Chicken McNuggets, a type of chicken nugget, are one of the most popular trademark items of the McDonald's resturaunt chain.
McNuggets, as they are commonly known, are small pieces of formed chicken meat that have been deep-fried in batter. They are sold in packages of 4, 6, 10, or 20 and come with a choice of various flavors of dipping sauce, such as barbecue, sweet and sour, honey, or hot mustard. In some restaurants, one sachet of sauce is free with the order; any extra must be paid for. In others, all sauces are free.
In 2003, McDonald's switched to using all white meat for McNuggets instead of the traditional combination of white and dark meat. This was heavily promoted as an effort to improve the item's flavor. McDonald's state that they use carefully boned breast meat in the production of their McNuggets. Chicken skin is included in the definition of white chicken meat; it is required to hold the formed chicken in shape. At the same time that they stopped using dark meat, McDonald's announced that they were using less salt in the preparation of the McNuggets. This was recognised as an attempt to make their products healthier.
Because of the popularity of the item, the term "Chicken McNuggets" is often used as a generic title for any other form of small, deep-fried chicken pieces. A McNugget Number is defined as a number obtainable by adding together the pieces of orders of McDonald's Chicken McNuggets.
In Supersize Me, McNuggets claimed to be made by sick chicken that can't lay eggs including other various chemicals like TBHQ (preserves freshness), Dimethylpolysiloxane (a anti-foaming agent), and other ingredents not used by a typical home cook.
The McNugget Buddies were anthropomorphic versions of McNuggets used in advertisements and promotions.