Vegan Fried Chicken Recipe

This vegan fried chicken recipe is adapted from an allegedly leaked recipe from a certain fast-food company. Some fast food establishments have recently been testing out various plant-based meats, and I don’t know about you, but I’ll admit I’ve been a tad disappointed with a few of them — particularly in the fried chicken department. I think I can speak for some of us when I say that we were maybe hoping for a nice big juicy thigh piece, but all we got was a lousy nugget. To their credit, I appreciate that they’re adding more options. But, to cope with my disappointment, I’ve come up with this recipe instead. If you’ve ever missed crispy fried chicken from a certain fast food establishment as a vegetarian or vegan, this recipe will surely satisfy that craving.

This vegan fried chicken is made using my Vegan Chicken Seitan, so you’ll want to head over there to make the vegan chicken first if you haven’t already. My vegan chicken seitan recipe is a shreddy chicken-like seitan made from vital wheat gluten and pea protein which is texturized in a food processor and flavored with potato as well as spices and seasonings like onion, garlic, and mushroom powders as well as some white pepper. It costs around $2.50/lb to make at the time of this writing, which is cheap in comparison and in my opinion much better tasting than buying frozen prepackaged vegan chicken. One recipe’s worth of the seitan usually lasts me through the week for sandwiches or using for other recipes.

It’s not very difficult to make, but you do need a food processor. If you don’t have one, I recommend this one. It’s powerful enough to handle mixing and texturizing the seitan and it’s made by a company with a great reputation for quality.

To make this vegan fried chicken, the seitan is cut into pieces and coated with thinned oil-based vegan mayo like Hellman’s Vegan or Follow Your Heart Vegenaise (you can substitute this for coconut milk with a squeeze of lemon or vegan ranch dressing. Any somewhat thick creamy high-fat vegan liquid should work.) Then they are dredged in a mixture of flour, cornstarch, herbs, and spices. Then it’s coated with more thinned mayo. Then dredged in more flour mixture. These are then fried in oil until golden-brown and crispy.

You can then whip up some Vegan Honey Mustard or use your favorite ranch or BBQ sauce. Personally, I can’t make up my mind when it comes to dipping sauces and usually have a spread of a few different flavors, but that’s just me. Enjoy it with whatever makes you happy. My favorites are ranch or maple syrup.

At A Minimum, You’ll Need:

• A whisk to mix the flour mixture and liquid mixtures respectively.
• Two mixing bowls like these to use for holding the liquid and flour mixtures.
• A deep pan or pot for frying that can safely hold heated oil that is approximately an inch and a half to two inches deep.
• A set of measuring cups and spoons for measuring ingredients.
• A thermometer for reading the temperature of the oil.
• A pair of tongs to drop the breaded seitan chicken pieces into the hot oil.

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How To Make Vegan Fried Chicken

This vegan fried chicken recipe is adapted from an allegedly leaked recipe from a certain fast-food fried chicken company. The company made a statement to the New York Times recently that said “many people have made these claims over the years and no one has been accurate — this one isn’t either.” While I suspect they wouldn’t admit it if this really was the original recipe, it does come very close to what I remember it tasting like. I even made a batter with it to coat some potato wedges before frying and it was very good, though if I were to do that again I would use more starch and less flour so that they’re more crispy.

Steps To Breading The Vegan Chicken Seitan

Step 1 – Cut the seitan log into 2-inch pieces.

Step 2 – Pour a few tablespoons of the liquid mixture into the flour mixture, then mix the flour mixture with your hands or a whisk to make a nice crumb. Dredging the seitan with a flour mixture that has larger bits of clumped flour helps to make those classic waves and ridges in the breading that are so great at holding sauce.

Step 3 – Evenly coat the seitan pieces with the liquid mixture.

Step 4 – Remove the coated seitan pieces from the liquid mixture and dredge them in the flour mixture.

Step 5 – Repeat the above process again to apply the second layer of breading except, for the second layer of flour, you’ll place the coated seitan in the bowl and scoop some flour over it to bury it. Gently press down on the flour with your palm to apply a little pressure, this will create a slightly denser breading that is excellent for frying and helps to maintain the structure of the breading without crumbling or breaking off.

Step 6 – Remove the breaded seitan pieces, gently tapping or shaking them to remove excess flour, then set aside for frying.

How To Cook Vegan Fried Chicken

To cook the breaded seitan pieces, they need to be fried. Safely heat canola oil around an inch and a half to two inches deep in a large pan or pot on high until it reaches 365°F, leaving enough room at the top of the pot for the oil to foam and bubble without spilling over. If you don’t have a thermometer, the oil should be hot enough that when you drop a small piece of breading in the oil it begins to sizzle immediately after dropping it in. If it sinks to the bottom without sizzling and bubbling, heats the oil a bit longer.

When the oil has come to temperature, reduce the heat to medium-high. Using tongs, you’ll carefully drop in the breaded seitan pieces, turning them over as needed for even cooking if any pieces are sticking out. Take care not to overcrowd the pan, you will need to fry these in at least two batches.

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Vegan Fried Chicken Recipe

Makes approx. 12 pieces, or 4-6 servings.

Ingredients

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Instructions

Add the ingredients for the liquid mixture in a medium mixing bowl, then whisk to combine and set aside. Add the ingredients for the flour mixture in a separate mixing bowl, then whisk to combine and set aside.

In a large pot or pan with fairly tall sides like a brazier, heat approximately 1.5-2″ of canola oil to 365°F. While this is heating, dredge the seitan chicken pieces and prepare them for frying.

Pour about two tablespoons of the liquid mixture into the flour mixture, then mix this well to create a sandy, crumb-like flour coating. This helps to create the deep waves and ridges that are so popular with fried chicken.

Take a piece of seitan and fully coat it with the liquid mixture. Move it over to the flour bowl, then coat it nicely with flour. Repeat for the remaining pieces.

Repeat the above process again to apply a second layer of breading except, for the second layer of flour, you’ll place the coated seitan in the bowl and scoop some flour over it to bury it. Gently press down on the flour with your palm to apply a little pressure, this will create a slightly denser breading that is excellent for frying and helps to maintain the structure of the breading without crumbling or breaking off. As you remove the seitan pieces, tap or gently shake them to remove excess flour.

When the oil reaches the appropriate temperature, working in batches, carefully add the breaded seitan pieces to the heated oil using tongs and fry until golden brown and crispy, approx. 3-5 minutes.

Allow a few minutes to cool, then serve and enjoy this vegan fried chicken with your favorite dipping sauce.