These crispy chicken nuggets are made with a hidden vegetable: sweet potato! Make a large batch and freeze for a quick meal. Recipe tip: Don't put away the spices after adding them to the chicken mixture, you'll need them in the next step!
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or spray it with oil.
In a large bowl, mash the cooked sweet potato with a fork until mostly smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients for the chicken nugget mixture and mix well.
In another bowl, combine all the ingredients for the seasoned flour and mix well.
Dip your hands into the bowl of cold water. With wet hands, take about one rounded tablespoon of the chicken mixture and form a nugget with your hands. Dredge it in the flour mixture, gently shake off the extra flour, and place on your baking sheet. Repeat until all the nuggets are formed.
Spray the tops of the nuggets with the oil spray, and bake at 400F for 20 minutes, or until the chicken is fully cooked, flipping the nuggets about halfway through. (See notes for pan-frying option). Serve warm with dip of your choice.
Notes
Make sure you have a fully cooked sweet potato for this recipe! You can quickly cook one by microwaving it for ~5-7 minutes, just pierce it with a fork first. Wait for it to cool, then remove the skin.
One medium sweet potato should yield about 1.5 cups of mashed sweet potato. It's OK if you have more or less sweet potato, this recipe works well anyway.
Flour vs breading: If you want, you can use seasoned Italian breadcrumbs instead of the seasoned flour mixture. You'll just have to dip the raw nugget into a scrambled egg mixture first to get the breadcrumbs to stick.
Bake or pan fry: You can bake these nuggets, or you can pan-fry them. If frying, add a little oil to a non-stick pan and cook over medium low heat, giving these nuggets a change to cook through without burning.