Frozen chicken nuggets are the perfect low-effort meal that will always hit the spot. While store-bought ones may not taste as good as some chicken nuggets from a fast food restaurant, there are many brands out there that do the crispy breaded bites justice. However, if you’re worried about nutritional value or quality, there is one brand you need to keep out of your cart. Great Value chicken nuggets from Walmart may be listed at a low price of $5.97 for 2 pounds of food, but they contain remarkably low quality ingredients. Sometimes, you get what you pay for.
Great Value chicken nuggets contain a number of processed ingredients and antibiotics, with one of the worst ingredients being textured soy protein concentrate. Textured soy protein is a byproduct of soy milk that goes through chemical treatments to mimic a meat-like texture. It is a heavily processed protein source and loses a lot of its nutrition during production. It also indicates that the meatiness of these chicken nuggets isn’t just, well, chicken.
Not only are these nuggets not great for you, but the taste isn’t all that good either. In our ranking of nine frozen chicken nuggets, we found that Great Value’s were nothing special, coming in at sixth place. For low-quality ingredients that don’t even offer a delicious flavor, it’s probably best to pass on these nuggets.
Read more: Cottage Cheese Brands, Ranked Worst To Best
An alternative Walmart brand to try instead
Chicken nuggets in the oven – Mtreasure/Getty Images
While the Great Value brand may be a bust, there is another brand Walmart offers with better ingredients. The Bettergoods chicken nuggets, which come in a gluten-free version as well, are a slightly better option with higher quality ingredients. The Bettergoods brand includes a line of Made Without products, meaning they contain cleaner ingredients with no artificial flavors or added sugars; in this case, the chicken nuggets don’t contain preservatives or added hormones or steroids. Bettergoods’ nuggets also have much less fat and more protein than Great Value’s, so you’re getting more nutritional value overall.
While they are a good alternative than Great Value, this doesn’t mean the Bettergoods chicken nuggets are completely without fault. These nuggets still contain processed ingredients such as corn flour, cornstarch, sugar, dextrose, and canola oil. Still, Bettergoods chicken nuggets are at least a little more health-conscious than Great Value’s. The Great Value brand has not only been knocked for its ingredients, but some customers have even claimed their nuggets came with no actual meat in them. It seems like Great Value has some work to do with its chicken nuggets. If you’re looking for a better option altogether, the best chicken nuggets are made by Real Good and have clean ingredients, nutritional value, and won’t disappoint with flavor.
Read the original article on Chowhound.
