MEETING CONSUMER DEMANDS
Chicken nuggets are a cornerstone of the quick service restaurant (QSR) industry, featuring in the top 10 best-selling items at McDonald’s and being a staple of many family visits to fast food outlets. Nuggets’ importance to the QSR experience means there is a major opportunity for plant-based versions, but also creates a high bar for success. Consumers know what they want from a nugget.
Solina knows how to meet those desires. With our subdivision in new protein food, and long history in the meat industry, we understand what makes the ideal nugget and have the culinary creativity and technical excellence to create the perfect plant-based version.
HARNESSING OUR MEAT HERITAGE
We applied a fibrillation (powerheater extrusion) technology to produce ‘strips’ made from soy, wheat and free-range egg proteins. Harnessing our meat heritage, we turned the strips into a dough that is suitable for shaping into characteristic nugget shapes with a very succulent, chicken-like fibrous bite.
The rest of the crispy vegetarian nugget concept is testament to the breadth of Solina’s capabilities. We used a natural chicken aroma to flavour the nuggets and worked with our coating specialist, Bowman Ingredients, to create the colour and crunch that is critical to consumers’ first impressions.

72%
the proportion of buyers of new protein QSR foods who identify as meat eaters
The interest of omnivores in new protein foods means QSRs need convincing, meat-like products to fully seize the plant-based opportunity.
Source: Piplsay
TAILORING THE NUTRI-SCORE
The crispy vegetarian nugget concept has a B-level Nutri-Score, reflecting the fact it is high in protein and low in saturated fat. That is just a suggestion, though. As with everything at Solina, the Nutri-Score can be tailored to each customer. If a Nutri-Score of A was needed, our team could meet the request by increasing the fibre and reducing the salt.
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