Air Fryer Stringy Mozzarella Veggie Nuggets
Vegetarian nuggets are packed full of vibrant vegetables encased with stringy mozzarella cheese with a crispy breadcrumb coating and served with a spicy mayo dip.
Is there anything in life more happy then the thought that you’re having nuggets for tea tonight? I don’t believe there is…
Nuggets are a peace maker. They’re loved by all. Kids love nuggets, adults love nuggets, veggies love veggie nuggets, meat eaters love McDonald nuggets. Everyone loves a nugget.
Think about it, have you ever known of anyone who doesn’t like nuggets?.. that’s what I thought.
Today, we’re going to be tackling the nugget from 3 delicious sides. Firstly, crispy, whether its veggie or chicken, a crispy nugget is what you want, no one wants a soggy nugget, so we’re going to make sure these nuggets are as crispy as possible.
Secondly, vegetarian. I’m vegetarian so meat is not in the option, but also, I find vegetarian nuggets to have more versatility. Not only do you get all the regular meat substitute versions (all hail the mighty Quorn nugget) but you also have an array of veggie packed nuggets with just about everything in them.
Great for families
I also find vegetarian nuggets great for families, especially families with lots of kids. Like I said, kids love nuggets, but they also tend to hate vegetables. With veggie nugs, you can blend just about every kid hated vegetable known to man into a smooth consistency, cover it in breadcrumbs and shape it into a nugget and they’ll love it.
The third thing I really wanted from these nuggets is cheesy goodness. Because if there are any small breaded foods I love more than nuggets, it’s cheese bites.
So why not put both those things together and make stringy mozzarella vegetarian nuggets.
Which is exactly what I’ve done, and considering you’re here, that’s exactly what you will hopefully be doing.
Recipe variations
Whilst creating these veggie nuggets I realised that there are just so many variations that you could literally live of these and these alone and never feel as if you’re eating the same thing twice.
Veggie filling
The first variation you could make is with the filling. You could differ on consistency, pulse the veggies to have more of a bite or blend them to a pulp if you want perfectly smooth nuggets.
You could also mix up the recipe to include whatever veggies you have. Which also makes these great as an end of the week meal, you know when its just before the day of your big shop and you have a bunch of vegetables in your fridge that have seen better days?
Instead of throwing them out just cook and blend them into veggie nuggets.
You don’t even have to follow a quantity of a recipe. Just blend what you have and see what happens.
Anyone for a veggie cake?
Another great option for mixing up this recipe is when it comes to size. For the veggie nugs, you want these tiny little bite size pieces as the name would suggest, nuggets.
But why stop there?
Shape these into bigger nuggets and you have yourself a veggie mozzarella filled cake. Just serve 2 with a bed of salad or side of chips. With chips it’s almost like a vegetarian substitute for fish and chips.
Just imagine the joy of cutting into one of these with a knife and folk and stringy mozzarella oozing out. How delicious does that sound?
How to serve these veggie nuggets
When it comes to serving, I opt for a spicy mayo which is also shared in the recipe card below. Just a little something to add a bit of zing does the job.
Paired with the dip these nuggets make the perfect snack, cooked in bulk they’re great for parties but that doesn’t mean you can’t make a meal out of these.
Serving them along side a salad or chips works perfectly to bulk out these nugs. For the at home fake away feeling you could even whip up a burger or onion rings.
Equipment needed to make these nuggets
vegetarian nuggets in air fryer before frying.
As for the equipment needed, there are two essentials to make sure you have before getting stuck in to making your veggie nugs.
The beauty is that once you have them, you can make an array of other dishes. They really are my top two recommendations for kitchen essentials - which are a blender, and as the title of this recipe indicates, an air fryer.
Air Fryer
Seems as the air fryer part is in the title, I’m going to assume you already have one. But just in case you’re in need of an upgrade or perhaps your searching for recipes before committing to an air fryer, let me tell you my top picks.
COSORI Air Fryer
The first is the Cosori air fryer which is the most reviewed and most popular air fryer on both amazon UK and USA.
It’s incredibly popular for a reason, it’s cheap yet works brilliantly offering amazing value for money.
Ninja Foodi Max Health Grill and Air Fryer
The air fryer I use and the star of my kitchen is the Ninja foodi max health grill and air fryer. It’s the one used for the photo of the veggie nuggets above.
I use it for just about everything. Its more expensive then the above air fryer but you really get what you pay for.
You can do just about anything with this. Honestly, you’ll never use an oven again.
You can perfectly cook everything from chips to steaks. It has settings for dehydrating, grilling, air frying obviously and even baking!
It’s crazy just how much tech is built into this. It even comes with a probe for cooking meat.
I’ve reviewed it before which you can read here or pick up the Ninja from the below suppliers.
Blender
The second essential is a blender for blending all your veg into a nugget consistency.
I’ll keep this short, 1 blender recommendation if you don’t feel like you will get a lot of use out of your blender. In which case it only needs to be cheap and do one job.
Then a second recommendation is for if you’re going to be using the blender a lot or for different reasons.
Nutribullet
Nutribullet is probably a name you’ve heard before. It’s a popular option for anyone who likes a smoothie on the go.
Not the most powerful of blenders, and not the most efficient. But perfectly suitable for anyone who wants to blend some veg and maybe make a smoothie every now and again.
Ninja processing blender
Now if you’re in the kitchen a lot. This is the blender you’ll be wanting. You can blend, juice, or process just about anything in this.
It’s a powerful toy to have in your kitchen. Just check out the reviews and what people are saying about it…
How difficult are these vegetarian nuggets to make?
Not very is the answer to that.
I won’t lie to you, they are fiddly. It can take longer then you may expect just because you’re shaping so many balls into nuggets and allowing time for the mix to cool. But once you get into the swing of things, it sure becomes a lot easier.
The shaping of the balls can be frustrating with a crumbly mixture. But if that’s what you’re getting, just make sure you’re cooling them for long enough so they stiffen up a bit.
If they are still crumbling, you can mix some breadcrumbs through the mixture. They will soak up any moisture and make the whole process that much easier.
If it’s time that you’re finding difficult to get your head around, just use a cookie cutter to shape the nuggets. It’ll save you a good 20 minutes.
That way you can even get funky shapes, anyone for dinosaur shaped veggie nuggets?
Air fryer Stringy Mozzarella Veggie Nuggets
Ingredients
Instructions
- Fill a large saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Once boiling, drop in your carrots and broccoli and cook for 10 minutes. At the 7 minute mark, drop in your peas. Strain and leave to cool.
- Once cool, add to a blender along with half of the sweetcorn, the salt, pepper, paprika, and cumin. Blend till smooth, don't worry if you still have some unblended chunks, it'll just add texture.
- Stir in the remaining sweetcorn then transfer the mix to a bowl and leave in the fridge for between 30 minutes and 2 hours to cool fully.
- Mix the cheese throughout your mixture then split the mixture into 30 balls roughly the same size and shape each one into a classic nugget shape. They don't have to be perfect, no nugget is.
- Cover each nugget with breadcrumbs. Fry in an air fryer for 15 minutes at 200c. Whilst your nuggets are air frying, mix a small pot of 1/4 sriracha and 3/4 mayonnaise for your spicy dip.
Notes
Troubleshooting the breadcrumb covering
If the breadcrumb don't stick, your mixture is to dry. If that's the case beat 1 egg and dip the nuggets into the egg first then the breadcrumbs.
If your nuggets are simply falling apart, your vegetable mixture is too moist, fold breadcrumbs into it to soak up the extra moisture, then return to covering in breadcrumbs
Nutrition Facts
Calories
305.24Fat
17.44Sat. Fat
3.28Carbs
31.74Fiber
5.19Net carbs
26.55Sugar
6.46Protein
7.81Sodium
697.93Cholesterol
11.9The nutritional information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
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Hi, I’m Cameron, guv’nor of Smartblend. If you liked this then you’re in luck, I have a bunch more recipes like it. I share only vegetarian and pescatarian food recipes, cocktails, and drink guides with a sprinkling of wellness and mindful drinking. If that sounds like you, then stick around!
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