Chicken nuggets can make you fat?! Who knew?!

Chicken nuggets are a good source of protein and energy, and of course amazingly delicious, however just how good for your health are these little balls of poultry heaven? 

From the nutritional information on the back of the packet you can get a fairly good idea of the calories, fat content and other useful information. Let's compare some popular brand chicken nuggets in terms of nutritional value.

Note: portion size varies between packaging! When just looking at the diagram on the pack please be aware of this!

Birds Eye Crispy Chicken dippers (70g/4 dippers) 

• calories

  175,9%of your GDA

• Sugar

  1g,< 1%of your GDA

• Fat

  9g,13%of your GDA

• Saturates

  2g,8%of your GDA

• Salt

  0.7g,12%

Beautiful and crispy, these dippers seem to be not too bad with regards of calories and saturates content. The fat and salt content, however is quite high, considering 4 nuggets is no where near enough for an adult, or greedy teenager like myself.

Tesco Ultimate Breaded Chicken Nuggets (100g)

• Calories

  240,12%of your GDA

• Sugar

  1g,1%of your GDA

• Fat

  10g,14%of your GDA

• Saturates

  1g,6%of your GDA

• Salt

  0.9g,15%

These breaded nuggets are slightly high in calorie, fat and salt content, however have very little sugar and saturates. Breaded nuggets, in my personal opinion, also taste better cooked in the over rather than the fryer, making them a slightly healthier option if you're still craving some nuggets on your diet!




Asda Frozen Nuggets (4 nuggets, oven baked)

• calories

  200,10%of your GDA

• Sugar

  1.1g,< 1%of your GDA

• Fat

  9.1g,13%of your GDA

• Saturates

  1.3g,7%of your GDA

• Salt

  1.1g,18%

Asda nuggets contain quite a lot of salt for just four, however the calories and saturate content is fairly good. The fat content could be better, especially since these are oven baked, and so this must be watched if you're planning on indulging! 

Birds Eye Breaded Chicken Nuggets (4 nuggets)

• Calories

  195,10%of your GDA

• Sugar

  Trace,< 1%of your GDA

• Fat

  9g,13%of your GDA

• Saturates

  2g,8%of your GDA

• Salt

  0.8g,13%

Compared to their crispy, battered bretherin, these Birds Eye breaded nuggets are higher in calories and salt content, however are more or less the same with regards to fat, saturates and sugars. I suppose it's a personal preference between breaded and battered that will help you decided which nugget is best!

This is just the basics for chicken comparisons, but hopefully you get the idea of it. Make sure you take care to read the nutritional information before you buy anything, as you don't want to end up eating your whole allowance for salt in one sitting! It also doesn't hurt to go for a run once or twice between meals, you know, for health and the added benefit of seeing the sights makes it all better!

Thanks for reading!