Which is healthier: Plant-based Chicken Nuggets or Real Chicken Nuggets?

Vegan Chicken Nuggets vs. Chicken Nuggets

In this article, besides all the information about subjects that are related to veganism, our main goal is to compare vegan chicken nuggets with real chicken nuggets in all categories too find out which one is healthier and tastier.

And in the end, I’m going to give you a delicious vegan chicken nugget recipe that you can make on your own.

Origin of veganism and its facts

As we all know, the main theme of veganism is to put a stop to killing of innocent animals.

The term “veganism” wasn’t around until the 1940s but the concept of people avoiding the consumption and use of animal products can be traced back to 2000 years ago.

The vegan diet became increasingly mainstream in the 2010s that it gained so much popularity that The-Economist declared 2019 “the year of the vegan”.

Since then, most restaurants began marking vegan items on their menus and supermarkets improved their selection of vegan-processed food.

The numbers may not be completely accurate, but as of now about 88 million people in the world are vegan which equals 1.1% of the world.

Although, there are certain numbers about vegans of each country, we basically can’t come up with a result to detect the country with the most vegans, due to the difference of veganism and vegetarianism. Also, due to the fact that each country has different population. So that, the community of vegans of that country goes up with the population growth rate. However, based on the current numbers that we have, we can ensure that India is the number one country in that list for having the most vegans in a country, thanks to its population.

Percentage wise, besides India, the countries with higher rate of vegans in the country are Israel and UK which apparently for Israel is 5% of the population and for UK it is near 3% of the country, as of 2021.

Can vegans eat chicken? Reasons + Alternatives

Harsh Realities of the Poultry Companies

Now let’s talk about the dark secrets and harsh realities of the ruthless chicken industry.

Most people don’t know anything about the cycle of chicken industry and have no idea that how badly it damages the environment and imbalances the nature.

Now we are going to reveal some of the undercover facts that people haven’t heard of.

For providing chicken meat, the first thing that the ruthless poultry companies do is that they throw whole lot of chickens in super small sheds.

The main problem isn’t the fact that they are locked up in overly crowded tiny sheds that leads to pain and suffering.

It’s all about hygiene!

They are all trapped in a dirty and unhygienic place which now isn’t just summed up as their health problem, it is problematic for our health too!

Mainly because of the environmental effect of dirty sheds like bacteria and other infections that can enter their bodies and that’s not the only threat of unhygienic sheds, dirty sheds are usually full of worms and ticks because they aren’t cleaned on a regular basis.

Worms and ticks are the most common causes of parasitic diseases.

If we eat the meat of a chicken that been hatched in an unhygienic place, bacteria and the diseases mentioned above, automatically enter our bodies and these cons that were mentioned, aren’t the only problems that insanitary poultry companies have.

There are certain unfair things that even the so-called hygienic chicken farms have too!

Furthermore, hygiene shouldn’t be our only concern.

There are certain policies that a lot of farms don’t follow like the fact that sheds mustn’t be crowded with lots of chickens because that can lead to cannibalism.

Cannibalism happens when chickens are stressed because they aren’t managed well and That’s not the only way, poor nutrition can also cause cannibalism.

Cannibalism is completely linked to malnutrition and it occurs when there are deficiencies in sodium, phosphorus and even protein.

The reason that protein plays an important role even for chickens, is that it increases egg production and impacts their health in a good way but you have to know that too much protein is dangerous for them too!

Mainly because it can lead to serious health problems like kidney failure.

Besides nutrition and hygiene factors, the ruthless part about poultry companies is that, some of them pluck all the chickens even before the time that they are slaughtered and that makes them suffer in an awkward way, which is known as feather removal.

Plus, there are other merciless acts that companies do in purpose of avoiding cannibalism, such as debeaking (also known as beak trimming) and using heat lamps.

Growth hormone is something that most of chicken farms use, owing to the fact that chickens that are injected with it are going to grow sooner and get bigger and heavier, moreover to produce more eggs.

Another thing that has to be mentioned is that, Hormones completely mess up their bodies and using hormones would cause leg problems and even early death.

We flash back to the part that we said, “when we eat chicken, everything that the chicken has eaten, automatically enters our body” and that is true for hormones too.

Hormones and steroids are terrible for our bodies since the toxicity they cause in our bodies.

The common hormones and other types of drugs that most chicken farms use are: peptide hormones, growth hormones, steroids, thyroid hormones, etc.

And that is not the worst part!

All the merciless acts that we have mentioned are for companies, which only provide chicken meat.

There are even more cruel things left behind!

Like the fact that all of the male chickens are useless for egg companies, so they end up in a metal grinding machine which slaughters them.

This act is labeled as chick culling or unwanted chick killing.

Worldwide, around 7 billion male chicks are culled each year and that’s so brutal to be fair.

Why does vegan food make some people have diarrhea right after?

Plant-Based Chicken Nuggets

But now let’s talk about nuggets.

All of us have heard about nuggets and most of us have tried them out.

Most people who eat meat and animal products like the taste and crispiness of the nuggets while some people don’t.

A shocking fact about chicken nuggets is that, they only contain 40% chicken meat.

In other words, chicken nuggets aren’t 100% chicken meat, the amount of real chicken meat in a chicken nugget is around 40%.

Unfortunately, the other 60% percent of a chicken nugget, is mostly chicken cartilage and chicken skin with other kinds of poultry wastes.

Right now, forget about all the cons about chicken nuggets and chicken farms that you read and let’s talk about an alternative, which is better for your health.

Have you ever heard of vegan chicken nuggets?

Exactly, there are vegan chicken nuggets aka veggie nuggets which are completely 100% plant-based and don’t contain any sort of animal meat or animal product.

The cool thing about them isn’t just about being free of cruelty, vegan chicken nuggets are delicious!

In fact, all of them taste like real chicken nuggets or even better.

They are basically the finest and tastiest alternative.

Every year, the amount of people who buy vegan products, increases by a big margin and that isn’t just marketing, people actually love the taste and enjoy eating something that is cruelty-free.

You should know that when you consume vegan chicken nuggets, you are eating something that is actually good for your overall health.

Comparing Vegan Nuggets and Chicken Nuggets

So now, we are going to talk about the ingredients of vegan chicken nuggets and differences between them and real chicken nuggets and bringing nutrition facts to the table by comparing their macronutrients and then talk about the best vegan brands that provide vegan chicken nuggets and tell you which one is the best one.

The main difference despite being completely plant-based is that real chicken nuggets don’t have that good source of vegan fiber that improves your gut health.

Ingredients

The raw ingredients of plant-based chicken nuggets are soybean, wheat protein, etc.

The other raw materials that vegan companies use are typically legume, peas, and fava beans.

Take a look at this table which shows the ingredients comparison.

Nutritional Comparison

We are putting tables down below to make the comparison easier to read.

First, we have calorie content.

Which one do you think is the one with less calories?

The nuggets with the least calories are the veggie nuggets.

They contain 79 kcal fewer calories per 100 g.

(Per 100 g means per 100 grams of the product)

So, in this part, the obvious winner is veggie nugget.

After calorie content we are going to see which one is the best for carbohydrate content.

Carbohydrates are essential for our body because our body uses them as energy fuel.

But some people who follow keto diet completely cut down carbohydrates so their bodies adapt to use body fat instead.

Back to the main topic, take a look out the table below to see the amount of carbohydrates in both of them.

sara

Hi, I’m Sara, a vegan mom of two. My family and I have been living a vegan lifestyle for over 8 years now. I’m excited to share tips and insights about veganism and plant-based living through my posts. I love exploring new ideas, reading, and finding ways to grow. My passion for learning drives me to share what I discover, hoping to inspire and inform others along the way. As a content writer and screenwriter, I’m passionate about creating impactful stories around veganism, animal rights, and social justice. I’ve written several short films that explore the connection between veganism and social justice, with my work featured in various publications. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to drop them in the comments section or shoot me an email through the contact form on the website—I usually respond within 24 hours.