Ingham’s Airmazing Chicken Nuggets | Chewsday Review

Nuggets and other crumbed foods can be a popular meat option for fussy eaters, so I get lots of requests to review different brands. This week I’m taking a look at Ingham’s Airmazing Chicken Nuggets. Let’s see if these are actually amazing, or just a gimmick for the air-fryer fans.

Ingredients

Chicken (51%), Wheat Flour, Water, Starch (Maize, Tapioca), Vegetable Oils, Sugar, Soy Protein, Salt, Wheat Gluten, Vegetable Powders (Onion, Garlic), Yeast & Yeast Extract, Maltodextrin, Natural Flavours, Mineral Salts (451, 508), Thickeners (407a, 415), Hydrolysed Vegetable Protein, Food Acids (296, 270, 330), Natural Colours (100, 160c), Herb Extracts, Spice Extract.
Half of this product is made up of chicken, which is quite typical for chicken nuggets.
Don’t be alarmed by the numbers. These are safe and necessary to help preserve the texture and taste of the product.
Allergens: Wheat, gluten and soy.

Positives

Like most frozen, crumbed foods these are convenient. They only take 12 minutes in the air-fryer (or 18 minutes in a conventional oven) so are a quick option for when you need something on the table ASAP.
Surprisingly these have 2.3g of fibre per serve (4 nuggets). This is more than most chicken nuggets which are usually about 1g per serve.
These only have 2.1g of sugar per 100g, which is to be expected for a savoury product and compares well to most chicken nuggets which have between 1 to 4g of sugar per 100g.
Total fat and saturated fat are both within recommendations and similar to Steggles Chicken Dino Snacks.

Negatives

Sodium (salt) content is 415mg per 100g, and this means 4 nuggets makes up about 50% of a toddler’s recommended daily salt intake. Slightly lower salt options include Coles and Woolies home-brand nuggets and Steggles Tempura Chicken Dino Snacks.
These are $16.25 per kg, so are more expensive than most chicken nuggets. Ingham’s original Chicken Breast Nuggets are $12.50 per kg, Steggles Chicken Dino Snacks are $13.00 per kg, and Woolies home-brand are only $6.60 per kg.

Marketing

“50% less fat”. This is 50% less total fat compared to Ingham’s original Chicken Breast Nuggets, but really this is not a massive deal because the total fat in the original nuggets isn’t excessive.
“No added hormones”. This is true, but all Australian chicken is free from hormones so it’s not an impressive claim.
“100% Aussie Chicken”. This can be misleading because it might make you think that the nugget is 100% chicken, when actually it’s only 51% chicken.
These have a 4 star-health rating which tells us they compare quite well to other chicken nuggets.

Alternatives

These are a decent chicken nugget option, although a bit on the pricier side. A cheaper and lower salt alternative is Steggles Tempura Dino Snacks.
A home-made option might be lower in salt (depending on the crumb or batter you use) and will have more chicken in them, but you can’t deny the convenience of these being ready for the oven (or air-fryer). Homemade options can also be tricky for fussy eaters who are super sensitive to variations in texture and taste, so don’t panic if these are a staple for your little one.

The composition of food products changes regularly. The nutritional values of the products in this Chewsday Review were correct at the time of publishing.