Chicken nuggets are a beloved snack for kids and adults alike. Their juicy chicken and crispy coating make them an irresistible finger food. While you may have enjoyed them for years you may not know exactly how these nuggets are made before they end up frozen at your local grocery store. Let’s take a closer look at how Tyson one of the largest producers of chicken nuggets, makes this popular snack.
Step 1: Selecting the Chicken
Tyson starts the nugget making process by selecting high-quality fresh chicken. The specific cuts used can vary but commonly include boneless, skinless chicken breasts, thighs, tenderloins, and rib meat. Using boneless cuts helps keep the nuggets shape consistent. Tyson claims that their nuggets are made from 100% all-natural chicken with no added hormones or steroids. Thischicken is sourced from chicken suppliers that meet Tyson’s animal welfare standards.
Step 2: Mixing the Batter
Chicken nuggets get their signature crispy coating from a thick layer of batter. Tyson batters are made from a straightforward blend of ingredients like flour spices and seasonings. The exact blend is a proprietary recipe, but commonly includes ingredients like wheat flour, salt, spices, and leavening agents like baking powder. This batter helps seal in juices and allows the nuggets to crisp up nicely.
Step 3: Breading the Nuggets
Once battered, the nuggets are coated with a breading blend that gives them crunch. The breading contains additional flour, seasoning blends, cornmeal, and other crumbs. This coating sticks to the wet batter to create a light, crispy crust. Like the batter, the exact breading recipe is proprietary to Tyson but contains common breading ingredients.
Step 4: Flash Freezing
After battering and breading, the nuggets are flash frozen. This quick freezing helps seal in moisture and flavor. Tyson flash freezes them on a conveyor belt that moves through a freezer. The nuggets freeze fully solid within minutes under temperatures of -10°F or below.
Step 5: Packaging
The frozen nuggets are packaged into plastic bags or cardboard boxes. Packaging helps prevent freezer burn during storage and transport. For retail packages, the nuggets may be counted and grouped into recommended serving sizes like 4-pound family packs. Packaging is also labeled with cooking instructions, ingredients, and nutritional facts.
Step 6: Distribution
Finally, packaged nuggets are shipped out en masse to distributors and retailers. To maintain food safety, the cold chain is maintained by transporting and storing them in freezing temperatures until they reach store freezers. When you pick them up from the supermarket, you can trust they have been kept frozen the entire time.
Quality Control Checks
At several stages throughout the process at Tyson’s processing facilities, the nuggets undergo quality control checks. These include:
- Checking temperature and freeze times
- Examining nugget appearance and shape
- Verifying weights and counts
- Testing samples for texture and taste
- Assessing food safety and sanitation
These checks help ensure each batch meets safety regulations and quality standards.
Innovations in fresh beef and pork
In the late 1960s, Iowa Beef Packers, a small company in Denison, Iowa, revolutionized the industry. By shipping vacuum-packed sections of beef in boxes, the company (soon known as IBP) greatly reduced the cost of shipping. Since acquiring IBP in 2001, our goal has been to deliver the best and freshest meats to customers, and we’re doing that today with products like fresh, thick-cut, Wright® Brand bacon, Jimmy Dean® breakfast sausage and premium Ball Park® fresh 100% beef burgers.
Consumers are always looking for quality and value, whether they’re purchasing food to serve at home or away. But, with changing lifestyles the demand for convenience has grown in importance as well. By the end of the 1960’s, we moved from selling ice-pack poultry to offering families deep-chill Tyson Country Fresh Chicken. We now make 9 of the top 10 selling frozen prepared chicken products in the U.S., and offer more convenient protein options, like Tyson Any’tizers® Snacks and Tyson Grilled & Ready® Chicken.
The truth about Tyson – how chicken nuggets are ACTUALLY made.
FAQ
What are Tyson chicken nuggets made out of?
White meat chicken, water, wheat flour, contains 2% or less of: brown sugar, dried garlic, dried onion, dried yeast, extractives of paprika, food starch, natural flavor, oat fiber, salt, spices, wheat starch, white whole wheat flour, yellow corn flour. breading set in vegetable oil.
Are Tyson chicken nuggets processed?
How do they make Tyson Dino nuggets?
The process begins with massive 50-pound blocks of chicken meat that ascend in an elevator before dropping into a machine that chops them into smaller chunks. A powerful grinder then compresses the meat to a perfect eighth of an inch, resembling spaghetti noodles at this stage!
How are chicken nuggets actually made?
Chicken nuggets are made by grinding chicken meat, mixing it with other ingredients, shaping it, and then coating and frying it.