Development of low-fat chicken nuggets

E. C. Chuah, O. Normah and J. Mohd. Yunus

Abstract

Skinless chicken breast meat and various fat replacers were used to produce low-fat chicken nuggets. The meat content ranged from 70% to 84.5%. Fat replacers evaluated were modified tapioca starch (MTS), wheat flour (WF) and carrageenan (CA). The formulation also contained 25% added water in the MTS and WF samples, and 13% in the CA samples. The products were evaluated organoleptically. Their composition, cooking loss, colour and texture profile analysis were determined and compared against each other as well as those made with 88.5% meat (HM) and 10% added water, and a commercial sample (CM). Results of the sensory evaluation showed that scores were generally higher for the MTS sample while the WF sample had the lowest score. The fat content of the raw battered and breaded samples ranged from 0.26% in the WF sample to 30.4% in the CM sample. All the samples had similar whiteness (L*)  value (74–75). On the other hand, there were substantial differences in cooking loss, ranging from about 1.0% to 13.3% in the MTS and CM samples respectively. Texture profile analyses indicated no significant differences in the cohesiveness and springiness among the samples evaluated.

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