The Cluck Stops Here: Impossible "Chicken" Nuggets Are Better Than the Real Thing

With plant-based burgers that taste and look like meat taking the world by storm, it was only a matter of time before nuggets got a similar meatless treatment. 

Impossible Foods launched the Impossible Chicken Nugget in September and, on their website, the company claims focus groups preferred their plant-based nuggets to ones made with chicken.

Was this marketing fluff, or could these plant-based bites win an actual nugget throwdown? I grabbed a bag of Impossible Chicken Nuggets, a bag of Tyson chicken nuggets, and a carton of McDonald’s McNuggets and put them all in the ring for the ultimate taste test.

With nary a pool of ketchup in sight, my partner and I dug in. At first glance, the Impossible nuggets looked slightly different from their meaty brethren, with a fine, bread crumb–like coating versus the wrinkly and chunky batter of the others. But all the nuggets had that savory chicken smell and familiar (yet mysterious) white, spongy interior. 

Taste was where things differed. The Impossible nuggets were moist and plump and, while tender, still had that signature slightly springy texture that defines a good nugget. They were also surprisingly flavorful and tasted more like chicken than the other nuggets. We found the McNuggets were actually rather thin, dry, and tough, and the nuggets from Tyson, while supercrunchy, had an unpleasant earthy taste.  

Our verdict: Impossible Chicken Nuggets are a real contender, winning handily in our nugget throwdown. 

Photo: Gado, Getty Images

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