Delicious vegetarian nuggets for kids packed with super nutritious cauliflower!
Does anyone else have chicken nugget obsessed children? My kids absolutely love them and the more lower the quality of nugget the better in their eyes! We do make chicken nuggets quite a bit at home but recently I’ve started making these Cauliflower Nuggets too, in an effort to eat a little less meat and generally get the kids eating more veggies.
I have to be honest and tell you that my kids are not the biggest fans of cauliflower but they do eat cauliflower cheese so I thought I would make these nuggets super cheesy and generally a bit more kid-friendly!
They are really easy to make although you do need a food processor to mix all the ingredients together. You could try cutting the cauliflower up very finely and mixing all the other ingredients by hand, but the texture may be a little different and definitely not as smooth.
The nuggets are super soft, meaning they are perfect finger food for toddlers and babies. If you prefer them to be crispy then you could always roll them in an extra coating of breadcrumbs and fry them rather than bake them.
Looking for ways to get your fussy eater to eat a better variety of food? Try Pick Plates. These round divided plates have five compartments to be filled with a wide selection of food groups and choices of ingredients. Perfect for making food fun, interesting and appealing to picky eaters.
If you try this recipe yourself please do let me know what you think. Or tag me in a picture on Instagram. I’d love seeing your pictures so much!
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Cauliflower Cheese Nuggets
Prep Time: 5 mins- Cook Time: 17 mins
- Total Time: 22 minutes
Yield: 3–4 1x
Category: Main Meal
Cuisine: European
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Delicious vegetarian nuggets for kids packed with super nutritious cauliflower!
Ingredients
- 350g / 12oz cauliflower
- 50g / 1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
- 100g / 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
- 1 medium egg
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp mixed dried herbs
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200c / 390f and line a baking tray with parchment paper or a silicone non-stick mat.
- Chop the cauliflower into small pieces and cook it by either boiling or steaming it, which ever is your preference.
- Once the cauliflower has cooked add it to a food processor and blitz until it has broken down into small pieces. Add the rest of the ingredients and blitz again just enough until they are all combined. You don’t want to over-blitz the mixture!
- Place one large spoon of the mixture at a time onto the baking tray and mould into a round shape. I make about 12 nuggets from this but it will depend on what size you want them to be.
- Bake in the oven for 12-14 minutes until golden brown. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving as this will help them to keep their shape.
- Serve immediately or store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 48 hours.
If you liked this recipe you may also enjoy:
Lentil Veggie Nuggets
Jill says
My daughter loves these! I mixed a little broccoli in as well. Thanks for the recipe 🙂 I’m making them for the second time tomorrow.
★★★★★
Wendy says
Hey, thank you so much for sharing out this brilliant idea! But, I was wondering how was the tenderness or the texture of the nugget? does it as tender as the chicken nugget or it has a softer texture? Also, is it possible to replace cheddar cheese with parmesan cheese?
Kristin says
Hi. OMG this recipe looks great! I was wondering if I would be able to mix this with broccoli and carrots?
Thankn you for sharing!!
Ciara Attwell says
Possibly yes. Maybe swap some of the cauliflower for those veggies!
Daisy says
Sorry if this sounds like a dumb question but what are mixed herbs ? Can I find this at any grocery store ?
Ciara Attwell says
Dried mixed herbs or dried oregano!
Carine says
Looks really good!! I am making it now for dinner!! Will let you know how it goes. Thanks.
Maya says
These went down a storm with all of us! Really good.
★★★★★
Millie says
My 3 year old loved these and she usually hates anything with cauliflower in it. Big success!
★★★★★
SJ says
Hi can these be frozen??
Ciara Attwell says
Yes you can freeze after cooking!
Chlo says
Im so glad ive found this recepie! Thanks so much for posting, im going to make some tomorrow 🙂
★★★★★
Ciara Attwell says
Glad you like them Chlo!
Emma says
Just wondering if anyone has tried freezing these yet?
Jennifer says
Which dried herbs do you use?
Ciara Attwell says
Its just a packet of mixed dried herbs but oregano or italian herbs would work well too
Alanna says
I was wondering if you could use a different cheese. I have feta which I have never tried or eaten before but had bought it to try making savoury muffins for baby led weaning x
★★★★★
Ciara Attwell says
Hi Alanna, its certainly worth trying but I haven’t tried the recipe myself with other cheese so can’t say for certain if it would work well. Please do come back and let me know how it goes though!
AisT says
Hi, I was just wondering if I can skip boiling or steaming the cauliflower, since we’re baking it anyway? Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
Ciara Attwell says
I haven’t tried it that way so can’t say for sure. Also if the cauliflower is not cooked Im not sure how you will get it to stick together?