Vegan Chicken Fries (seitan fries)

My kids have missed out on a lot of foods their friends regularly eat. The joys of being raised vegan.

I don’t regret any decisions we have made regarding our kids diets, but I do often feel a little guilty that they don’t have the slightest clue about so many odd culture foods that most teenagers are eating their weight in.

Like Burger King’s Chicken Fries.

Two of our 4 kids already have one foot out the door headed to college, and are driving. What they eat when they are out with friends or at college is their decision. As they have gotten older we have allowed them make decisions regarding their diets. I mean you have to let them grown up and think for themselves. What they eat at this point is up to them (when they are out and about on their own, with their own money) We can only hope that most of what we taught them sticks…you know go out into the world, make good choices, don’t eat real chicken fries, please!!!

That all said, I do try and recreate the foods they see and wish they could eat so they don’t feel totally deprived. I mean they are homeschooled and vegan often causing the to feel like the odd man out, but its not like we are raising them on lettuce, green juice and air. I like to fry things.

Again I am 100% aware that nobody “NEEDS” chicken fries in their lives, but my kids were very curious recently when we went through the Burger King drive thru on a road trip to visit their Grandparents.

I mean really, I find it genius. I LOVE fries. Like LOOOOVE them. And I am pretty into a vegan chicken nuggets, too. So turning vegan chicken into a crunchy, little dippable, stick of fried goodness was super appealing to me.

So I deiced as soon as we got home I was making some vegan chicken fries. This way my kids would feel like they were getting a weird drive thru junk food like everyone else, but I can sleep at night knowing it is a much healthier alternative (minus the whole deep fried part) and hopefully it’s things like vegan chicken fries that will help them continue on this diet path when they are on their own, knowing you can veganize just about any food you want!

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Y’all, they were a hit with everyone in the house. Including the 4 year old who currently lives off blueberries and edamame pretty exclusively these days. She LOVED them, and at this point her loving anything new is a huge triumph!

Can you air fry these you may ask? Sure you can! I actually popped a batch into my air fryer as I was pan frying a batch for comparison. I actually air fry my vegan chicken pretty often. It is obviously healthier and normally faster. This time was the exception to that rule. They did NOT fry faster in the air fryer! I had finished 2 batches in my frying pan and the ones in my air fryer were still not really golden and crispy.

That is not to say its a bad choice for frying them. I was frying them at 400 and after 5 minutes they still were not done. I suggest giving them a spray of oil and turning them once or twice until they are golden brown if you choose to air fry them!

However you decide to fry them, I am pretty sure you, and maybe your whole family will love these vegan chicken fries. And If you do have kids, they can know the joy of weird American fast food creations without having to actually eat meat. And hopefully once they are adults, that will keep them on a vegan path. Fingers crossed!

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

*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 but pliable dough.

THE COATING:

• 1/2 cup vegan sour cream or unsweetened plain vegan yogurt

• 1 1/4 cup unsweetened plant milk

• 1/2 cup corn or tapioca starch

• 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

• 2 cups panko bread crumbs (make sure they are vegan, many are. not, I use Trader Joes)

• 2 teaspoons onion powder

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• 2 teaspoons of your favorite all purpose seasoning (I use Cavenders all purpose greek)

• Oil for frying (I use grapeseed oil)

CHICKEN INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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. Begin pressing the dough out flat into a rectangle shape. Place the rectangle on a pieces of parchment paper around 12x16 inches. I like to spray the top with a little oil and place a piece of parchment paper on top, using my hands I press the dough out and then take a rolling pin and roll it out until I have a 12x16ish inch rectangle. This just helps the dough not stick on your hands and helps you get it pressed out more easily. (see pictures below for the process)

4. Using the parchment paper pick up the dough rectangle and transfer it to a large cookie sheet. Sprinkle the top with any all purpose seasoning you like. Cover the pan tightly and completely with aluminum foil creating a seal. The goal is to let the seitan steam inside the foil.

5. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool at room temperature for about half an hour then transfer to the fridge and allow the seitan to rest for 3-4 hours. This seitan is really thin so a 3-4 rest is normally enough for it to cool down and firm up! You must, MUST let the seitan rest! If you don’t, the texture will not be as firm as it needs to be!

   ** If your seitan has little holes in it and looks like bread, it is pretty likely your oven is cooking hotter than it is registering. You can get an oven thermometer to check this or you can reduce the oven temp by 25 degrees the next you bake it.

FRYING INSTUCITONS:

1. Once the dough has rested and has firmed up, remove from the fridge, and place on a cutting board. Begin at one end of the rectangle and cut 1/8 inch strips all the way across. Next, cut each strip in half. The goal is to cut the dough the size of a long fry.

2. In a medium sized mixing bowl whisk the plant milk with the sour cream or yogurt. In another mixing bowl, combine the flour, starch, panko and seasoning.

3. First dip the fry into the wet mixture, then into the flour mixture, pressing the dry mix into the seitan to make sure it’s well coated.

4. Heat several inches of a neutral flavored oil in a deep skillet. Bring the oil to 350 degrees. If you do not have a thermometer you can place a chop stick into the oil touching the bottom the pan. If little bubbles form around the tip of the chop stick then the oil Is ready.

5. Place a wire cooling rack on top of a paper towel lined baking sheet near the stove.

6. Add some of the coated fries to the oil in batches. Use some metal tongs to help straighten out the strips, and making sure not to over crowd the pan! These vegan chicken fries cook up REALLY fast and only need a minute or two per side! They are done once they are golden brown and crisp. Place finished fries on the cooling rack to allow excess oil to drip off while you fry the remaining vegan chicken fries.

7. Serve with your favorite dip on the side.

If you like this recipe, then try these:

Vegan Cheeseburger Egg Rolls

Easy Vegan Chicken Breast

Vegan Buffalo Chicken Sandwich

Vegan Southern Fried Chicken

My mom can fry the heck out of some chicken. Pre-vegan, pre-vegetarian, fried chicken was my favorite food.

We are from the south, my parents are from Alabama, so frying foods is something you are basically born doing. My mom taught me young.

I have tried all sorts of vegan fried chicken variations over the years, using tofu, and basic seitan. I have seen people using jackfruit to mimic the shredded texture. But I decide to take my turkey seitan recipe, change a few things and fry that up.

It is by far the most convincing vegan meat recipe I have made to date, and surely it would work well for a vegan fried chicken. And it did!

The basic recipe for this chicken is pretty similar to the turkey, with some changes to certain spices, and the addition of adding rice paper skin when baking to add another element of crunch to the whole thing.

I am always preaching about letting setian rest, and it does need to rest. I did find this recipe did well when I baked it in morning and fried it that night. The pieces are thin enough that a 6 hour rest seem sufficient. I do think it would have been even better if I gave it overnight but 6 hours works.

I like to add the coating to a large zip lock bag, although you can use a clean brown grocery bag as well. It just makes for less mess when getting the pieces coated. I also like to double coat them so they are good and crispy. Thats what you want, a nice crispy “skin". You can also cut the pieces once they have rested and make chicken fingers pretty easily.

I have not tried this recipe in the air fryer. It should work just fine, it just won’t be nearly as goo. If you give the pieces a spray with oil, I think you could cook them on 375 for 10 minutes but check on them to see how they are doing. I have reheated the pan fried pieces in the air fryer and that works great.

So if you are looking for a crispy, flavorful, vegan fried chicken, this is my favorite, and now my go to recipe! My only other suggestion is be sure you also bake up a batch of fluffy southern biscuits when you deiced to make this recipe. Every southerner knows you can’t have one without the other.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 block super firm tofu (the kind that is vacuum packed with little liquid)

• 1 cup vital wheat gluten

• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast

• 2 tablespoons tapioca or corn starch

• 2 teaspoons poultry or Trader Joes Vegan Chicken Seasoning

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1 teaspoons onion salt

• 2 teaspoons No Chicken Better Than Bouillon

• 2 teaspoons liquid smoke

• 1/2- 3/4 cups water

RICE PAPER SKIN:

• 10 pieces of rice paper, summer roll wrappers

• 1/2 cup warm water

• 1 teaspoon Better Than Bouillon

• 1 teaspoon vegan chicken seasoning or poultry seasoning

COATING:

• 1/2 cup plain unsweetened vegan yogurt

• 1 cup milk

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

• 1/2 cup tapioca or corn starch

• 2 teaspoons each, garlic powder, dried thyme, salt, onion powder, sugar

• 1 teaspoon each turmeric, cinnamon, black pepper, smoked paprika

• 1/4- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

MAKING THE SEITAN CHICKEN BREAST:

*If you attempt this recipe with REGULAR EXTRA FIRM TOFU you will need to press it well, and reduce the water added to the recipe. Add the water last only a tablespoon at time until the dough resembles the picture. This will cause varying results and I really do suggest finding the super firm, vacuum sealed, high protein tofu if you can. It gives the seitan a far better texture.

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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 10 triangles. Using your hands, form the triangles into a chicken breast shape.

4. In a shallow dish or pie plate, add the warm water, bouillon and seasoning for the rice papers. Stir well until the bouillon is mixed in. Place one rice paper at a time in the mix until it is super soft and pliable. Lay the rice paper flat on a cutting board. Place one piece of chicken seitan in the middle and wrap the rice paper skin around the seitan. Repeat with process with remaining rice paper and seitan pieces.

5. 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 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 20 minutes.

6. Open up the foil and allow the seitan chicken to bake for another 20 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.

7. Let the seitan cool at room temp them transfer to the fridge for at least 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!

FRYING THE SEITAN CHICKEN BREAST:

If you want chicken fingers, you can slice the chicken breast into 3 pieces now that it has rested.

1. In a medium bowl or pie plate, whisk the plant milk and yogurt together.

2. In a large zip lock bag combine the flour, starch, and spices. Shake it up really well to get it all mixed together

3. Take a piece or seitan chicken breast and first dip it in the milk mixture, next shake it in the bag of flour, shake off any excess flour and dip it in the milk again, then back in the bag for another shake. Place on a plate and repeat with remaining pieces.

4. Place a wire cooling rack onto of a paper towel lined baking sheet. This is where the fried seitan chicken will go once its cooked. This helps it stay crispier than if you just placed it on a paper towel lined plate. This method works for all fried foods.

5. Heat a large, deep skillet with 2-3 inches of neutral flavored oil good for frying like canola or peanut, over medium heat. You will know the oil is hot enough if you place a chopstick or wooden skewer in the bottom of the pan and little bubbles form around the tip.

6. Place 3 or 4 pieces of seitan chicken in the pan, careful not to over crowd and let it fry on each side until golden brown. Place the finish pieces on the cooling rack. Fry remaining pieces.

7. Serve with southern vegan biscuits, mashed potatoes, or whatever side you like.

If you like this recipe, then try these:

Vegan Seitan Ribs

Popcorn Tofu

Fluffy Southern Vegan Biscuits

Brown Bag "Chicken" Fried Seitan

In the south we fry all the things. Chicken being a big one, but we don’t eat meat, so what are we to do??!?!

Easy y’all, make and fry up some delicious and easy homemade seitan!!

I used to fry my chicken by dumping all the ingredients into a brown paper bag and giving it a big shake. Then I would put in a pan of hot oil, fry it up super crispy, and normally, put it on a fluffy homemade biscuit!

So, once we went vegan, I do the exact same thing, but I use easy homemade seitan instead.

Seitan freezes really well, so you can double the batch, freeze half, and have an easy meat substitute on hand when you need it. You can do so much with seitan. You can obviously bread and fry it, you can slice it and use it in stir fry or fajitas, you can use it in soups and stews…so many ways to use this easy and healthy homemade vegan meat substitute!!!

Vegan biscuits are also a breeze and linked them down in the recipe! My grandmother taught us all how to make biscuits when we were kids, and it’s a skill I have passed on to my kids. I hadto make the recipe vegan, and if she were alive she would probably not be happy with me. But I also like to think if I could convince her to eat one, she might be impressed. Southern women are normally pretty set in their ways, speaking from experience of being a stubborn southern woman, myself.

Anyways, save your brown grocery bags and get to shakin! Crispy brown bag fried seitan is a game changer, and even better on a fluffy biscuit!! I like it with sweet mustard sauce and pickles, but you can put whatever you like not it!!!

Also if you need more instruction on making basic seitan, I have linked a pretty quick video tutorial at the bottom of the page as well. I will give you an idea of the process, and texture if you are new to seitan making! It’s easy y’all, and so, so, so good!!

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NGREDIENTS:

• half batch of seitan

• 1/2 cup of all purpose four

• 2 tablespoons of corn starch or tapioca starch

• 1 teaspoon each of garlic powder, salt, onion powder, paprika, and turmeric

• 1/2 teaspoon each of cinnamon, pepper, and ground mustard

• 1/2 cup grapeseed oil

• a paper grocery store bag (you can use a plastic trash bag or a large zip lock as well)

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COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Add the flour, starch, and all the seasoning to the bag. Give it a good shake to mix it up!

2. You should have 2 seitan pieces from your batch. With a very sharp knife CAREFULLY cut the pieces horizontally into 3 - 4 cutlets.

3. Drop the seitan cutlets into the bag and shake, shake, shake, giving a peek to make sure all sides of the cutlets are coated super well.

4. In a deep skillet heat the oil on medium/high.

5. Begin adding the cutlets in batches, being careful not to overcrowd the pan. Cook several minutes per side or until they are crispy.

6. Place cooked seitan on a cooling rack with some paper towels underneath to catch the excess oil and allow to cool for a few minutes before serving.

7. We use these cutlets on our fluffy southern biscuits, but they are just as amazing slathered with mushroom gravy, and a side of mashed potatoes!