Woman breaks world record for most chicken nuggets eaten in 1 minute

Competitive eater Leah Shutkever is pictured in provided images (Credit: Guinness World Records)

A competitive eater in the U.K. has snatched a world record for most chicken nuggets eaten in one minute.

Leah Shutkever, who has already claimed several other Guinness World Record titles, recently broke the coveted nugget record as captured in an official Guinness World Records video shared last week.

Shutkever ate 352 grams (12.42 ounces), or the equivalent of 19 McDonald's Chicken McNuggets, in 60 seconds. The previous record was held by model and competitive eater Nela Zisser, who ate 298 grams (10.51 ounces) of chicken nuggets in November of 2020 in New Zealand, according to Guinness World Records.

Shutkever attempted to eat through a whole bowl of 20 nuggets while filming the Guinness World Records Italian TV show called "Lo Show Dei Record." 

"Although she ‘only’ managed to eat 19, leaving the record holder disappointed about her performance, she still surpassed Nela’s previous result by 54 grams," the world record-keeping company said in a post about the new title.

Shutkever, who has also gained a following on YouTube, is also the proud holder of another chicken-nugget record: most chicken nuggets eaten in three minutes. In 2020, she ate 775.1 grams of nuggets – beating the 746 grams (26.31 ounces) previously achieved by Thomas Welborn in 2017.

The competitor has also racked up other speed-eating titles:

  • Fastest time to eat three mince pies (52.21 seconds in 2019)
  • Fastest time to eat three pickled eggs (7.80 seconds in 2019)
  • Fastest time to eat a muffin (no hands) (21.95 seconds in 2019)
  • Most marshmallows eaten in one minute (no hands) (20 marshmallows in 2020).
  • Most tomatoes eaten in one minute (8 in 2020)

Shutkever began her career as a competitive eater in her early 20s when her brother challenged her while they were eating at a local restaurant in the West Midlands of England, according to Guinness World Records. 

"After that, she developed a true hunger for shattering goals," Guinness World Records said. "Leah set herself some ambitious targets and, after starting her competitive eating training in 2013, she started breaking records in 2019."

This story was reported from Cincinnati.