If you are vegan or vegetarian and enjoy a good meat substitute every now and again (or every single day) you might know by now that the store bought options out there are not all created equal.

One of the things I have found the hardest to find is a basic grilled “chicken” substitute that isn’t full of weird ingredients or isn’t super over priced.

I found kind of groove creating really easy, really delicious, and inexpensive vegan deli meats, so decided all those same seitan principles would apply with an easy vegan baked chicken.

I have various vegan chicken recipes on the site. Battered, fried, crispy skin covered, tandoori style, but I had yet to type up a recipe for a basic, all purpose, vegan baked chicken.

You can use this vegan chicken in any recipe you would use chicken in. It mixes up in minutes and bakes in a little over half an hour. It also needs to rest like all seitan, but not for nearly as long a lets say a vegan turkey breast or vegan ham because these pieces are small and will firm up a little more quickly!

You can freeze this vegan chicken after it has baked and thaw what you need in a pinch. I like to bake up a batch on the weekend and have it to use throughout the week, making my meal prep that much easier.

The texture is super spot on “meaty” and the flavor is like, well, chicken! You can sprinkle any all purpose seasoning you like on the breasts before you bake them. I like a chili lime seasoning, hickory, or even an all purpose greek seasoning. Use whatever your little hear desires.

Please do read the note concerning my tofu choice. I use super firm tofu for optimal texture. If you choose to use extra firm, you will need less water in the recipe. It will work, but I still get a better result with the super firm kind. And as an added bonus, the super firm has nearly double the protein of regular or extra firm water packed tofu. That way when someone rando asks you the age old question “ but where do you get your protein” you can just laugh and laugh and laugh knowing you are about 15 grams per severing of the super firm tofu!!

Just know it is so super easy to make your own vegan chicken at home. You no longer have to search for, and waste money on store bought vegan chicken that probably isn’t anywhere near as good as this easy and afforable homemade vegan chicken breast!

INGREDIENTS:

1 block super firm tofu (16 oz) the kind that is vacuum sealed in not much water
1 cup vital wheat gluten
2 -3 teaspoons No Chicken Better Than Bouillon, or any vegan chicken flavored bouillon powder or seasoning
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1-2 teaspoons onion powder
1/2 teaspoon sage
1/2 teaspoon rosemary
2 teaspoons liquid smoke
2 tablespoons tapioca or corn starch
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
2 tablespoon neural flavored oil
1/2 to 3/4 cups water
1 teaspoons salt

TROUBLE SHOOTING THIS REICPE:

*I used high protein tofu in a vacuum sealed package and this what I strongly advise using. It is much firmer than regular firm tofu and has less moisture and a more chewy texture. If you opt to use regular firm tofu you will need to press it first and remove as much liquid as possible. You may need to adjust the amount of water in the recipet as well. Add the water last, adding just enough to accomplish a firm dough.

*If you find your chicken has A LOT OF LITTLE HOLES, and a more BREAD LIKE TEXTURE this can be caused from under kneading the dough, BUT more likely cooking the seitan at too high of a temperature, or for too long. Check your ovens temperature with an oven thermometer. Your oven may just be cooking hotter than it registers. Also gas and electric ovens tend to cook differently. If you do not have an oven thermometer you can reduce the by 25 degrees and keep the seitan covered the whole bake.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Break up the tofu and place it into a food processor with the regular metal blade. Run the processor for around a minute until the tofu is broken down.
Add all of the remaining ingredients and let the food processor run for a couple of minutes. You want the mixture to form a dough. Letting the processor run will help knead the dough. We want this seitan to be firm so we need it to knead for a bit. If you dough seems a bit too dry, you can add another few tablespoons of water, just don’t add too much more! I start at 1/2 cup and work from there.
Once you have a smooth but firm dough, remove it from the food processor and place on a clean counter. Knead the dough with your hands for about a minute, forming a kind of oval, flattened out shaped with the dough. Cut the dough into 8 triangles. Using your hands, form the triangles into a chicken breast shape.
Line a baking sheet in parchment paper or foil, spray with oil. Evenly space out the seitan chicken pieces making sure they are not touching. They will expand as they bake. Spray the tops with oil and give them a sprinkle with any seasoning you like. Tightly cover the entire pan in foil, tucking the edges tightly around the edges of the pan. We want the seitan to steam inside the pan. Place the pan on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 25 minutes.
Open up the foil and allow the seitan chicken to bake for another 10 minutes uncovered. These chicken seitan pieces are thin, if you know your oven cooks hot or the temp is off, you may need to adjust your cook time by 5-10 minutes. If the seitan over cooks it tends to form tiny holes that look like bread. That is often an indication you oven temp is off and you may need a oven thermometer to check the actual temp.
Let the seitan cool at room temp them transfer to the fridge for about 6 hours to rest. I often bake the seitan the night before I wish to fry it. But you could also bake it in the morning and it would be fine to fry by dinner. Seitan requires a nice long rest to firm up and achieve a more meaty texture. The longer you can let it rest, the better!
You can reheat the chicken in the oven on 350 degrees covered in foil until warmed through. You can slice or cube the chicken to use in just about any recipe that requires a chicken substitute. Use in fajitas, tacos, casseroles, sandwiches, pastas, or as is.

If you like this recipe, then try these:

Vegan Turkey Style Roast with Crispy Skin

Southern Cornbread Dressing with Jackfruit

In the south we grew up eating dressing at Thanksgiving, NOT stuffing. I don’t think I even had stuffing until I was a teenager at a friends house, and I am pretty sure it was Stovetop. Dressing is normally made of cornbread, shredded chicken (sometime oysters, but that was too fancy for my family) onion, celery, and spices.

I promise you I could live off of cornbread dressing. If cornbread dressing and stuffing got into a fist fight, all of my money would be on the dressing. It reigns supreme in our house, hands down.

So once we were vegan I didn’t know what to do. I actually ended up making stuffing (gasp) the fist few holidays because I was a new vegan and at a loss. So when I deiced to create our Fall and Winter Holiday Recipe E-Book, I knew I had to do my family proud (mostly my husband because this is favorite thing) and finally veganize this southern family classic.

I actually adapted my husbands MawMaws recipe and made it vegan by using jackfruit in place of the chicken and starch to bind it. Otherwise it is pretty much the same and it tuned out sooooooo delicious!

I actually managed to recreate every favorite holiday recipe we ever enjoyed before we went vegan and put them in our Fall and Winter Holiday Recipe book. A main dish, sides, desserts, and even cocktails. This recipe is in the e-book along with 17 more to create a full classic holiday vegan menu!

So if you are looking for more classic holiday recipes for you next Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, or New Years, check it out!! And if you want to fight me over which is better, dressing or stuffing, make this recipe first, then decide. I just might convert you!

INGREDIENTS:

1 pan vegan cornbread
2 cups vegetable broth
2 cups plant based milk
2 tbsp corn starch
1/4 cup vegan mayo
2 tsp dried sage
1 tsp dried thyme
5 vegan biscuits (day old)
4 - 5 stalks of celery
1 large onion
1 can jackfruit in brine (you can also use 4 easy vegan chicken breast, chopped into very small pieces)
2 tsp Vegetable Better Than Bouillon
1 tbsp vegan butter
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Our Fall & Winter Holiday E-BOOK contains 18 familiar and comforting recipes that will serve as a guide to plant-based/vegan menu planning during Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, or whatever you celebrate this time of year. This menu includes a main dish, sides, desserts, and cocktails that you can use as a complete dinner menu, or you can pick and choose recipes to take along to a pot-luck or cocktail party. In addition to the downloadable ebook, you will get access to more than 20 minutes of complimentary video content that will walk you through some of the trickier parts of a few of the recipes.

Buy Now

INSTRUCTIONS

Bake cornbread and biscuits according to instructions. You can do this a day or two ahead of time. The biscuits work better if they are a day or two old.
Crumble biscuits and cornbread into a large bowl. You can use a fork to break up the corn bread in the pan you baked it in. You want both the cornbread and biscuits to be a pretty fine crumble.
Drain and rinse the jackfruit. Shred between your fingers, or chop it up.
Finely dice the onions and celery. Heat a medium skillet on medium heat and melt the butter. Add the jackfruit, onions, celery, and Better Than Bouillon, and cook until the onions are translucent.
In a large bowl, add all of the dry ingredients, mix well, then add in the wet ingredients and continue mixing until well incorporated.
Transfer the mixture to a prepared 9x13 baking dish and bake on a middle oven rack for about 35 - 40 minutes. You’ll want a tooth pick to come out clean when poked in the center.
Allow it to cool a bit before serving. Add fresh or dried parsley to garnish if desired.

If you like this recipe, try these:

Vegan Eggnog Cake

Savory Cranberry Meatballs with Mashed Potatoes

Vegan Brie with Cranberries and Candied Pecans