Customized Shapes for Chicken Meat–Based Products: Feasibility Study on 3D-Printed Nuggets

3D food printing is revolutionizing the food manufacturing process and offers unmatched levels of customization in terms of appearance and nutrition. Though flesh foods have a huge market potential, to date, no study details the printability of chicken meat. This study reports the printability of ground chicken meat; refined wheat flour was used as an additive at different levels of ground chicken meat (1:1, 2:1, and 3:1, w / w ) to improve its printability. For the optimized 2:1 formulation, extrusion printing variables such as nozzle height (0.64 mm), nozzle size (0.82 mm), printing speed (1000 mm/min), extrusion rate (8.8 mm 3 /s), extrusion motor speed (360 rpm), and extrusion pressure (4 bar) were optimized. The 3D-printed sample was post-processed by hot-air drying followed by deep frying. Crispy 3D-printed chicken nuggets with an energy value of 166.72 ± 0.07 kcal/100 g could be made available in any customized shape, providing insights for futuristic applications, particularly in the fast-food industry.