Consumer Reports subjected its team of trained taste-testers to more than a dozen varieties of chicken nuggets, including both supermarket brands and those from McDonald’s. The winner among the frozen nuggets: Target’s Market Pantry. Soy nuggets from Boca and Morningstar were judged to have “very little chicken flavor.”
Other winners included Bell & Evans, and Costo’s Kirkland brand. None of those stood out as leaders in nutrition:
All three scored Good for nutrition, about the best you can expect. Only Health Is Wealth scored Very Good: It’s lower in fat and sodium than the rest but isn’t very tasty. Nutrition scores are for the 3- to 4-ounce serving suggested by most manufacturers. Double the size and most tested nuggets would score Fair or Poor.
The two soy-based products, Boca and MorningStar Farms, didn’t fool our panelists, who said they have very little chicken flavor. Their main nutritional advantage is that they have more fiber—3 or 4 grams compared with zero to 2 for most others.
The McD nuggets won over CR’s junior tasters — 31 kids from 6-17 — though they also liked Target and Bell & Evans. The kids weren’t asked to try the soy versions, which we can only assume is a good thing.
Chicken Nuggets [Consumer Reports]
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Did Chelsea Handler have anything to do with this nugget tasting?
Seems like a cheap publicity stunt.
I read the funeral home article right before I read this….I don’t think I can eat a chicken nugget now….Maybe never.
Has anyone ever found where the chicken ‘nuggets’ are? Granted I’ll eat anything that has clucked, moo’d or otherwise made into an edible food product, but then again, the mystery remains of where the nuggets of a chicken are.
/rocky mountain oysters gag reflex
It’s usually chicken breast cut into shapes.
You wish they were.
They are actually made out of meat extracted during the meat recovery process from leftover carcasses, connective tissues, meat scraps; Plus a lot of stabilizers, fillers and other garbage.
Not if you buy the good ones.
You’re debating “chicken nuggets” vs. “chicken strips” or “chicken tenders.” Nuggets are very different. And nasty.
I’m reading “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” right now. I think chicken nuggets are corn fed, overweight chickens that have never seen the outdoors, coated in some sort of corn based batter-like substance, fried in processed corn oil, served with a side of sauce that’s made with high fructose corn syrup.
In other words, they’re processed corn.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-20ZAx9low
I think you have to thank Robert C. Baker for most of the chicken nuggets out on the market.
(lyrics here: http://www.paulandstorm.com/lyrics/nugget-man/ )
Parts is parts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTzLVIc-O5E
After the breast and thigh meat is removed from the chicken, the carcasses are ground into liquid emulsion then strained to remove the bone fragments. Then they dump a shitload of stabilizers into the emulsion and form them into nuggets. So, basically a chicken hot dog that is in a different shape.
“Consumer Reports subjected its team of trained taste-testers to more than a dozen varieties of chicken nuggets, including both supermarket brands and those from McDonald’s.” -Three questions:
1. How does one become a “trained” taste tester?
2. What dotted line do I sign on?
3. Is my soul sufficient collateral?
I love the Morningstar Farms soy nuggets! I think they do taste like chicken nuggets, only healthier and cruelty-free.
I used to use the Morningstar products a lot when I was still vegetarian. I agree, not a bad fake chicken, and very convenient if your’re a vege living in a family of carnivores.
I like them, too, and I’m not actually a vegetarian. We used to get them when my (vegetarian) sister and I still lived at home, and wanted something both of us would eat. They’re good.
I like that they are in the shape of something everyone else eats and I can put whatever sauce I want with them, I don’t like substitute meat products that taste too much like meat because I don’t like the taste of meat to beg in with
We like them too, especially slathered in BBQ sauce.
cruelty-free to chickens, yes. But not plants.
I think the Quorn and Delight Soy nuggets are better, but Morningstar’s aren’t bad. The ‘buffalo wings’ are quite tasty.
So I guess the “tastes like chicken” moniker doesn’t apply to the soy pods.
All chicken nuggets are fail.
Jamie Oliver has shown you a better way.
You said it!
i will never eat chicken mcnuggets ever again for the rest of my life
A pity one of the non-meat products wasn’t Quorn. That stuff is so meat-like, it’s scary.
Also, delicious. Relatively.
CR has been on an anti-Quorn jihad for years. Quorn is good!
Our cats go absolutely frantic for Quorn whenever I cook with it. The little one is also mad for Tofurky, too, though he also never met a can of tuna he didn’t like.
We recently bought Target’s Nuggets & Buffalo Style chicken strips – compared to Tyson they have significantly less colesterol & less fat – & taste better,
I didn’t realize Costco had their own Kirkland Signature branded chicken nuggets. I usually get the Foster Farm chicken nuggets at Costco and and they’re awesome after 3 minutes in my deep fryer.
Ah, after reading the full article, the Kirkland Signature nuggets were really the Disney/Mickey nuggets. It’s a pity they didn’t test out Foster Farm.
It’ll also be interesting to know how they cooked the chicken nuggets. Using a deep fryer makes it taste a lot better than the usual baking instructions.
Love Target nuggets. Just picked up a big bag of dinosaur ones that were $1 off. Only way to go since Wegmans stopped carrying store-brand nuggets.
is it sad that I’m a 20 year old female, and I much prefer the chicken nuggets that are in shapes, like dinosaurs, or smiley faces? I refuse to grow up!
I have a huge soft spot for the Purdue nuggets in fun shapes. I even like the ones with the weird processed orange cheese inside (yes, I’m an adult. sigh.)
Target chicken strips are also excellent. They taste exactly like restaurant food. I wouldn’t recommend eating them daily because they’re definitely pretty unhealthy, but now and then when you don’t want to spend the $$ to go out, they’re nice to have in the freezer.
Useless article? Almost every time I have seen articles like these, they include a full list of everything in the test. They also don’t exclude certain groups from the tests for no good reason.
Morningstar? Well, that’s what you get for buying fake chicken nuggets from a stock research firm. Sheesh.
I like Target’s chicken strips, but I accidently picked up a bag of nuggets instead the last time I went shopping and was unimpressed. They are overly salty, and this is coming from someone who puts salt on his salt.
I actually prefer the soy nuggets over real nuggets. The vegetarian ones usually have much lower sodium than the real ones.
I must say that the photo for this story is just full of WIN.
Ziyad Halal Nuggets. I have no idea where they stand health wise but, damn, they blow Tyson out of the water flavor-wise.