The Record For Most Chicken Nuggets Eaten In A Minute Is Incredible

Which came first — the boneless and breaded chicken nugget or the world-famous Chicken McNugget, which McDonald's introduced in limited markets in 1981 and to the masses in 1983 (per History)? McDonald's is often credited with creating the bite-size protein bombs that swept the country by storm, but history suggests that agricultural scientist Robert C. Baker cooked them up in a food science lab at Cornell University in 1963 as a way to get more out of chicken (he also developed chicken hot dogs and turkey ham).

Wherever they came from and whoever created them, chicken nuggets are at this point a classic, and we eat billions of them each year (though up-and-comer chicken strips threaten to take nuggets down a few notches, according to Restaurant Hospitality). You might be tempted to think the record for most crunchy-salty chicken nuggets consumed in one minute belongs to you, tired and hangry, crushing an order from, say, McDonald's, Chick-fil-A, or Wendy's, after a long day. But the real record for speed-eating chicken nuggets belongs to a competitive eater from the United Kingdom (per Guinness World Records).

To power eat her way to the sought-after Guinness World Record in the crispy-fried chicken nugget category, Leah Shutkever pushed 19 chicken nuggets down the hatch as the clock buzzed 60 seconds. We're not sure what kind of nuggets they were (were they all white meat?), but that's one nugget short of a 20-piece McNugget order at McDonald's (per the company's website). She did this in Milan, Italy, while the cameras were rolling for "Lo Show Dei Record," a Guinness World Records TV program. If you have the stomach for it, you can watch Shutkever in action, via YouTube.

In terms of weight, Shutkever fed herself 352 grams of nuggets, taking the occasional sip of water. That's the equivalent of 12.42 ounces, or around 3/4 of a pound (per Guinness World Records). There was no barbecue, spicy Buffalo, or honey mustard sauce to help ease the way. When it was over, Shutkever expressed disappointment that she didn't get to all of the nuggets — there was still one left in the bowl.

You could call Leah Shutkever the Chicken Nugget Queen of the competitive eating world. In 2020, she took the prize for consuming the most nuggets in three minutes. Shutkever bested the Guinness World Record notched in 2017 by fellow U.K. resident Thomas Welborn. How many nuggets did it take to knock him off his pedestal? Shutkever finished off 775.1 grams of nuggets, the equivalent of about 1.70 pounds (per Guinness World Records).

According to the Daily Mail, Shutkever is more committed to fitting in fitness than she is to calorie-rich feasts — and feats of eating. At the same time, she's a serial speed eater with multiple titles to her name, including the quickest time to eat three pickled eggs (7.80 seconds) and most marshmallows consumed in 60 seconds with no hands (20 marshmallows, per Guinness World Records). In 2019, she managed to polish off three mince pies in 52.21 seconds, with nothing to wet her whistle (per Guinness World Records, on YouTube).