Parmesan Chicken Nuggets -- The Real Kind, Made From Scratch, for Colette's Big Day

Colette turns eight this week. October 15th. My girl. My complicated, brilliant, opinionated girl who told me at dinner on Monday that she wants to "help sick people when she grows up," which could mean doctor or nurse or veterinarian or faith healer, but the impulse is the same: she sees suffering and wants to fix it. I don't know where she gets it. (I do know where she gets it. She gets it from Danielle, who has spent fifteen years fixing the reading levels of second graders and the emotional breakdowns of colleagues and the electrical incompetence of her husband. Colette is Danielle's sequel.)

The birthday party was Saturday. Twelve girls from her class, plus our three, plus two cousins (Angelle's girls, Simone and Therese, who drove up from Lafayette). The theme was "art party" because Colette — remember the colored pencils? the drawing of the cottage? — is in her art phase, and when Colette is in a phase, the phase becomes the party. Danielle set up stations in the backyard: painting, drawing, collage, and a station where the girls could decorate aprons, which was Danielle's genius because it combined art and practicality, and Danielle is a woman who has never seen an activity that couldn't be made more educational.

I was on food duty. Obviously. I made chicken tenders — real ones, not the frozen kind, because this is not a household that serves frozen chicken tenders at a birthday party. Buttermilk-marinated chicken breast, cut into strips, dredged in seasoned flour, fried at 350 until golden. Served with honey mustard that I made from scratch (Dijon, honey, mayo, a splash of hot sauce because this is Louisiana and nothing is exempt from hot sauce, not even a child's birthday party). Also: macaroni and cheese. Baked. Homemade. The kind with a roux base (yes, even the mac and cheese gets a roux in this house) and sharp cheddar and a breadcrumb topping that crisps in the oven and shatters when you press a fork through it.

The cake was from a bakery — Danielle vetoed my offer to make it, correctly pointing out that I can cook anything except cakes, which is true. My cakes look like geological accidents. They taste fine, but they look like something that happened during a natural disaster, and you don't serve a natural disaster cake to twelve eight-year-old girls who have opinions about frosting.

Colette opened her gifts with the methodical precision of a forensic accountant. She thanked each person by name. She folded the wrapping paper. She wrote down who gave what in a notebook that she brought specifically for this purpose. She is eight years old and already more organized than I will ever be. I watched her from the kitchen window — this girl, this person I made, this creature who folds wrapping paper and wants to help sick people and draws the yellow cottage from memory — and I thought: whatever I'm doing as a father, whatever I'm getting wrong (and I'm getting plenty wrong), something is going right. Something is working. She's proof.

Watching Colette work through that gift pile with her little notebook, I wanted to do something that felt like a win — something I knew would land. Twelve eight-year-olds had opinions about frosting, but they’d already proven they had zero opinions about these nuggets, because they disappeared in under four minutes. So here’s what I made: Parmesan chicken nuggets, which are embarrassingly simple and which I now consider my signature party move precisely because they require none of the structural ambition that ruins my cakes.

Parmesan Chicken Nuggets

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 35 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into nugget-sized pieces
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs
• 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 tbsp olive oil or melted butter, for drizzling
• Cooking spray

Instructions

1. Marinate the chicken. Place chicken pieces in a bowl and cover with buttermilk. Let soak for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator, or up to overnight. The buttermilk tenderizes the meat and helps the coating adhere.
2. Preheat and prep. Preheat your oven to 425°F. Line a large baking sheet with a wire rack and spray generously with cooking spray. The rack allows heat to circulate underneath for an even, golden crust.
3. Set up your dredging station. In one shallow bowl, combine the flour, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, salt, and pepper. In a second bowl, beat the eggs. In a third bowl, mix the breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese together until evenly combined.
4. Dredge the nuggets. Remove each piece of chicken from the buttermilk, letting the excess drip off. Dredge in the seasoned flour, then dip into the beaten egg, then press firmly into the Parmesan breadcrumb mixture, coating all sides. Place on the prepared rack.
5. Add fat for crunch. Drizzle or lightly brush each nugget with olive oil or melted butter. This step is what gives the crust its deep golden color and satisfying crunch — don’t skip it.
6. Bake until golden. Bake for 18–22 minutes, flipping once at the halfway point, until the nuggets are deeply golden and cooked through. An internal temperature of 165°F confirms they’re done.
7. Serve immediately. Transfer to a platter and serve hot alongside honey mustard, ranch, or your dipping sauce of choice. These go fast — plan accordingly if you’re feeding a party.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 310 | Protein: 34g | Fat: 10g | Carbs: 18g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 520mg