Chicken

Seitan Fried Chicken

90 min Cook
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Making seitan from vital wheat gluten is easy but do require some time as it needs to be steamed before it can be fried. Seitan is used in a variety of dishes and one of them is vegan chicken as it gives a stringy, chewy texture similar to chicken.

This recipe takes a bit of time but its worth it in the end. The vital wheat gluten will need to be stringy. Remember to always steam your vital wheat gluten. s and liquids in a bowl, add the TVP, and stir to combine. Seasoning the seitan is necessary as seitan is bland by nature. The seasoning include nutritional yeast, mushroom seasoning and vegan chicken seasoning amongst other spices.

The vital wheat gluten needs to smooth and blend that until it’s formed some nice long stretchy gluten strands. If the dough feels soft and wet, you might need to add a little more vital wheat gluten. I recommend processing it for 5 – 8 minutes.

The fried fillets can be steamed on the stove top or using an Instant Pot. In both instances the seitan will need to be wrapped tightly in foil. The Instant Pot gave a better chew with a bit more variation than the stove top. hat being said the stove top version was still amazing, so don’t sweat it if you don’t have an Instant Pot.

Why do I need to steam the vital wheat gluten?

Boiling seitan gives it a spongey texture, frying seitan (without first steaming it) makes it rubbery and spongey, baking it makes it dry and rubbery. Steaming seitan, on the other hand, will yield the perfect meaty, juicy, chewy yet tender seitan every single time

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Seitan Fried Chicken

Seitan Fried Chicken

lexisvegandeli
Vegan Fried Chicken makes an amazing chicken substitute for your burgers. Takes some time but worth the effort.
prep time
20 min
cooking time
90 min
servings
5-6 fillets
total time
110 min

Equipment

  • Blender

Ingredients

  • Seitan Chick'n

  • 1 can of chickpeas including the aquafaba liquid

  • 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

  • 2 tablespoons mushroom seasoning

  • 1 tablespoon vegan chicken powder (optional)

  • 1 teaspoon onion powder

  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder

  • 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke

  • 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

  • 2 tablespoon neutral oil (canola or peanut oil)

  • 180 grams Vital Wheat Gluten

  • Marinade

  • 2 cups unsweetened plant milk

  • 2 tablespoon pickle brine

  • 2 tablespoon hot sauce

  • 2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

  • 1-2 tablespoon all purpose seasoning (like a Cajun seasoning)

  • Flour as needed (to thicken)

  • Dry Dredge

  • 1 cup flour

  • 1 cup cornstarch

  • 2 tablespoon baking powder

  • 2 tablespoon all purpose seasoning (like a Cajun seasoning)

Instructions

1
For the seitan, combine all the ingredients except the vital wheat gluten in a food processor and blend until smooth.
2
Add in the vital wheat gluten and process for about 5 - 8 minute until the gluten has long stretchy strands. Add more vital wheat gluten if the dough is too wet and soft. If your food processor is having a hard time, divide the dough in half and do it in two sessions.
3
Once the Seitan has been kneaded, let it rest for 15 minutes. Divide it into balls about 120 grams each giving you 6 balls. Turn leftovers into little nuggets.
4
Roll the balls out into a fillet about the size of a chicken breast and keep it to 1cm thick. Wrap all the filets individually tightly to prevent expanding in heavy duty foil.
5
Steam the fillets for 1 hour 20 minutes and turn them every 20 minutes.
6
Make the marinade by combining all the ingredients in a plastic bag.
7
Once the Seitan is cool enough to handle, unwrap them and add them to the plastic bag, ensuring that they are all covered in the marinade. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, but overnight is ideal.
8
Prepare the dry dredge by combining and whisking everything in a large bowl. Remove the filets from the marinade, then add a few tablespoons of flour to the marinade to thicken if needed.
9
Bring a pan and coconut or olive oil up to 375 F / 190 C. Don't fill the pan with oil more than half way!
10
Once oil is medium hot, dip your chick'n pieces in dry dredge, coating thoroughly and shaking off the excess. To double dredge, coat them in the leftover marinade, letting the excess drip off, and then repeat the dry dredging process.
11
Carefully add them to the oil and fry until golden brown, about 4 - 5 minutes.
12
Let them rest on a cooling rack, and once they're done.

Notes

Get a deep fry thermometer. You can use a different one if you fry in a pan, but for my money, the deep fry thermometer has been a big help. I like to fry at 375 degrees.

Use a cooling rack after frying. The reason for this is, if you just put your chick'n on a plate, or paper towel, it's gonna steam itself and get soft. With a wire rack, it'll stay crispy.

Don't use olive oil to fry. You need to use something with a neutral flavour, I usually fry with peanut oil, but vegetable or canola work fine too!

If the recipe calls for a vegan buttermilk, really let the plant-milk and vinegar sit for a good 5 -10 minutes. I have found that different plant-milks will thicken more or less. You can also add a few tablespoons of flour to thicken the wet dredge as well. In fact I usually do this nowadays!

Shake off the excess flour and batter when you dredge.

Nutrition Serving: 2 tablespoon | Calories: 41kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 259mg | Potassium: 28mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 123IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 33mg | Iron: 1mg