Steggles Chicken Breast Nuggets Boosted with Veggies (2)

Steggles Chicken Breast Nuggets Boosted with Veggies | Chewsday Review

Today I’m back with another im-peck-able chicken nugget review. Are these nuggets with hidden veggies too good to be true? Read on to find out. You do nug-get my puns? Shame on you!

Ingredients

Chicken Breast (37%), Coating [Wheat Flour, Yeast, Salt, Sugar, Annatto (160b), Turmeric (100), Water, Thickeners (1422, 415), Vegetable Gum (412), Wheat Gluten, Wheat Starch, Vegetable Oil], Potato (11%), Water, Vegetable Oil, Cauliflower (3%), Wheat Starch, Soy Meal (Wheat), Soy Protein, Mineral Salts (451, 450, 508), Dehydrated Vegetables (Onion, Garlic), Hydrolysed Vegetable Protein (Soy), Anticaking Agent (341), Spice Extract (Celery).
There isn’t a lot of chicken in these chicken nuggets! In fact, the crumb coating, water, oil and flavouring (49%) make up more of the product than the chicken breast (37%).
With only 11% potato and 3% cauliflower, I would certainly need a magnifying glass to find these hidden veggies.
Allergens: wheat, soy
May contain: egg, milk, sesame

Positives

Negatives

The chicken content of these nuggets is low at 37%. Chicken content of nuggets on the market ranges from 34% to 66%, with products on the lower end being more likely to have starch or flour mixed into the meat. Steggles Chicken Dino Snacks have a much higher chicken content (60%), as do Ingham’s Airmazing Chicken Nuggets (51%).
You’re really paying for the almost non-existent veggies in this product. At $17.50/kg, these nuggets are more expensive than Steggles Tempura or Crumbed Nuggets ($12.50/kg), or Woolworths Chicken Breast Crumbed Nuggets ($11/kg), all of which contain more chicken.
These nuggets have 4.1g of sugar per 100g, or almost a teaspoon of sugar per serving of 5 nuggets. Most comes from the added sugar in the coating. This is more than most chicken nuggets and more than I’d expect for a savoury product.

Marketing

‘Chicken breast nuggets, boosted with hidden cauliflower and potato’. The tiny amount of veg in this product really doesn’t add anything from a nutritional perspective, and hiding vegetables doesn’t help little ones learn to like them in the long run.
‘¼ cup of veg per 10 nuggets’. This does roughly check out, but 10 nuggets would provide 744mg sodium, which is 93% of a toddler’s daily maximum limit.
‘Our chickens have no added hormones’. The Australian chicken meat industry has not used growth hormones for many years, so this is purely fear-based marketing.
‘Free from artificial colours or flavours, absolutely no added preservatives’. Although ‘naturally derived’, these nuggets do contain a number of additives. These are not of concern, and are necessary to help preserve the texture and taste of the nuggets.

Alternatives

Overall, I wouldn’t choose these chicken nuggets due to their low chicken content and premium price point.
Steggles Tempura Dino Snacks are lower in sodium and saturated fat, cheaper and contain a lot more chicken. Coles and Woolworths brand chicken nuggets are also reasonable options. I’d be much more inclined to choose one of these products and serve a small amount of vegetables on the side for exposure.
Don’t feel crumb-y if you have a chicken nugget lover at home. Nuggets are a common safe food for kids, and can be a step in gradually working towards crumbed or plain chicken.

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