My latest haul from Costco included a frozen four pound bag of Just Bare Lightly Breaded Chicken Breast Chunks. The frozen chicken nuggets were already cooked and it looked like it would make for some tasty game day snacks that I could heat up in the air fryer.
Just in case you were wondering, Just Bare is a brand owned by JBS Foods, a conglomerate that owns other brands such as Pilgrims, Certified Angus Beef, Country Pride and many others.
Nutrition, Ingredients and Labelling
Let’s take a closer look at what you get with this massive bag of boneless chicken breast chunks!
Nutrition Facts
One bag of the Costco chicken nuggets has four pounds of product with a serving size of 3 ounces. The nutrition facts for a single serving are:
- Calories: 160
- Fat: 6g (8% DV)
- Cholesterol: 50mg (16% DV)
- Sodium: 540mg (23% DV)
- Carbohydrates: 9g (3% DV)
- Protein: 16g
All told these chicken nuggets are not that bad for you! They are a little high in sodium but are otherwise low in fat, carbs and cholesterol.
I weighed out some nuggets and found, on average, that it took about 5 nuggets to make a 3 ounce serving. This means that a single nugget should have the following calories and nutrition:
- Calories: (160/5) = 32
- Fat: (6/5) = 1.2g
- Cholesterol: (50/5) = 10mg
- Sodium: (540/5) = 108mg
- Carbohydrates: (9/5) = 1.8g
- Protein: (16/5) = 3.2g
These chunks are not uniform in size so there will be differences in calories between them but this should get you into the right ballpark.
Ingredient List
The Chicken Chunks have the following ingredients:
- Chicken Breast
- Water
- “Seasoning” (Sugar, Salt, “Spices”)
- Rice Starch
- Breading
- Wheat flour
- Sugar
- Salt
- Dry Milk
- Dried Egg Whites
- Baking Powder
- “Spice”
- Paprika
- Vegetable oil
I am not crazy about the fact that one of the primary ingredients is a generic term called “Seasoning” that, when described more fully, includes the generic term “Spices”. Come on guys…either tell us what is in here or don’t pretend that you are giving us information.
Labelling
The labelling indicates that this product is:
- Fully Cooked
- Made from chicken with no added hormones, antibiotics or steroids.
- Sold in a resealable bag.
I appreciate that they let us know that the chickens do not receive antibiotics but am annoyed at the “no hormone”. Federal law prohibits the use of hormone addition so essentially we get a marketing claim of, “We followed the Law.”
Um, yeah…okay. Thanks?
The resealable bag claim is accurate but was useless for me. I assumed that the seal was a reclose able strip on the top of the bag like 95% of resealable packages.
After I opened the package, by cutting it open at the top, I realized that the resealable packaging requires you to pull the bag open from a tab at the front of the bag. Oh well, looks like I will be using a Chip Clip to keep these fresh!
Cooking Instructions
The chicken is already fully cooked but you want to heat it through to an internal temperature of 165F. The package provides three sets of cooking instruction: Air Fry, Oven, Microwave.
We found the Air Fry method to be the fastest and also produces the best crunch but had to modify the instructions.
Air Fryer
- Preheat air fryer to 350°F.
- Place frozen chicken pieces in basket in a single layer.
- Air fry for 8 minutes.
- NOTE: We heated the chicken chunks up in my Ninja Foodi Air Fryer for 12 minutes at 420F. This is longer than the package directions but is what works in our air fryer.
Conventional Oven
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Place frozen chicken pieces in a single layer on an ungreased baking pan.
- Bake uncovered for 23 minutes.
Microwave Oven
- Place frozen chicken pieces in a single layer on a microwave safe dish.
- Microwave on high for 2.5 minutes.
Air Fryer Just Bare Chicken Nuggets
Equipment
- Air Fryer
Ingredients
- 12 oz Just Bare Frozen Chicken Nuggets about 20 pieces
- 1/4 cup Sour Cream
- 1/4 cup Buffalo Sauce
Instructions
- Preheat your air fryer to 420F.
- Lightly spray the chicken nuggets with Pam.
- Place the nuggets in the air fryer and heat for 6 minutes.
- Flip the nuggets over and cook for another 6 minutes until an internal temperature of 165F is reached.
- Serve the nuggets with sour cream and Buffalo sauce.
Taste Test!
The breading turned a crispy golden brown and looked delicious! Every time we have made these we have been delighted at how well they tasted. There is a perfect balance of meat to breading, the pieces are a nice size and the flavors are just a little salty, savory and slightly sweet.
We picked up on some tangy flavor notes that made it seem like the chicken had been marinated in buttermilk or pickle juice? And yes, these nuggets taste just like the ones from Chick-fil-A!
We have eaten these with Primal Kitchen’s No Dairy Buffalo Sauce (amazing) and the Primal Kitchen Mango Jalapeno BBQ Sauce (really good)!
These chicken breast chunks are a serious step up from mystery meat “chicken nuggets”.
Easy to prepare, relatively healthy and quite tasty is a great combination.
Other Ways to Serve the Chicken Nuggets
If you want to do more than just dip the nuggets in sauce then here are some fun ways to serve them!
Nugget Salad Bowl: Create a salad bowl by topping a bed of mixed greens with crispy chicken nuggets, diced tomatoes, cucumbers, shredded cheese, and a drizzle of honey mustard dressing. You can also add avocado slices, boiled eggs, and crumbled bacon for extra flavor.
Nugget Sliders: Make delicious mini sandwiches by placing chicken nuggets in some King’s Hawaiian rolls along with lettuce, tomato, pickles, and your favorite sauce.
Nugget Tacos: Give your tacos a twist by using chicken nuggets. Warm up tortillas and fill them with nuggets, shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, shredded cheese, and a drizzle of cilantro lime crema. You can also add guacamole, salsa, or cilantro for extra zing.
Nugget Pizza: Get creative with a homemade pizza by using chicken nuggets as a topping. Spread pizza dough with marinara sauce, sprinkle with mozzarella cheese, and arrange nuggets on top. Add diced bell peppers, red onions, and black olives for a colorful and flavorful pizza.
Nugget Kabobs: Make fun and tasty kabobs by skewering the chicken nuggets with veggies like cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, and red onions. Grill or bake until cooked through and serve with a side of dipping sauce.
Nugget Nachos: Create a loaded plate of nachos by arranging a layer of tortilla chips on a baking sheet, topping with chicken nuggets, black beans, diced tomatoes, jalapenos, and shredded cheese. Bake until cheese is melted and bubbly, and then garnish with sour cream, guacamole, and chopped cilantro.
Costco Value
I bought the four pound bag of chicken chunks at Costco for $14.99 which comes out to a price of $3.62 per pound.
The four pound bag is a Costco Exclusive product. I have not been able to find prices for smaller bags of this same products at other retail provider for a value based comparison.
Still, even without a “side by side” value comparison, $3.62 per pound seems like a fine deal especially compared to the current price of raw, boneless skinless chicken breasts.
Publix has them for $9.99 in a 1.5 lb bag.
Has there been any recalls on this product in the past or recently
No idea.
Do you know if Costco has discontinued selling this product? They no longer carry it at my local store and they said it doesn’t show on their system 🙁
They still had it in my store this afternoon.
Loved these. Tried these with various sauces and found the chick-fil sauce the best. Used these to make a chik-fila sandwich on ciabatta bread.