall rating: 2/10

These nuggets looked like more appealing than they tasted. The shape, size, and color looked promising. Chock it up to marketing, but I expected this to have a more “chicken-like” texture based on the label. They smell amazing, but both the exterior and interior had texture issues you could only call slimy.

Overall rating: 2/10

Aw, the chicken nugget of my youth. While my mom didn’t keep chicken nuggets at the house, I very fondly remember eating these at sleepovers and playdates growing up. And in that vein, these nuggets taste exactly as you’d expect nuggets to taste — the perfect gestalt of savory, meaty nugget flavor. If it weren’t for the slightly high sodium content, I’d keep these on hand for the nostalgia-inducing pleasure alone.

Overall rating: 7/10

These were the overall winner of our chicken nugget taste test. Although they take twice as long to bake — 20 to 25 minutes to all the other brands’ 12 to 14 minutes — they tasted closest to a homemade nugget. Bell and Evan’s may have an unfair advantage, though, as these nuggets are actually pieces of chicken breast flash-frozen before being breaded and flash-fried to set the coating. These were also pretty expensive when you do the per-nugget math, but the breading was tender and full of flavor and the chicken was juicy with a discernible chicken texture.

Overall rating: 8/10

Do you have a favorite frozen chicken nugget that we should try? Tell us about it in the comments below!