Investigating the effect of frying method and batter formulation on the physicochemical characteristics of chicken nuggets

As one of the most popular fried ready-to-eat foods in the world, chicken nuggets are deep fried. Due to the immersion of the product in this method, the oil content increases, thus causing obesity and related diseases. For this reason, reducing the fat of the product while maintaining the organoleptic properties has been given much attention and research. In this study, chicken nuggets with different batter formulations (wheat flour, rice flour, and quinoa flour) were fried by two methods (deep and hot air) in terms of moisture content, oil content, weight loss, batter absorption rate, and stickiness percentage, color, texture, viscosity, diameter and sensory evaluation were investigated. The oil content, moisture content and percentage of adhesion of the coating to the core were higher in deep frying than in hot air frying. Texture, deep fried chicken nuggets had less firmness and gumminess. The results also showed that the samples coated with quinoa flour had higher moisture content, batter pickup and oil content while they experienced lower cooking loss and coating adhesion to the core. In terms of color, the coating of quinoa dough showed lower L*, b*, and higher a*. The hardness of the nuggets coated with quinoa paste was lower than the other two samples. The results show that hot air frying is generally a healthy method for producing chicken nuggets and a valuable alternative for producing fried protein foods. As a gluten-free grain with high nutritional value, quinoa flour paste can be a good substitute for wheat in reducing the oil content of fried products.